MGN's Coaching Rumor Tracker: 2025
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Eric Morris is now the head coach of Oklahoma State University, but will finish out the season at North Texas. Meanwhile, Jared Mosley will proceed with finding the replacement.
MGN is not working the phones, nor are we getting behind-the-scenes updates from anyone. We do get the occasional nugget of information here and there, but do not consider this list of items a thoroughly-researched list of names. Instead, they are names mentioned, with a bit of analysis (HSOs or otherwise).
We know the previous search centered around guys who had head coaching experience. Of the names we’ve seen reported, here are some interesting ones ranked by my own interest:
Billy Napier | He was seen by Brett Vito of the DRC around the UNT offices a few weeks ago. His name is immediately intriguing considering that he won in the Sun Belt twice. He won 10+ games twice in three season at ULL. He was less-impressive at Florida.
Who reported him? Well, this one was kind of everyone who knew or saw him around the office. On3 threw his name out, as well. That was more “reported” than some other name-dumps.Charles Huff | He’s won at Marshall and Southern Miss. The latter is very impressive to me. You like winning, right?
Who reported him? No reports, this is just MGN’s speculationClint Killough | He is the winningest coach at UIW, where Morris and GJ Kinne got their head coaching starts.
Who reported him? Ashton Preston, former UNT safety first tweeted his name as a suggestion, but we’ve seen it in On3 as well.Dana Holgerson | Has been a part of some innovative offenses since his time coaching up Morris at TTU, added new concepts to the base Air Raid philosophy and had big offensive teams at WVU, Houston. His overall record at WVU hurts him, as does his time at Houston. I think for both jobs, he did about as well as can be done given the resources and circumstances— WVU didn’t do better with Neal Brown, and Houston is still struggling in the Big 12.
Who reported him? MGN, in a speculative post.
Keith Patterson | He has won at Abilene Christian, has some Air Raid sensibilities, but is focussed on defense. His OC? Well there are two: Graham Harrell, and Joel Filani — the previous OC/WR coach pair here at NT under early Seth Littrell.
Who reported him? Athletic, in a name dump that included some randos.Neal Brown | He won at Troy, but lost a lot at WVU. He famously helped kick NT’s behind in the New Orleans Bowl back in 2018. He’s a good coach with lots of Texas ties. That was why he was hyped to lead WVU — a guy who could recruit Texas! That didn’t work out so well.
Who reported him? Athletic.Jake Spavital | Former Texas State head coach and current Baylor OC. He’s been an OC seemingly everywhere (Cal, WVU, Baylor, A&M) and even went back again for a few of those.
Who reported him? Athletic, in a name dump.Tyson Helton | The current Western Kentucky head coach. He’s won a bit and finds fun offenses (had Ben Arbuckle, Zach Kittley come with Bailey Zappe a few years ago) in a tough location.
Who reported him? On3GJ Kinne | He’s had sort of an Eric Morris career only at Texas State. He had some bad seasons, then one good one, and now a bad one. That has taken the shine off his brand a bit.
Who reported him? Athletic in a name dump.Ryan Beard | Current Missouri State head coach. Got a new deal recently. Doesn’t have many Texas ties, which was a previous criterion when hiring Morris.
Who reported him? On3
Some Coordinator names that have come up in name dumps. “Some names to watch” etc. Less organized as I don’t think they are as serious candidates as they do not have head coaching experience. Some don’t have Texas ties.
Garrett Riley - Was previously rumored. Star has dimmed at Clemson
Ra’Shaad Samples - Has a bunch of Texas ties but is only a running back coach at this time.
Kendal Briles - Previously rumored. Star has dimmed a bit since the national championship appearance.
Shannon Dawson - Intriguing as he coached Cam Ward at Miami, coached under Holgerson. An Air Raid guy with some evolved ideas.
Mo Linguist - Alabama co-DC
Colin Klein - lost the gig to Morris at OSU. Current OC at K-State
Mack Leftwich - Morris/Kinne protegé. Current TTU OC
Skyler Cassity — would probably stay for the gig, but is reportedly off to OSU with Morris.
Ben Arbuckle — Former Houston Baptist guy, coached under Morris, WSU OC, current OU OC.
The more quickly and efficiently Mosley works the better bc as we all probably know it’s all about the next year’s - and hopefully beyond just next years - Jimmy’s and Joe’s. And unfortunately, there’s gonna be guys that are gonna look in the portal.
Can add speculation to this list:
JimMora is out at UConn and they'll be shopping for a new HC. Was reading and replying to a UConn fan in The Solid Verbal's Patreon page and he hears that the top candidates to succeed him are either ChipKelly (he doesn't think that's a possibility, nor does this Verballer), KirkCiorccia, or Yale's HC.
Both this user's own opinion, and AI (at least Brave AI), have TonyReno, the HC at Yale, as the presumptive, realistic, favorite to become the next HC of UConn football. Yale beat Harvard and he might want to leave a winner, and it's not too much of a trip, in location, nor in finance, for UConn to worry about getting a HC from. Given UConn's schedule and history and TonyReno's time at Yale, it seems like an easy match to go from (over?)performing FCS coach to lower-tier (no offense, despite coming from a former UT Longhorn fan, now UNT Mean Green fan, who saw UT get beaten up by the likes of UConn, BYU, CAL, and Maryland, years ago) FBS team.
Can't imagine ChipKelly going to that wasteland, as a guy who, for all his pros-and-cons, mind, had success everywhere he's been, from Oregon to Filthadelphia, to UCLA, to OSU, now back to Filthadelphia. They'd need to "back the Brinks truck up" to him and will not do that.
IF TonyReno declines (which is a possibility), then Brave AI thinks the HC at Akron, JoeMoorhead, could be in consideration, and Akron has also been (over?)performing this season. Ohio may be better than UConn, but from a head coaching perspective, UConn is a better spot than Akron and could make a better offer than them.
The third-most-likely candidate might be RyanCarty, at Delaware. Eh....Delaware is streaky and hit-or-miss, and is new to FBS, so, it'd be a stretch to think UConn, if they want to move forward in FBS, would want to bring in an equivalent-or-lower "tier" coach or coach from a lesser-program. He needs more "trophies in the case", as it were. If they're going to fire JimMora, why do that just to go grab the DEL HC?
JeffMonken is at number-four at Army, but, IMHO, it would stand to reason his job position is more advantageous than at UConn, so, that might be a step-DOWN for him. It'd have to be a great offer on UConn's part to get that to happen.
K.C.Keeler, at Temple, rounds-out the top-five on the internet's short-list, and he only just got to Temple, so, a larger sample size, like with the Delaware coach, might be needed, at the FBS level, and if he hops from Temple to UConn after just getting there....he looks like a "prostitute", a "status-climber", looking to "trade-up", and, as with relationships: if they're willing to cheat on someone with yuh....they're willing to cheat ON yuh with someone else! Plus, leaving Filthadelphia for wherever UConn is in Connecticut is a step-down for most. The American is (at least now) "the" top so-called "G6" ("P6, people) Conference in FBS, with at least four and up to six teams, this season, capable of having made the CFP, or at least the American Championship Game. EDIT: K.C.Keeler was said by the ESPN staff during the Temple-UNT game that he's there to stay in Filthadelphia, namely due to having strong family-ties to the area, as that's where he met his wife and their family lives, so, K.C.Keeler's name can be taken off the bingo cards, IMHO.