With Sunday’s news that Will Muschamp will not be returning as Florida’s head coach next season, it’s time to talk coaching searches. Here are five candidates to replace Muschamp for the 2015 season. Note that all of my candidates have head coaching experience at a high level.
1.) Dan Mullen, Mississippi State: The current Mississippi State head coach is the obvious No. 1 choice.
In his sixth year in Starkville, Mississippi, Mullen assembled the No. 1 team in the country up until Saturday’s loss at Alabama.
The former Florida offensive coordinator has built State from the ground up — imagine what he’ll be able to do with the talent and resources already at Florida.
2.) Bob Stoops, Oklahoma: Stoops initially looked like someone who wasn’t leaving Oklahoma any time soon, but now that the Sooners are out of the College Football Playoff hunt, he could jump ship to Florida.
His success in Norman, Oklahoma, is clear — eight Big 12 Championships, a national title in 2000 and a 167-42 record as head coach.
Stoops was the assistant head coach for Florida during its 1996 National Title winning season, and remained on staff until 1998.
3) Todd Graham, Arizona State: Graham has had success — at least winning-wise — as a head coach pretty much at every campus he has set foot on.
Graham had his first stint as a head coach in 2006 at Rice, where he went 7-6 and won the Conference USA coach of the year award before being hired by Tulsa the following year.
He was on staff at Tulsa in 2003 as a defensive coordinator. In four seasons at Tulsa, he compiled a 36-17 record. After a 6-6 one-year stop at Pitt in 2011, Arizona State picked him up, and in his first year he went 8-5, good to tie for the Pac-12 South title.
Last season, the Sun Devils went 10-4, and won the South division outright. He was also named the Pac-12 coach of the year last season.
4) Rich Rodriguez, Arizona: People may scoff at Rich Rod as a serious candidate because of his debacle of a stint at Michigan, but he’s redeeming himself quite impressively at Arizona.
His Wildcats are currently the No. 15 ranked team in the country, and are still in the mix for the Pac-12 South title.
Not to mention Arizona is one of the few teams that can say it has knocked off Oregon two years straight.
In his time at West Virginia from 2001-2007, the Mountaineers won four Big East titles, and won both BCS Bowl games they went to in 2005 and 2007.
The 2007 victory was after Rodriguez left for Michigan, however.
The Mountaineers also missed out on a bowl game just once — in Rodriguez’s first year as head coach.
5) Dabo Swinney, Clemson: This may be a bit of a dark horse candidate, but dark horses are fun to talk about. Swinney, currently in his seventh year as the head coach at Clemson, is best known for his high-powered, record setting offense in 2012 and 2013.
The season prior in 2011, they won the ACC and earned a BCS Orange Bowl berth. From 2011-13, Clemson had a 32-8 record, the most wins in a three-year period in school history. Clemson’s blowout loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday brings their loss total to three — enough to make Swinney say his goodbyes in Clemson and start somewhere new?
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, who spent four years as UF’s offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer, celebrates on the field after his Bulldogs defeated the Gators 10-7 in 2011.
