Mizzou Football: Head coaching job among best vacancies

Now we’re back with the current ten openings. Of those, five are Group of Five Schools, four of which are seeking success they’ve historically never grasped.

The toughest job looks to be at Old Dominion where the Monarchs are seeking just their second head coach since the program re-started. Bobby Wilder has led Old Dominion that past 11 seasons, and he only had a smidgen of success once the school began competing in the FBS. In 2016, the Monarchs, a member of Conference USA, went 10-3 (7-1) with a bowl win.

But the school, located in Virginia, never had another winning season in the FBS under Wilder, bottoming out this season at 1-11 (0-8). It’ll be tough to rebuild a program so very young especially when competing in recruiting against local schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Duke.

Then there’s University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA), another relatively young program that began participating in the FBS in 2012 under Larry Coker. The Roadrunners have been run by Frank Wilson from 2016 through this season, a 4-8 (3-5) campaign that led to Wilson’s dismissal.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a ton of talent in the State of Texas, especially in and around the San Antonio area. But UTSA is also going up against programs with mountains of tradition like Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma, as well as other Texas schools like Texas Tech and Baylor while also trying to fend off neighboring Oklahoma State. And every one of those aforementioned six schools belongs to a Power Five conference while UTSA is in the Conference USA.

Two other teams out west also have it tough: University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) and New Mexico. Of the two, the New Mexico Lobos have it worse.

A member of the Mountain West since before 2000, New Mexico just parted ways with Bob Davie after eight seasons that included just two winning campaigns in 2015 and 2016. While Rocky Long had success there between 1998-2008, historically, no other coach* has won consistently there. That doesn’t look to change.

*Fun fact: Marv Levy, the Hall-of-Fame NFL head coach who took the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls, coached New Mexico in 1958 and 1959. He went 14-6.

Then there’s UNLV. You might be wondering just how in the heck UNLV is the better job compared to New Mexico. Well, for one, instead of being located in Albuquerque, it’s located in Las Vegas. With the Oakland Raiders coming to town, the Rebels reap the benefits, as the two will share a football stadium.

Plus, the Rebels just opened a brand-new, state-of-the-art football facility. While Tony Sanchez may not have won enough with UNLV, the former high-school head coach certainly helped turn around the program. And his successor will owe him a great deal of gratitude.

But the best current Group of Five vacancy is in Tampa Bay, Florida, where South Florida just canned Charlie Strong after a disappointing three seasons. Things started out so promising for Strong as the Bulls went 10-2 (6-2) with a bowl win his first season there in 2017. And 2018 began great, too, with South Florida racing out to a 7-0 start, ranking as high as No. 21 in the nation.

Unfortunately, the bottom fell out at that point, as the Bulls dropped six straight, including the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl* to Marshall, becoming the first program ever to win its first seven games and finish 7-6. This year was worse as the Bulls finished 4-8 (2-6), ending Strong’s short tenure.

*That’s a real bowl game. I didn’t make that up. I don’t think I could make that up. College football is weird, man.

Still, USF is a great destination for an up-and-coming head coach looking to rise in the Group of Five ranks or a Power Five coordinator looking to get his feet wet as a head coach for the first time.

Plus, the Bulls won at least ten games in back-to-back seasons as recently as 2016 and 2017. It’s strongly being indicated that Willie Taggart, Strong’s predecessor who left for Oregon before coaching Florida State, may come home just like Schiano did.

And that leaves us with five Power Five schools.