Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

No matter what happens on the field this fall, a constant subplot throughout the Razorbacks’ football season will be the ongoing coaching search.  As is the norm for college football, there are already a few coaches frequently mentioned to be first in line on the coaching carousel in a few months.  

This isn’t a list of coaches that are definitely on Jeff Long’s short list as much as it is a list of coaches that are frequently discussed around the college football universe as potentially getting a bigger job soon.  Depending on what happens with these five coaches this season, their stock could skyrocket, or it could plummet, but since Arkansas fans know there will be some sort of new coach after this season, even if it’s simply the removal of an interim tag, it seem prudent for fans to pay attention to what happens to some of these coaches.  

This is just a list of college coaches.  It doesn’t include NFL coaches, collegiate assistants, or Jon Gruden (although those rumors will likely surface sometime this fall).

1. James Franklin, Vanderbilt. 
It may seem surreal to think there’s a coach out there with experience taking over a team from an interim head coach who took the role after the previous head coach left the team in the middle of the off-season, but that’s actually Franklin’s story.  The Commodores limped to a 2-10 record under interim head coach Robbie Caldwell in 2010, but Franklin led them to a Liberty Bowl appearance in his first year at the helm.  

Franklin has also shown an ability to recruit the types of players to Vanderbilt previously thought impossible.  If Vanderbilt can somehow earn their way to a second consecutive bowl appearance, something the Commodores have never done in their entire existence, Franklin will be a hot name for every major coaching vacancy in a few months.  Of course, he won’t be cheap.  If  Vanderbilt was willing to offer Gus Malzahn $3 million per year before he’d coached a college game, it seems reasonable to believe they’d be willing to go into that ballpark to retain Franklin.  

2. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia. 
Holgorsen is riding a wave of positive momentum after winning the Big East in his first year in charge at Morgantown, then completely eviscerating Clemson in the Orange Bowl.  However, what might be even more impressive was scoring 21 points and racking up 533 yards of offense against LSU’s top-notch defense last season.  He coached under Mike Leach at Texas Tech for several years and spent one year as Mike Gundy’s offensive coordinator before joining the Mountaineers.  He has the sort of disheveled hair that is associated with eccentric geniuses.  

He has an affinity for nontraditional gray uniforms, something on which he and Jeff Long see eye-to-eye.  He’s also known to drink Red Bulls like water, sky dive to celebrate his hiring, and shoot the West Virginia mascot’s musket into the sky on a golf course.  What sportswriter wouldn’t love covering this? With West Virginia’s entrance to the Big 12 this season, it will be interesting to see how Holgorsen is able to lead the Mountaineers through a tougher schedule than what they saw in the Big East.  They host Oklahoma Nov. 17, and that is the type of victory that could make Holgorsen an attractive candidate for a lot of jobs.

3. Steve Sarkisian, Washington.
Sarkisian took over a Washington program that won only 11 games the previous four seasons, including an ugly 0-12 mark the year before he took over. The Huskies won five games in Sarkisian’s first season and have earned bowl trips in both of the last two seasons, the first bowls Washington had played in since 2002.  The Huskies were expected to drop off following the departure of first round quarterback Jake Locker in 2011, but the Huskies earned the right to play in an epic Alamo Bowl, which they lost to Baylor despite scoring 56 points. 

Sarkisian was an assistant under Pete Carroll for many of Carroll’s great USC teams and spent time in the NFL as an assistant.  Washington will have opportunities to make some noise this fall with road trips to LSU and Oregon, as well as hosting USC all within the first six weeks of the season. However, if they don’t improve on their back-to-back seven-win seasons, Sarkisian could very well end up staying put in Washington.

4. Charlie Strong, Louisville. 
For several years, Strong was the proverbial “assistant coach that deserves a head coaching shot somewhere and will make everyone who passed on him regret it” coach.  He was one of the most respected assistants in the country as defensive coordinator at Florida, racking up three Broyles Award nominations in his career. 

Strong, a Batesville native and UCA alumni, was finally given an opportunity at Louisville beginning with the 2010 season and led the Cardinals to their first bowl games since Bobby Petrino was their coach.  Despite a 2-4 start in 2011, the Cardinals finished 7-5 and are one of the favorites to win the Big East this year.  If Louisville wins the Big East, or comes close, Strong will be in the discussion for several jobs.  And, hey, former Louisville coaches do pretty well at Arkansas, right?  At least for a while?

5. Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State. 
Call it a hunch, but most fans reading this won’t have a choice but to keep up with Malzahn’s performance this season.  The reality of the situation with Malzahn is that he’ll be mentioned as a possible candidate for every Arkansas coaching opening for the rest of his career.  It may never actually happen, but it will be discussed among the Arkansas fan base forever and ever.

As much as we’d love to include Boise State’s Chris Peterson, it’s just too hard to see him leaving Boise considering he’s turned down pretty much every job opening throughout college football since 2008.  He is the dream candidate for many, and he’ll surely continue to get offers every year, but until he takes one, he seems pretty content in Boise.

Remember, this is just a list of college coaches who figure to be in the discussion for open jobs around the country come December.  Some of them could easily fall off the map, and there will probably be some coaches no one is thinking of right now who will come out of nowhere to capture the imaginations of fans and athletic directors everywhere. 

But it’s never too soon to start paying attention.

Doc Harper is a regular contributor to ArkansasSports360.com and ArkansasExpats.com. You can email him at heydocharper@gmail.com and follow his thoughts and observations on Twitter @doc_harper.