Texas Football: 4 HC candidates next in line with Urban Meyer pursuit over

3) Texas football HC candidates after Meyer

Mario Cristobal, Oregon HC

If the Longhorns did want to go the route of hiring another proven college head coach at this point in time, there are a few candidates that come to mind. The problem is that a lot of the top potential options, like Iowa State’s Campbell and Florida’s Mullen, appear to have already turned down the opportunity to take this job if it does open up.

Other names among current well known Power Five head coaches have been tossed around of late like that of Penn State’s James Franklin, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, and Oregon’s Mario Cristobal. Out of those three, Cristobal is really the only that is producing at a pace on the recruiting trail that would be appealing to Longhorns fans and isn’t suffering too catastrophic of results on the field this season.

While we can’t put too much stock into the way that teams like Michigan, Penn State, and Oregon, are each faltering in their own ways this fall in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t a great sign for Texas if they want to hire those coaches.

It’s hard to imagine Cristobal being that big of an upgrade over Herman, or even some potential coordinator hires for the job. And when you take into account the more than $25 million it will take for Texas to buyout Herman and his staff next offseason, making somewhat of a lateral hire in Cristobal doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Hiring Cristobal would just be a potential safe and change of pace hire for CDC.