Coaching Carousel Roundup & Rumblings: The latest with Stanford's opening, notable coordinator movement headlined by Phil Longo to Wisconsin and guys getting paid

What’s going on with Stanford’s head coach opening?

After David Shaw not-so-abruptly retired as  the season’s end, the Cardinal have slowly gone about their search for just their second head coach in 15 years. 

Stanford has reportedly settled on two finalists in former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor. With ESPN’s Pete Thamel saying the last round of interviews have been completed and a decision is expected soon. 

On the surface, Garrett seems like a strange choice for the Cardinal, as he has zero experience coaching at the collegiate or prep level. The former Dallas Cowboys head coach has been a TV analyst for NBC and Notre Dame this fall after getting fired as the New York Giants’ OC last season. 

Taylor is a West Coast lifer. He’s a former Utah OC and Cal alum, who is 30-7 — including 12-0 this season and in the FCS quarterfinals — in four years with the Hornets. He’s a two-time Big Sky Coach of the Year, too. 

Between the two candidates, I think I’d know which way I’d lean if I were Stanford, but we’ll see how this opening plays out. 

With Stanford close to making a hire, that leaves Purdue, Kent State and North Texas as the only remaining openings. Early names surrounding the Boilermakers’ search includes Air Forces’ Troy Calhoun, Syracuse’s Dino Babers, Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson, Tulane’s Willie Fritz and Georgia OC Todd Monken.

In case you missed it, Missouri head coach and Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom (somewhat) surprisingly emerged as the guy for UNLV, with the news becoming official earlier this week. 

Odom was a .500 coach in four seasons with the Tigers (25-25), and now he takes over one of the tougher Group of 5 jobs. The Rebels haven’t made a bowl game since 2014, and they fired Marcus Arroyo went 7-23 in three seasons. 

UNLV did show a modicum of importance this fall at least — 5-7 including a season-finale win over rival Nevada — but a late November defeat to Hawaii seemed to seal Arroyo’s fate. 

Louisville offensive coordinator Lance Taylor filled another G5 opening, becoming Western Michigan’s new head coach after the school fired Tim Lester following six seasons in Kalamazoo. 

WMU is regarded as one of the better MAC jobs, especially is Taylor is able to boost the Broncos’ recruiting footprint. 

The former Alabama captain is a well-traveled assistant, working for the Crimson Tide, Stanford, Notre Dame and in the NFL. Taylor, 41, has recruited and developed some really good college running backs, including Christian McCaffrey, Bryce Love and Karen Williams.

TRACKING THE LATEST COORDINATOR MOVES

While the transfer portal is on fire, there’s been all sorts of coordinator movement this week, too. 

The most interesting and notable hire was North Carolina Phil Longo joining Luke Fickell’s staff as Wisconsin’s new OC. 

The 54-year-old coach has been Mack Brown’s coordinator for the last four seasons, putting up points in bunches with Sam Howell and Drake Maye. 

The Tar Heels finished in the top 30 nationally in yards per play and scoring in all four years. 

Considering Wisconsin’s recent offensive downturn and inability to develop quarterbacks (see: Jack Cohen and Graham Mertz), Longo will be a welcomed addition in Madison. 

Fickell (rightly) believes the Badgers need a philosophical shift offensively, so he’s hiring someone who will transition Wisconsin away from its pro-style roots into a more tempo, spread scheme. Longo’s offense is a varied form of the Air Raid, which should also be more attractive to prospective transfer portal receivers for Wisconsin. 

Don’t expect Wisconsin to stop running the ball a bunch, though, as Longo has shown — both at Ole Miss and UNC — that he’s not afraid to lean on tailbacks he trusts (see: Ty Chandler in 2021, Michael Carter and Javonte Williams in 2020).  

North Carolina was more pass-happy with Maye this fall, but in 2021 and 2020 the Tar Heels ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the ACC in yards per carry and rushing touchdowns. 

In other coordinator movement, former Louisville defensive coordinator Bryan Brown followed Scott Satterfield to Cincy, while Matt Rhule continues to build out his new staff at Nebraska, swiping Syracuse DC Tony White to the same position, per multiple reports. 

In two seasons with the Orange, White turned a terrible unit into one of the more solid defenses in the ACC — top 5 units both years. He utilizes that drop-eight, 3-3-5 stack defense that Rhule ran at Baylor, too. 

Dino Babers didn’t just lose his rising DC this week though, as first-year OC Robert Anae is on the move, too, leaving for NC State late Thursday evening. The former Virginia coordinator replaces Tim Beck, who is now the head coach at Coastal Carolina. With Devin Leary in the transfer portal, the Wolfpack need a quarterback and a reunion with former Cavs’ QB Brennan Armstrong could be a natural fit in Raleigh now. 

Former Texas State head coach Jake Spavital landed on his feet quickly, joining Justin Wilcox at Cal as his new OC. 

Kalani Sitake is filling BYU’s open DC role with Weber State head coach Jay Hill. The veteran FCS head coach has been with the Wildcats for the last nine seasons, including four years with double-digit wins in the last five full-game seasons. Weber State had a top-15 FCS defense in 2022. 

It’s a full-circle transition for Hill, who is a Utah lifer. Both his parents attended BYU before he ended up playing and coaching for the Utes for more than a decade. He was a defensive analyst under Urban Meyer and then was promoted to special teams coordinator by Kyle Whittingham in 2005, a role he held until 2014 when he took the head coaching job at Weber State.  

𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙴𝚁 🎙️ @CoachJayHill pic.twitter.com/mJIpotbCY5

— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) December 7, 2022

He’s tasked with shoring up a Cougs defense that has precipitously regressed the last few years, going from a top 10 unit in yards per play allowed in 2020 to a group that has ranked 80th and 104th nationally the last two years.

In some wild coordinator rumors Friday afternoon, 247Sports reported that Missouri State head coach Bobby Petrino has emerged as a candidate to be Jimbo Fisher’s new OC and play-caller at Texas A&M.

Obviously, Petrino has a long history of guiding explosive offenses, but he’s been a head coach (Western Kentucky, Louisville, Atlanta Falcons and Arkansas) since 2002 and this would be quite the return to the SEC.

An Aggies staff with Jimbo Fisher at head coach, Bobby Petrino as OC, DJ Durkin as DC and Steve Addazio as OL coach would have a ton of head coaching experience but also more baggage than Will Loman in Death of a Salesman.

GUYS GETTING PAID

A number of extensions have been handed out already this offseason — Mark Stoops and Lance Leipold both received raises to stay at Kentucky and Kansas, respectively, while Washington’s Karen Deboer got a two-year extension and a $1 million bump annually after a 9-3 season in his first year in Seattle — but this week saw a pair of coaches receive big money deals to stay at their current spots. 

On the heels of a stunning turnaround at TCU that saw the Horned Frogs go from 5-7 in 2021 to the Big 12 Championship game undefeated and a College Football Playoff berth with largely with the same roster, Sonny Dykes was rewarded for his superb efforts in Year 1, netting an extension to 2028 and a raise requisite with the top paid coaches in the Big 12, per ESPN.

Oklahoma State Mike Gundy makes around $7.5 million annually, so Dykes is set to receive a significant bump thanks to his efforts leading TCU to a 12-1 season and a berth in the CFP Semifinals against Michigan, 

Elsewhere, the Big Ten schools have money to burn thanks to the conference’s recent media rights deal, so after another solid season at Minnesota, Gophers head coach PJ Fleck was rewarded with another extension and raise, reportedly getting a $1 million bump annually on a new seven-year deal that runs until 2029. 

Mr. Row the Boat is 43-27 at Minnesota, going 9-4 and 8-4, bowl game pending, the last two seasons. 

MORE COACHING CAROSUEL RUMBLINGS & RUMORS

Longtime Georgia defensive line coach Tray Scott as emerged as a name to watch for Arkansas’ defensive coordinator opening. Scott, who has been a member of Kirby Smart’s staff at UGA since 2017, is a Razorback alum and coached alongside Hogs current head coach Sam Pittman for several seasons in Athens. Still, he doesn’t have DC experience and Pittman, with money to spend, may opt for a coach with a longer resume. … Also in the SEC, a popular name around South Carolina’s OC opening is Arkansas tight ends coach Dowell Loggains, who has multiple stints in the NFL as a coordinator (Chicago Bears 2016-17, the Miami Dolphins 2018 and New York Jets in 2019-20). Still, there’s rumblings that Shane Beamer hasn’t totally landed on a surefire hire just yet, so this one bares monitoring. … At Auburn, the Tigers continue to flirt with Alabama secondary coach Charles Kelly, rumored to be Deion Sanders’ pick for DC at Colorado. The AU alum has yet to officially accept an offer from the Buffs, so we’ll see how this one plays out. …Lastly, it’s still wait-and-see season at Iowa on if Kirk Ferentz is going to make any changes to his coaching staff — namely firing his son Brian Ferentz as OC and finding a new play-caller. The Hawkeyes made a splash in the transfer portal by landing former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara, and at his season-recap press conference Ferentz teased program changes to come — only refusing to offer any specifics. “Departures on our staff are sort of like the portal and your team. I mean, anything could happen there,” Ferentz said.