With Tommy Bowden out at Clemson, the talk of his replacement has begun. High on the list, of course, is Texas Longhorn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.
This is not surprising. What Muschamp has done at Texas is nothing short of amazing. He has taken a bunch of young, raw defensive talent, and molded it into a force in just a few short months. The improvement can be seen on a week by week basis. As long as his guys continue to perform, he’ll be at the top of most coaching search lists.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but I don’t think he goes to Clemson. I have the feeling he has his sights set on something higher, and will wait for a head coach position to open up at a major football power. Think of something like Bob Stoops moving from Florida to Oklahoma. Clemson and the ACC just don’t have that pull.
Mack Brown, who is only 57 years old, could easily coach for another five years or more. Plus, Texas generally doesn’t like to be someone’s first head coaching job, so it’s unlikely Muschamp would wait around for the Texas head coaching position. Who knows what deals are being worked in the background, however?
In any case, DeLoss Dodds should get his checkbook out now, and work to lock Muschamp down for another year. He’s going to be a hot commodity.
Okay, so Muschamp is a Southern guy and everyone knows he wants a head gig in the South.
Aside from that, when Bob Stoops left Florida he was picked over for CTB because CTB had head coaching experience. Quite the blunder in hindsight, but true none the less. Clemson and the ACC don’t have that kind of pull?
Are you naive? Tell me what you think about Clemson, how exactly do you view this gig?
Clemson and the ACC don’t have that kind of pull? Clemson does have that kind of pull. There facilities are the best in the ACC, and rival any institution in college football, they have spent millions in inferstructure, and they consistantly recuit top teir athletes from all over the south including Florida and Alabama. Tommy Bowden just couldn’t coach, that is all that has kept the sleeping giant from being a national contender and an ACC champ. If you weigh all of the factors I think that the Clemson job would be an fantastic opportunity for a coach such as Muschamp. My fear is that we search for a successor to the TB era and find another dud. We have a bad habit of that.
You guys may be correct, however, at this point, Muschamp hasn’t publicly expressed any interest. That’s not all that surprising, given that he’s in the midst of a national championship run. Still, the only real data we have backs my position.
One of the real unknowns is whether he’ll look seriously at offers in the lull between the conference championship (or the A&M game, if we don’t make the Big 12 championship) and whatever bowl game we play in. I don’t have any solid data upon which to base this, but he certainly comes across as a guy who focuses on the business at hand, so he may not want the distraction (especially if we’re playing for the MNC).
And, whenever he does engage with head coach search committees, it’s very possible that he’ll have offers from programs of much more actual (as opposed to perceived) prominence within the college football world than Clemson.
All this said, I see holding onto Muschamp after this season as being difficult, to say the least. What he continues to do at Texas is amazing (note the first half of the Mizzou game), and he’ll be an extremely hot property at the end of the season.
Perhaps he’ll want to wait for an offer from a top tier program. Or perhaps DeLoss Dodds will open up his checkbook to the tune of two million per year (he’s currently making a bit over $400K) and guarantee a head coach position once Mack Brown retires.
I don’t see either of these things happening, unfortunately.
I don’t see him following the path of Greg Robinson or Gene Chizik either, however. He won’t be taking a head coaching position at a third-tier football power, and perhaps not one at anything but the top of the second-tier.
[…] to $900,000, which would make him one of the highest paid coordinators in NCAA football. I had predicted earlier that this was the sort of deal that would be needed to retain the hottest coordinator in the […]