 |
| Source: Bleacher Report |
Number 1 is off the board now, so I will give you three more candidates to chew on. It would have been nice to get "The Pirate" because he would stimulate a lot of interest in the program right off the bat, but I guess Leach saw Washington State as an easier turn-around (they went 5-7 this past year and the Pac 12 is a much better draw than the Big 12). I thought of all people, Leach wouldn't shy from a challenge, but he is gone, so let's not waste our breath.
I figured that Zenger may have been working Leach for 6 weeks, since the Sunflower Showdown, but maybe Leach was not KU's number one target? Maybe one of these three are? We will find out soon, but for now I've got "The Third Tier."
The Third Tier (I feel that these candidates might meet Zenger's criteria)
Number 7:
 |
| Source: Orlando Sentinel Dave Christensen |
The Rundown:
Age: 50
Head Coach:
2009-Present: Wyoming
(17-18 in 3 seasons)
·
1-0 in Bowl game.
Offensive Coordinator:
1997-2008: Missouri
·
Named Offensive
Coordinator of the Year by rivals.com
1992-1996: Toledo
Position Coach:
1990-1991: Toledo
1989-1990: Idaho
State
1988: Washington
Ups:
You might not want to, but think back on the 2007
and 2008 Missouri Tigers offenses. High-flying, athletic, smart football. Do
you remember who was piloting that unstoppable offense? Yes. This guy. Suddenly
your world would be complete if Dave Christensen, the 2007 National Assistant
of the Year by rivals.com, became the next Kansas Football coach...
Well, not exactly, but he still looks like a viable option. In just his third year at Wyoming, Christensen has the Cowboys bowl eligible. We all know what he did to the Missouri program, and at Toledo he set 75 school records.
He’s got the recruiting connections that might make up for his short head coaching stint and he knows the Big 12 area well.
Downs:
What might be holding him back is just the fact that
he doesn’t have a lot of experience at leading a football team. Like Turner
Gill, he had just a short tenure at a mid-major school and he took them to just
one bowl game. Fans, who are still healing from the fresh Turner Gill wounds,
might be outraged if they see his head coaching resume.
Odds of hire: 1 in 20
Number 8:
 |
 |
| Source: Bronco Talk |
Troy Calhoun
The Rundown:
Age: 45
Head Coach:
2007-Present: Air
Force (40-23) 2-2 in bowls
·
2007 Mountain West
Coach of the Year
Offensive Coordinator:
2006: Houston Texans
(NFL)
2001-2003: Wake
Forest
Position Coach:
2003-2005: Denver Broncos (NFL)
1995-2000: Ohio
1989-1994: Air Force
Ups:
From everything I have read, Calhoun is a
disciplined coach and he can turn a program around quickly (after all, he was a
finalist for the coach of the year award in 2007, during just his first year as
head coach). Boom and boom: we need both of those things. As coach at Air
Force, his alma mater, the Falcons went to four bowl games.
As far as his coaching schemes, Calhoun is best known for his triple option attack and he can utilize multiple running backs. With the stable of backs that Kansas has right now, that offense would be easy to integrate. But Calhoun did not coach the option at Houston or in Denver, so he has seen and coached different offenses.
Downs:
Like Sumlin, Calhoun seems fairly happy with his job
right now. Who wouldn’t want to coach for their alma mater? Calhoun was a
quarterback at Air Force, so all his life he has been leading the Falcons to
victory.
Would he want to come to Kansas and the Midwest? Does he have the connections? I can’t say yes to either of those right now. Even if I could, how would the fans react?
Would he want to come to Kansas and the Midwest? Does he have the connections? I can’t say yes to either of those right now. Even if I could, how would the fans react?
Odds of hire: 1 in 20
Number 9:
 |
| Source: Gridiron Fans |
Dirk Koetter
The Rundown:
Age: 52
Head Coach: (66-44
overall and 4-2 in bowls)
2001-2006: Arizona
State
1998-2000: Boise
State
·
2 time Big West
Champion
Offensive Coordinator:
2007-Present: Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL)
1996-1998: Oregon
1994-1995: Boston College
1989-1993: Missouri
1986-1988: Texas El Paso
1986: San Francisco State
Ups:
The guy has been out of College Football for a
while, but after 29 years of coaching, he still knows how to win. He helped
elevate Boise State to where it is now, winning the Big West Championship
twice. He took Arizona State to four bowl games, leading their aerial attack
with his great offensive mind. He has great ties in coaching and fairly good ties
in the Big 12 (he coached the Missouri offense for 4 years).
‘Why did he go the pro-route if he wanted to get back into college coaching?’ you may ask. Good question, but maybe he did what most “battle-worn” coaches do. Take a few years off, collect yourself, and then dive back in. Maybe he was “too close to the trees and couldn’t see the forest”, so he stepped away from the game. Remember Bill Snyder? Snyder retired from the game and evaluated what he was doing and how the game was evolving. It turned out alright for him, right? Mark Mangino and Mike Leach are looking to get back in the game, but they’ve been away for nearly 3 years. I don’t think they stopped watching college football altogether, so they might even be more successful the second time around.
Downs:
Snyder took 3 years off, Mangino has taken just 2 off,
Leach has taken just 2 off; Koetter has been out of the college game for five
years. It’s not a backbreaker, but that combined with the fact that didn’t
recruit the Big 12 are much, could make for a pretty tall task.
Odds of hire: 1 in 25
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