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The Virginia coaching search has been going on strong for three days now, and while the names continue to make their ways through the Virginia rumor mill, other schools are starting to finalize their coaching searches. Still Virginia has some stiff competition on what seems to be a higher-than-average turnover year for Power 5 conference teams, and a few others as well.
So far, the following teams have all made new head coaching hires this year:
- Georgia is expected to hire Alabama DC Kirby Smart
- Hawaii hired Nevada OC Nick Rolovich
- Illinois hired interim coach Bill Cubit as permanent, for a two-year deal
- Iowa State hired Toledo head coach Matt Campbell
- Maryland is expected to hire Michigan DC DJ Durkin
- Minneosta hired interim coach Tracy Claeys as permanent, for a three-year deal
- UCF hired Oregon OC Scott Frost
- USC (Southern California) hired interim Clay Helton as permanent
- Virginia Tech hired Memphis HC Justin Fuente
That's a lot of schools off the board, including Virginia's immediate neighbors, Virginia Tech and Maryland, but there are still a good number of schools remaining, and of course, as these schools take other head coaches away from other schools, so goes the carousel round and round. Here are the six Power 5 schools (five...plus Memphis), other than Virginia, still searching:
Memphis: Fine, so Memphis isn't a Power 5 school, but we're leaving them here anyway. So Virginia Tech hires Justin Fuente, which leaves Memphis empty. FootballScoop reported on November 29 that Memphis offered the position to Missouri DC Barry Odom, but nothing concrete has come out of that, and ESPN has also reported that Memphis might be interested in Oklahoma OC Lincoln Riley. They could also end up promoting OC Darrell Dickey to head coach.
Miami: The Hurricanes have been interviewing a whole slew of people, according to reports. This list includes Butch Davis, Greg Schiano, Dan Mullen, and, oh no!, Mark Richt.
Missouri: Former Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel is resigning at the end of this season due to lymphoma. Missouri has been busy interviewing lots of folks, including Utah State HC Matt Wells. Yahoo! Sports is reporting interviews with Cal's Sonny Dykes, Air Force's Troy Calhoun, and Colorado State's Mike Bobo. Though there was interest, it looks like Temple's Matt Rhule is off the board for Missouri, as is Houston's Tom Herman.
Rutgers: No substantive news yet. Rutgers fired head coach Kyle Flood on Sunday, along with their AD Julie Hermann, per ESPN.
South Carolina: South Carolina's Steve Spurrier left way back in October, so they've had plenty of time to get conversations rolling, but somehow they're still searching for a replacement. The latest is that they are planning to meet with Oklahoma OC Lincoln Riley. Reportedly, they're also looking at Georgia DC Jeremy Pruitt and Auburn DC Will Muschamp.
Syracuse: Virginia's other ACC brethren Syracuse has been fairly quiet on the trail, despite firing Scott Shafer back on November 23. LSU DLC Ed Orgeron expressed interest in returning to Syracuse, but supposedly Ohio State DC Chris Ash is also a strong candidate.
There are, of course, other teams still looking for head coaches, including North Texas, Toledo, Tulane and ULM. Stay tuned to Streaking The Lawn as we continue to update you on the Virginia coaching search and who is still in contention for the Hoos.