This isn’t your conventional coaching search. It comes at a very inopportune time. It’s always the right time to fire a failed coach, but there are more opportune times to hire a coach than in February.
Right now, many would-be coaching candidates are preparing to kick off their spring practice at their current programs. Many start in March. So, it would likely have to be a situtation where the move to UCLA is obviously a step-up and it’s understandable, despite the bad timing, or the coach candidate isn’t currently employed as a coach.
We’ve heard from sources close to UCLA that it intends to make this a quick search, but we’ll believe it when we see it.
Here are some names that 1) we’ve heard already mentioned, 2) we think make a great deal of sense and could logically be considered or 3) both.
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TOM HERMAN
(48), Head Coach, Florida Atlantic
Salary: $1 Million
PROS: Herman became a big name in coaching when he was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2012-2014, and then did extraordinarily well in his first head coaching gig at Houston for two years. He was a big thing in 2017 when he was hired at Texas. He’s known as a great offensive mind and a very good recruiter. The feeling is that he’d be very good with donors and NIL. He’s from SoCal, going to Simi Valley High and then playing at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, so he has deep California ties.
CONS: Herman didn’t catch fire in Austin. He was 32-18 overall, but couldn’t lead Texas to a conference championship, much less a College Football Playoffs. If you don’t do that at Texas in five years you’re out. So he sat out two years and then took a job he could get, Florida Atlantic, and went 4-8 in his first season. It’s tough to know if he’s actually doing a good job at FAU. He has a little bit of a rep as tough personality, and there’s a question if he’s a good fit at UCLA.
LIKELIHOOD: It’s pretty easy to believe Herman would take the UCLA job if offered. He’d be coming home, be back in the Power 5, going into the Big Ten, and would probably make five times what he is now. UCLA could maybe get him at a discount, too, figuring he’s still benefitting from the Texas $15 million buyout. Here’s the biggest factor that makes him a candidate: UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond knew Herman when they both were at Ohio State. We’ve always heard his name mentioned as a candidate if Chip Kelly were ever to be fired because of the Jarmond connection.
WHY ON THIS LIST: Name mentioned.
