More Head Coach Search Updates

Arkansas State:

            Now with Hugh Freeze leaving for Ole Miss the job opens up for the second time in as many years.  Coming off their first season with more than six wins since 1987 and their first Sun Belt championship, Arkansas State faithful have to feel good about the direction the football program is headed.  Clint Conque (HC Central Arkansas), Willie Fritz (HC Sam Houston State), and Chris Hatcher (HC Murray State), Jeff Monken (HC Georgia Southern) are successful coaches at lower levels that deserve a look and Monken was mentioned to be recommended by the search firm used in the UAB search that is going to aid in this search as well.  Many Red Wolf faithful called for Conque to be given the job last year when Freeze was named head coach.  Paul Petrino (OC Illinois), Curtis Luper (RB Auburn), Jason Phillips (Co-OC Houston), and John Neal (DB Oregon), Steed Lobotzke (OC Wake Forest), Bill Clark (South Alabama DC) were all assistants linked to the UAB job even though that job is considered the better of the two, these candidates may be looking to slide into a head coaching role.  Turner Gill (former HC Kansas and Buffalo) is out of work and was linked to UAB job and Houston Nutt (former Arkansas and Ole Miss HC) has definite recruiting ties to the state and could bring stability to a program including a great coaching staff.

New Mexico:

            Not many decisions have been made on assistant coaches under Davie as he has been busy recruiting and acclimating himself to the scene in New Mexico.  Obviously Davie wanted to wait until the coaching carousel unveiled itself in order to hire his staff.  Look for former staff members of Tulane, Arizona, Washington State, UCLA, Fresno State, and Colorado State to be talked to by Davie. 

            UPDATE**Jason Lenzemeier (OL New Mexico St.) is set to join Davie’s staff at New Mexico.  He was a former player and assistant at New Mexico under Rocky Long.

North Carolina:

            They appear to be close to at least offering the job to one of their candidates.  Larry Fedora is the most likely to be given an offer; however, it is unlikely a quick decision by Fedora is going to be made as he is set to interview with Arizona State and Texas A&M in New York City tomorrow.  This job is very lucrative and they are set to offer big money to their next head coach.  Kevin Sumlin, Gus Malzahn, Larry Fedora, Chris Peterson, Troy Calhoun, Butch Jones, Skip Holtz, and Everette Withers appear to be the top names on their list.  Malzahn makes sense considering he was at Tulsa when AD Bubba Cunningham was the AD there.  Skip Holtz is rumored to be close friends with Cunningham, but this hire seems highly unlikely at this point.  Peterson is a pipe dream of the Tar Heel faithful and will almost certainly not happen.  Butch Jones turned down an offer from Illinois and it doesn’t seem likely he will leave for any other job this year.  Troy Calhoun and Larry Fedora seem to be the most likely candidates at this point while Malzahn would probably be considered a fallback choice if Calhoun or Fedora decide to head in a different direction or stay at their respective schools.

Ohio State:

            Urban Meyer was hired at the beginning of the week as the next head coach at Ohio State.  Recruiting for Ohio State picked up immediately and there was a commitment from Lakeland, FL that committed within an hour of the hiring of Meyer.  Meyer said he would assemble the best staff in the nation like he stated when he was hired at Florida.  Confirmed members of Meyer’s Ohio State staff would be Luke Fickell, Taver Johnson, Stan Drayton, Mike Vrabel (will be on staff in some capacity) who are all retained from Jim Tressell’s staff.  Mickey Marotti was lured from Florida as Ohio State’s strength and conditioning coach.  Names strongly linked to the offensive coordinator position would be Chad Morris (OC Clemson) who signed a new contract at Clemson to keep him there.  Gus Malzahn appears to be the next choice, but Meyer will have to wait to see how a few head coaching searches go before he gets a full answer from Malzahn.  Greg Studrawa has also been linked to the position; however, it appears he is staying at LSU and preparing to call the plays in the national championship game.  Tim Brewster has also been linked to Ohio State and might have an offer to join the staff.  Mike Stoops definitely has been offered the defensive coordinator position by Urban; however, Stoops is up for a few head coaching positions so Meyer will have to wait on this one as well.  Meyer will probably wait until the coaching carousel calms down slightly before making decisions on the rst of his staff and will recruit with the coaches he has in place.

Ole Miss

            Hugh Freeze was hired today by Ole Miss to lead their program.  Freeze turned around an Arkansas State program from winning no more than six games since 1987 to winning 10 games this season and winning the Sun Belt conference.  Freeze has won everywhere he goes including two state championships at Memphis Briarcrest Christian (TN) high school, two conference championships and 20 wins in two years at division II Lambuth located in Tennessee, and then this year going 10-2 and winning the Sun Belt at Arkansas State.  It appears that Freeze’s staff is already taking shape as Tom Allen (Asst. HC/LB Coach), Maurice Harris (TE Coach/RC), Grant Heard (QB Coach/PGC), Darren Hiller (OL Coach/RGC), Chris Kiffin (DL Coach) and Dave Wommack (DC/S Coach) all will follow Freeze from Arkansas State to Ole Miss.  Reports surfaced early today that Frank Wilson (RB LSU) was offered offensive coordinator job at Ole Miss; however, it appears unlikely Wilson will accept offer.  Sources say Wilson interviewed for the head coaching job at Ole Miss and has good relationship with Freeze from their days at Ole Miss under Ed Orgeron.  Other possible assistant coaches include David Corrao (Asst. LB Dolphins), Marion Hobby (DE Coach Clemson), Noel Mazzone (OC Arizona State), Chris Rippon (DC Marshall), Derek Jones (DB Duke), and Rick Petri (DL Duke) are other coaches with ties to Hugh Freeze or the University of Mississippi.  Freeze is well connected within coaching circles because of his long time lecture circuit that has included most of the top coaching clinics in the country.  Freeze will put together a good staff at Ole Miss and will recruit Mississippi and Memphis as aggressively as anybody in the country.

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