Assuming fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman is replaced soon, the program could be down two more options among candidates.
Two more potential coaching candidates for the Texas football program might be falling off the board if administration does in face replace fourth-year head coach Tom Herman in the near future. With the pursuit of the former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators three-time National Championship winning head coach Urban Meyer already in the rear view mirror for Texas athletic director Chris del Conte, coming up with a possible list of contingency candidates would be a logical next step.
Yet, the list of possible backup candidates on a shortlist for the Longhorns, again if they replace Herman in the near future, is starting to dwindle down fast. One name that popped up recently in connection with Texas was Florida’s current head coach Dan Mullen.
But Mullen reportedly stated this week that “there’s a 0.0 percent chance of that”, discussing the possibility of pursuing an opportunity at Texas. Mullen did seem like a decent backup candidate to Meyer, but that possibility got shot down very quick.
In case you were wondering, no way that Dan Mullen is coming to Texas. "There's a 0.0 percent chance of that," Florida higher-up tells me.
— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) December 7, 2020
Another name that came up frequently of late as a potential Texas coaching candidate is Iowa State’s Matt Campbell. The former Toledo Rockets head coach that could be taking Iowa State to the heights of winning their first ever Big 12 Championship Game this fall is a hot name around the college football landscape right now, and with good reason.
Dennis Dodds on ESPN CFB XM said his sources are saying Matt Campbell is not interested in Texas the two jobs he wants is Ohio State or Notre Dame. He also said Matt Campbell would not take the Michigan job.
— jbook™ (@jbook37) December 8, 2020
Even Campbell is reportedly not interested in looking into the Texas job further. It sounds like the two jobs that Campbell would be interested in, if any, would be with the Buckeyes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Considering Ohio State and Notre Dame are both in solid coaching situations at the moment, Campbell might stay at Iowa State at least for another year or two.
He’s also reportedly not interested in taking the job with the Michigan Wolverines, if they part ways with current head coach Jim Harbaugh.
If these reports turn out to be true heading into next offseason, then the shortlist of potential Texas coaching candidates gets even more difficult to piece together. Campbell definitely seemed like a good idea if Meyer didn’t want the Texas job. But now CDC will have to look beyond the Campbell option too.
At the moment, the Herman and the Longhorns carry a record of 6-3 (5-3 Big 12), after they dominated the Kansas State Wildcats and head coach Chris Klieman last weekend, to the tune of a 69-31 victory. Next up for the Longhorns is a road trip to face the winless Kansas Jayhawks and head coach Les Miles in Lawrence on Dec. 12, with kick off set for 2:30 p.m. CT.