The coaching carousel made another long-awaited click with the firing of Mike Norvel at Florida State. To no one’s surprise, also fired was defensive coordinator Tony White. Norvell has been on the hotseat for some time, but White’s failure to produce a defense that could make a difference only intensified the heat.

Norvell finishes his time at Florida State with a record of 41-39. He spent four seasons at Memphis before taking the Florida State job. His record at Memphis was 38-15. There has been speculation Norvell could be a candidate for the open Oregon offensive coordinator job as he and Dan Lanning had a previous working relationship. The two coached together at Arizona State and Norvell later hired Lanning as his linebackers coach at Memphis.

As I said last week, there is no other profession in the world where the six degrees of separation plays a bigger role. Every coach is part of a coaching tree.

In another coaching move, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables fired his offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle. Tight ends coach and former Dallas Cowboy Jason Witt will take over for Arbuckle calling plays. The firing is an interesting move as QB John Mateer and Arbuckle came as somewhat of a package deal. However, part of Arbuckle’s firing is due to Mateer’s poor performance this season. We could also see a starting QB change at Oklahoma.

It’s also been reported that former Maryland head coach Mike Locksley has taken a position with the Big Ten Network as a studio analyst for the rest of this season. Locksley should do well in the role as he is a highly knowledgeable coach and knows the Big Ten as well as anyone. He is also seen as a coach who will be sought after for an offensive coordinator position once the season is over.

There was also a report that former Baylor head coach Dave Aranda had been in touch with Lane Kiffin at LSU concerning a defensive analyst job. Aranda was defensive coordinator for Ed Orgeron at LSU in 2019 during their national championship season before taking the Baylor job. Orgeron is already on Kiffin’s staff at LSU.

Candidates

Along with firings the names of potential replacements have also started flying around. Of course, names like Brian Kelly and Jimbo Fisher are mentioned right out of the gate.

But current head coaches probably have the most value as they will more than likely bring players with them, and if they are having enough success to be a potential hire, then the talent level they bring is usually high. The names of hot coach’s schools will target include:

Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert

New Mexico’s Jason Eck

Duke’s Manny Diaz

Memphis’s Charles Huff

UNLV’s Dan Mullen

Boise’s State’s Spencer Danileson

North Dakota State’s Jason Polasek

UTSA’s Jeff Traylor

Texas State’s G.J. Kinne

I’m also going to list a trio of wildcard coaches who aren’t necessarily on the hotseat or tearing the college football world up but may be looking to make a change.

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney

Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck

USC’s Lincoln Riley

Some schools may go the hot coordinator route in hopes they find another Will Stein at Kentucky. Those names include:

Florida’s OC Buster Faulkner

Miami’s OC Shannon Dawson

Miami’s DC Corey Hetherman

LSU’s OC Charlie Weis Jr

Indiana’s OC Mike Shanahan

Indiana’s DC Bryant Haines

Georgia DC Glenn Schumann

Hot Seats

Don’t forget coaches that are on the hotseat either. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Names on firing watch include:

South Carolina’s Shane Beamer

North Carolina’s Bill Belichick

Kansas’s Lance Leipold

Colorado’s Deion Sanders

Rutgers’s Greg Schiano

Beamer’s team has surged the last few weeks and taken the heat off somewhat. And it’s speculated Greg Schiano at Rutgers won’t be fired but will retire.

GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VIOLENT!!

Art worked designed and owned by Lyle Harmon and ‘Off the Cob’.

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