MY TOP FIVE CANDIDATES

1. Lincoln Riley

53-8 record as OU head coach
4 big 12 championships
Several playoff appearances
Several heisman trophy winners

-Great offensive mind , coached several Heisman Qbs, Very solid recruiter, very solid track record through the P5 conference of Big 12 , needs a Solid D coordinator , probably had the least amount of questions out of all potential candidates.


2. Luke Fickell

48-21 head coach
2-2 in bowls
42-14 at Cincinnati
2 x AAC coach of year
National champion 2014 as DC Coord. at Ohio state

His focus is on defense and needs a good o coordinator with him. He is mid west guy and will be hard to pull from Ohio or up north. Well disciplined teams , wasn’t successful as Ohio state interim coach.

3. Jame Franklin

89-44 as head coach
65-29 at penn state
5-4 bowls
Big ten champion 2016
Coach of the year 2016
Cotton bowl and Fiesta Bowl champion

-did wonders for the Vanderbilt program , had t won 9 games since 1915 and he did it in back to back years , Vanderbilt had three wining records since 1983 and he had two of them and was there for only three years’. A little shine wearing off on him but is he distracted. I say he gets a significant pay raise or will be at usc or LSU at the end of it all.

4. Dave Aranda

-national champion d coordinator at LSU
-9-8 record as head coach
2-7 first year , 7-1 second year at Baylor
-Not a ton of head coaching experience , a no nonsense guy and intellectual who can cover one side of the field , needs to come with big time OC like his buddy Tom Herman . Concerned about his recruiting abilities .

5a. Mel Tucker

-15-12 as a head coach but first stop at Colorado was a rebuild then he left , first year at Michigan state was a rebuild , second year currently has them undefeated through his use of identifying needs through transfer portal and pulled in a hell of a class that identified needs. He has worked under Saban , nfl experience , not a strong Record as head coach or a lot of experience as head coach but that’s because he was rebuilding and wasn’t there long enough to see fruits of his labor. Hasn’t been at programs a long time . A lot will depend on how he finishes year at Michigan state.

5b. Mario Cristobal

Championships
-2 pac 12 championships (2019,2020)
-Coach of year 2018
-Recruiter of year 2015
-Alabama recruiting coordinator from 2013-2016
Negatives
-FIU coach from 07-12 Record:27-47
-has turned around Oregon program and has them the primeur program in PAC 12. Not a defensive coordinator or offensive coordinator back ground is recruiter and oline.