Andy Staples breaks down candidates for possible Michigan State coaching search

With Michigan State‘s move to suspend Mel Tucker without pay until the conclusion of a Title IX investigation into alleged sexual harassment, the Spartans have to begin thinking about the possibility of hiring a new head coach. The good news for MSU is it has an early jump on the field.

And there are plenty of quality coaching candidates out there, some of them just beginning to emerge.

On3’s Andy Staples took a stab at some of the names that might be intriguing to Michigan State in its coaching search, and On3 lists those names below.

Sherrone Moore, Michigan offensive coordinator

Moore assumed sole duties as Michigan’s offensive coordinator after two years of splitting them as co-coordinator. He’s a little light on coordinator experience as a whole, but Staples likes him as a wild card play as an up-and-comer type.

“If Jim Harbaugh‘s going to stay at Michigan, pull the double whammy,” Staples said. “Take the guy who feels like one of the biggest rising stars in college football and take something really important away from one of your rivals.”

Brian Hartline, Ohio State offensive coordinator

The resume speaks for itself when it comes to Hartline, the Ohio State offensive coordinator. Hartline is a recruiter and a motivator first and foremost, two qualities that would undoubtedly be at the forefront of any coaching endeavor he might undertake. Could Michigan State be interested?

Like Moore, he’s been a quick riser and as such doesn’t have a ton of coordinating or head coaching experience. But given how well he is thought of in the industry, it seems like only a matter of time until he gets more of that.

Alex Atkins, Florida State offensive coordinator

The Florida State offensive coordinator has been the yin to Mike Norvell‘s yang in Tallahassee, and the two have produced one of the nation’s best offenses in a matter of a few years. Atkins is in large part responsible for that.

“He’s going to be a name that gets mentioned for a lot of coaching openings once the season ends because he’s the offensive coordinator at Florida State, though Mike Norvell is the play-caller,” Staples said. “But Alex has been a play-calling OC before at Charlotte. He also is the guy who resurrected Florida State’s offensive line, and if you followed Florida State over the last few years you know that them having a capable offensive line is nothing short of a miracle given what Alex Atkins inherited.”

Dave Clawson, Wake Forest coach

Staples mentioned Clawson as a coach who might be a candidate for the open Northwestern job if he’s interested, but it’ll probably take the right combination of factors to pull Clawson away from a Wake Forest program he’s done a really nice job of building up. Clawson has now been at Wake Forest since 2014.

Clawson’s track record speaks for itself, though. He’s won 10 games at Bowling Green and 11 games at Wake Forest, even reaching the ACC Championship Game during his tenure there.

Willie Fritz, Tulane coach

The talented Tulane coach is on the radar for Staples, undoubtedly because of the success he’s had with the Green Wave. Tulane really made waves last year when it beat USC in bowl season. That success once again has people looking in 2023.

“Age, you’re going to look at that, but they play really well,” Staples said. “They play really hard. They’re playing with a backup quarterback and hanging with Ole Miss. You look at the budgets of those two programs, Tulane shouldn’t be anywhere near competitive in that game.”

Jamey Chadwell, Liberty coach

After resurrecting the Coastal Carolina program and hitting the 11-win mark in back-to-back seasons in 2020 and 2021, Chadwell parlayed his success into the Liberty job when Hugh Freeze left. Thought he’s mostly been at smaller levels after stints at Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina, he’s well thought of.

“Has also won at a bunch of different levels,” Staples said. “The questions for him is you’ve never been a Power 5 assistant because he’s always been a head coach at a lower level: Can you recruit at this level? And he’s not going to be able to answer that until somebody hires him.”

Sean Lewis, Colorado offensive coordinator

Finally there’s a pick from Staples who has been at the forefront of college football the last two weeks: Colorado offensive coordinator Sean Lewis. Lewis came to Colorado after a stint as the head coach at Kent State. Staples thinks he could be on the Power 5 head coaching radar now.

“If Lewis is producing great offenses at Colorado, then I think he’s going to get looks from Power 5 schools as a head coach and after this year,” Staples said. “Because everybody’s looking for something like that, and if you go back to Sean Lewis’ Kent State history, he was a capable coach there. Again, the out-of-conference scheduling for them just hamstrung him every single year. I think if people pop the hood on that they’re going to say, ‘You know what, this guy can be very successful as a Power 5 head coach and now we’ve seen him do this offensively at Colorado. We’re going to put him on our list.'”

There you have it seven names from On3’s Andy Staples to keep an eye on for Colorado’s head coaching gig. The names represent a variety of different experience levels and overall profiles. Of course, Michigan State hasn’t officially parted ways with Tucker yet, so that must happen before any coaching candidates are pursued. Still, these are some good names to get familiar with.