As it has broke yesterday afternoon, Oklahoma State has indeed hired Eric Morris as expected. Morris will coach the remainder of the season, including a potential CFP. Below, I will list names and what I think the Mean Green is looking for, but first, here is the link to my other college football coach candidate lists if you choose to take a re-look and see how far or how close I was to currently filled jobs:
https://fanspo.com/nfl/s/college_football/p/ehkeG_1Wbo6Yb-/coach-candidate-tier-list-links
As the Mean Green try to scramble and find someone to be able to maintain the success Morris has been having this season, we all expect the next head coach will more than likely run the air raid offense or some kind of spread option branched off of the Air Raid. But for some reason, the stereotype of Texas offensive coaches can't hire good defensive coaches have been a real issue Lincoln Riley, Joey McGuire, Dave Aranda, Jeff Lebby, Sonny Dykes, Mike Gundy, and even Eric Morris have all had really lackluster defenses that couldn't help an offense. Riley has tried lately to fix his issues as defenses have become more valuable as scoring 50 to 60 points a game does not turn into a win always. Same goes for McGuire, but I will focus more on Eric Morris since this is about North Texas, but since he got there the offense has been efficient and always scoring 30 or 40 points, but if they score 35, the defense will allow 42. They are not able to finish games because the defense always got in the way and choked. Morris looked at KC Keeler at Sam Houston State and their defensive success and the fact they won games based on the fact the defense was able to stop high powered G5 offenses like Texas State and Liberty and he wanted that, so he hired their DC in Skyler Cassity. Since then, both sides of the field have been clicking on all cylinders scoring 46 points a game while allowing just 24 points a game. That is a 10 point decrease from 2024 and 13 points points from 2023. With all of that said, you can hire your high flying offensive minded coach, but make sure they hire a experienced DC that can coach your defense like Cassity was able to.
Top Names Currently
Billy Napier, former Florida Head Coach (2022-25)
Florida fans will be on here saying "don't hire him, he is a bad coach" but if he is so bad, why does he have a 62-35 record as a HC? Simple, he was at a program way over his league. Look at what he did at Louisiana making it to the Sun Belt Championship year one and then making it every single year until he took a plane to Gainesville. There, he had to play a top 25 team almost every week and instead of being able to let his team progress on their own pace, they were thrown into the fire week in and week out having to somehow build chemistry while looking unprepared and inexperienced. Take what you learn and implement it t your next team. Apparently, a few weeks ago he was having lunch in Denton with Eric Morris which could just be a friendly little meeting, but there could be a possibility that the lunch meeting was about their future endeavors whether Napier will be joining him to Stillwater or Napier's intention to take over the program. I may be reading too much into this, but we will see and I think there is no coincidence that they just met for a club sandwich.
Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky (2019-?)
I'e been really high on Helton since... Well, probably since they hired him honestly. I really think he deserves a bigger opportunity to prove himself and even though North Texas is not really what I envision as a bigger opportunity, I feel like this is a good stepping stone for him to show he can coach at a higher level and is ready to go higher.
G.J. Kinnie, Texas State (2023-?)
At this point in his career, I can see Kinnie taking the job more than I see Helton. Kinnie had one of the biggest rise to the top paths that you rarely see in the FBS level. He went from GA (2017) to OA (2018-19) to all of a sudden an OC (2020-21) without being a position coach, he was then offered a HC job at Incarnate Word and went 12-2 and all the way to the FCS Semifinals. After one year, he took the Texas State job and took them to their first bowl appearance. After the miracle season, all signs pointed towards leaving for Mississippi State but stayed and took an extension. Two years later, they are in a win or out of a bowl situation going into Saturday's game. He may take this job just for fresh air, but who knows if North Texas is really interested in him.
Could Be An Option
Collin Klein, Texas A&M (OC; 2024-?)
A young, proven offensive mind who has been having success this season with Marcel Read and Co. I personally thought he would end up as the HC at Colorado State, but I was incorrect. If he wants to go somewhere he can use as a stepping stone to eventually take over a Big 12 or SEC school, go to North Texas.
Will Stein, Oregon (OC; 2023-?)
Another young, proven offensive mind, who like Morris, is known as a QB whisper having success with vets in Nix and Gabriel, made Dante Moore look like a top tier QB in this system, and coached Frank Harris who is the best QB in UTSA history.
Ra'Shaad Samples, Oregon (RB; 2024-?)
A Dallas native, well known as a top RB coach gaining recognition working for Sonny Dykes at SMU, took some time for a year in the NFL and returned to college. A fantastic recruiter, he helped get Makhi Hughes from Tulane to Oregon and had like three or four freshmen who are higher up in the lineup than the top RB in the transfer portal.
Seth Doege, Arizona (OC; 2025-?)
This is honestly a really good name no one has really talked about. Has worked as a position coach for Graham Harrell at USC and Purdue and then became an OC himself at Marshall and sparked the offense that was needed a bit of a boost, then went and replaced Dino Babers as OC at Arizona and took a 4-8 Wildcats team to 8-3 team that is fixing to play against Arizona State for the first top 25 matchup against each other since 2014.
Kirby Moore, Missouri (OC; 2023-?)
Another good option, though I am seeing more traction towards his name. Was able to take over a mediocre offense and turned it into a top offense with Brady Cook and Luther Burden. With both gone, he was able to keep the offense flowing with Beau Pribula under center.
Kendal Briles, TCU (OC; 2023-?)
There was a point where everyone thought he will end up with a HC job in 2020 after one year at Arkansas, the longer he stayed the more likely it didn't look like it would happen. Now at TCU, this could be the last chance of taking a HC position. Also with his dad back in the news, it may hurt his chances even more.
There is my North Texas list. Let me hear your thoughts in the comment section! UConn is next, I will be waiting to post USF once the job does indeed open up.