Pete Thamel predicts which college football team will make a coaching hire first

ESPN insider Pete Thamel has been playfully nicknamed “the Authority” by fellow College GameDay colleague Pat McAfee given his wealth of insight into what’s happening behind the scenes in college football. Of course, there are those rare moments when Thamel doesn’t much insight to provide.

During last Saturday’s pregame show from Lubbock, ESPN’s “the Authority” effectively punted a question about which current open Power Four head coaching job will be the first to make a hire this season. But when given a second chance during Monday’s College GameDay Podcast with fellow co-hosts Rece Davis and Dan Wetzel, Thamel was far more forthcoming, and even named four Power Four programs that could have an announcement to make over the next two weeks.

“I caught a little bit of flack from our fans on the GameDay set because I didn’t give a straight answer to this question, so I think you’re trying to give me a reboot. I think whoever hires someone first will come from the second-tier group of Arkansas, Virginia Tech, UCLA. They have been most aggressive in going out and trying to seek somebody,” Thamel said on Monday’s College GameDay Podcast. “Nobody’s been hired yet, but I do feel like those conversations (over the next) 7-10 days at places like that – Oklahoma State is right in there too – are going to begin in earnest. And I think that’s where you’re going to see that pool of top G5 candidates really have to make some difficult decisions.”

There are currently 13 openings at the FBS level, including an astounding nine openings among the Power Four ranks, four from the SEC alone. But for athletic directors searching to fill top-tier jobs at Auburn, Florida, LSU and Penn State might wait out several current Power Four coaching candidates to finish their respective seasons — including those like Ole Miss‘ Lane Kiffin, whose Rebels are in the thick of the College Football Playoff race — other second-tier programs could force the hand of their preferred Group of Five coaches to make a decision sooner than later.

“Whether it’s Eric Morris at North Texas, Bob Chesney is obviously hot at James Madison, you’ve got (Alex) Golesh (at USF),” Thamel continued. “(Tulane‘s Jon) Sumrall is probably in a little bit of a different category because he’s going to be on the second tier or maybe top tier of some of those top four jobs that are the National Championship-type jobs. (Memphis coach) Ryan Silverfield broaches both categories too. So it’s a fascinating (game of) chess/musical chairs, whatever you want to call it. I’ve never seen a carousel quite like this.”

Thamel then revealed several of the aforementioned coaching candidates have openly complained about how taxing the current coaching carousel has been on them as they continue coaching their current programs to potential postseason berths.

“Talking to some of the candidates, they were like, ‘I could actually just talk to other schools all day and not coach my team,’” Thamel concluded. “So I have some empathy for these guys trying to win league titles, trying to make Playoff pushes, trying to (win for) the team that busted their tail for them, and they’re talking  to schools at 11 at night because they don’t want to distract (from their current mission). So those guys are on a high-wire act right now.”