A lot of the big moves have already been made on the coaching carousel. We've seen Bobby Petrino, Bret Bielema, Butch Jones, Gus Malzahn and Tommy Tuberville all find new homes. Many big jobs like Arkansas, Auburn and Tennessee have been filled but the carousel keeps spinning with each spin causing another opening on the carousel. Let's take a look at some of the moves that have happened recently and our gut reactions….
Arkansas State hires Bryan Harsin
The Longhorns site that I linked to was very kind to Harsin and obviously saw him as a bright spot in their coaching staff. For me, I still look at what Texas did against the best two teams on their schedule and that was score an average of 22.5 points. I know that doesn't all fall on Harsin but I think this hire could be great and also could end up being kind of meh. One thing Harsin definitely has in his favor is that he learned from Chris Petersen for many years so maybe all he needs is to get out of Mack Brown's shadow.
I like it. He took San Jose State from 1-12 in his first season to 10-2 in his last season, a top 25 ranking and their first bowl game since 2006. Prior to that their last bowl game was 1990 so you understand how hard it is to get SJSU to a bowl game.
Southern Miss hires Todd Monken
This is the guy that the Golden Eagles should have hired instead of Ellis Johnson. I know, I know, it's easy to say that after the guy went 0-12 but going from Larry Fedora to a defensive coach was going to be a tough fit and it turned out being even worse than that. After going from 11-2 to 0-12, Monken has his work cut out for him. It's going to be much more difficult than it would have been if he just slid in behind Fedora and kept the ball rolling. The hire makes sense.
Texas Tech hires Kliff Kingsbury
Kingsbury was still trying to make it as a QB as recent as 2007. He's been a college football coach for all of five years. This is a very risky move but I think it's smart to go with a guy who played for Texas Tech. Especially after being left in surprising fashion by their last coach. Out of all of the hires over the past week, except Bobby Petrino, this one is the biggest wildcard where you simply are going to have to wait and see. If he's smart he's going to bring in some veteran coaches to help him out with the day-to-day. For what it's worth, the Texas Tech fans love it.
Taggart took a WKU team from 2-10 to back-to-back 7-5 seasons and a trip to the LIttle Caesars bowl this season. Pizza Pizza! What's not to like?
For now these are just opinions. Some of these coaches will be great fits, others will give their fans fits. One thing is for sure and with the way college football is heading some of these coaches will be back on the carousel in way or the other in the next few years. Good luck guys, make sure you win big and if you don't make sure you have a great buyout.
Best job still open: Wisconsin
Other openings: FIU, Kent State, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State, WMU
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