Starting from the top and this is pretty obvious but this hire is what Michael Kelly's tenure is riding on. Faith was beginning to erode as he kept Jeff Scott around, so he did the first part of what most boosters and power brokers at USF wanted in terminating Scott after one of the three worst starts I could think of any CFB coach. The core theme around this search is finding someone with head coaching experience and someone not checked out like Charlie Strong was. This is very early in the search, they are mainly fielding interest as Kelly said today.
With that, I'm limiting this to just people who I have info on and former or current head coaches.
THE ONES THAT GET YOU IN P5 DISCUSSIONS IMMEDIATELY AGAIN
Jon Gruden, everyone loves Gruden or most people do. We have some mutual friends and he would be interested. He loves coaching football. I do not know how he would feel about recruiting and all of those other things, but I would definitely talk to him if I were USF. The Bulls need someone to move the needle.
On the Deion Sanders front, he has talked a lot with Colorado about their job. He is not really in the mix at Auburn or Georgia Tech for multiple reasons, but the Buffs are pretty serious in their interest in Prime. He would rather be in a major city in a warmer climate with a recruiting base, but P5 is still P5 even if it is shitty P5. Deion
Urban Meyer, if he wants to do it and you are cool with any ethical issues, you make the call and see if he wants to do. He wins and Utah and Ohio State have shown if you don't have dysfunction it can be maintained after he leaves. UF handled his departure poorly hence my comment. How much gas does he have left in the tank? That is a big question. I don't have intel on his status.
Mike Leach, the Pirate, this is another call Kelly should make. He has won everywhere with really random amounts of talent. He loves Key West and is stationed there whenever possible and obviously it is an easier flight from Tampa than StarkVegas. He would love the Pirate ship in RayJay for the remaining time and he would create a winning product quickly with his rep and a more attractive landing spot. He has recruited well enough to win at three of the most isolated jobs in the country at Wazzu, Texas Tech and Miss State. He would listen if USF calls.
THE SOLID
Tom Allen from Indiana is another person who would listen and like I said on my too-early list, he is pretty much maxed out at Indiana and he lost his QB to a bigger school this past offseason really killing some of their momentum as a program. He has recruited Florida very well and he is a decent defensive coach. He would be a solid hire. Allen would be interested
Matt Rhule he is probably a tier above this, but I didn't want to make one just for Rhule. He can coach and build programs, his issue is his way of doing things is not aligned with professional football and it blew up in Carolina in part because of that. He would get things fixed and put up a very solid product in a short amount of time IMO. Rhule wants back in somewhere, I do think he might get a P5 gig though.
STAY AWAY
Scott Frost, the former UCF coach is a world-class jerk and he burned bridges throughout Florida on his way out of Orlando and even while there with people. It would be a funny troll hire in some ways, but he brings so much baggage.
Dan Mullen, he seemed to be a little burned out at UF, I'm not sure if it is a fit and there were so many issues in Gainesville just up the road, I don't know how you make that move.
PROBABLY NOT HAPPENING
On FAMU coach Willie Simmons, I had one HS coach in Florida and a former P5 coach tell me that Simmons is stuck at FAMU because of something that would come up in a background search. I had more than one person say this so I am passing it along. Mike Norvell if you followed his career had some rumors about ASU misdeeds follow him around that stalled out his departure from Memphis, but FSU found no issues in their background check, so you never know, but I wanted to be clear on that. The guy is 30-12 at FAMU which is very impressive and he isn't getting a sniff for better jobs. He should've landed the FIU job this past offseason so clearly, something is amiss.
Larry Scott, there is always one of these guys at every school. I remember covering GT and their fans wanting Mark Price to be the coach when they hired Brian Gregory and even Josh Pastner. Price went 30-42 at Charlotte before being fired midseason there as a reference. Scott is 7-17 at Howard right now. There is no way to sell that and just no way I see Michael Kelly putting his own future on the line for a guy who was 4-2 as an interim at Miami one season and then 7-17 at Howard and who was part of a giant nightmare in Knoxville too as an OC in between.
Jim Leavitt everyone wants him, it just can't happen for obvious reasons.
HELL NO
Willie Taggart, you don't sleep with your ex-wife.
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