As the college football regular season comes to a close, here’s what I’ve been hearing about the coaching carousel since Saturday morning.
Texas A&M
Texas A&M is the largest coaching vacancy on the carousel. Sources with direct knowledge of the coaching search tell The Athletic that there are some candidates that A&M really likes, but there are also some other top coaches that the Aggies are expected to pursue after their games on Saturday.
The Aggies like Kansas coach Lance Leipold, Duke coach Mike Elko (a former A&M defensive coordinator) and Kansas State coach Chris Klieman. Anyone who knows how to establish and build a strong culture is considered a strong leader. Another name to keep an eye on during the A&M search is Kentucky’s Mark Stoops. Although UK is just 6-5 heading into Saturday’s game at rival Louisville, the 56-year-old Stoops, a former SEC coach of the year, has led the Wildcats to two 10-win seasons at a venue since 2018 This had previously been the case since 1951 with only one 10-win season.
There is a big joker looming here. Don’t be surprised if Texas A&M pursues Ohio State’s Ryan Day, these sources said. Heading into Saturday’s showdown with Michigan, Day is 56-6 as a head coach and 39-2 in the Big Ten. He came close to beating Georgia with a last-second field goal in the College Football Playoff last year, but Columbus faces the specter of losing two straight games to arch-rival Michigan. If Day leads the Buckeyes to a win on Saturday in Ann Arbor and sets the Buckeyes up for a CFP run, he likely won’t follow through on that decision. But if they lose, he might be more open to listening to A&M’s pitch.
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Michigan State
After months of coaching searches, Michigan State has turned its full attention to Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith, sources told The Athletic on Saturday morning.
For Smith, the former Fiesta Bowl-winning quarterback for Oregon State, it won’t be an easy decision to leave his alma mater and a program he breathed new life into a few years ago as it now finds itself in the midst of the Crisis faces uncertainty of life after the Pac-12.
Smith knows all about building a program in the shadow of a much better-known, better-resourced program in-state, much like Michigan State versus Michigan. However, Smith, a former star QB for the Beavers, has strong ties to Corvallis. And as shaky as the Beavers’ conference situation is right now, with a lot of uncertainty, it’s still not an easy decision for him to walk away.
Dave Doeren of NC State, Leipold of Kansas and Jason Candle of Toledo are believed to be in the mix.
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Baylor
Another hot situation to watch is at Baylor. The Bears are 3-8 heading into Saturday’s game in Waco against West Virginia. Baylor has lost four straight and the pressure is mounting on Dave Aranda. It wasn’t too long ago that Aranda led Baylor to the No. 5 ranking with a 12-2 record in 2021, but the Bears are 9-15 since then. The Baylor administration really likes Aranda, and I’m told he’ll likely be back in 2024 when he presents a plan to make some key changes they like.
(Photo by Ryan Day: Jason Mowry / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)