As the college football regular season draws to a close, here’s the latest I hear about Coach Cowsell on Saturday morning.
Texas A&M
Texas A&M is the biggest coaching vacancy on the carousel. Sources with direct knowledge of the coach search speak The athletics A&M has a few favorites, but there are other top coaches the Aggies should pursue after their games on Saturday.
Aggies like Kansas coach Lance Leipold, Duke coach Mike Elko (former A&M defensive coordinator) and Kansas State coach Chris Kliman. Each is considered a strong leader who knows how to establish and build a strong culture. Another name that appears in the A&M search is Kentucky’s Mark Stoops. Although UK entered Saturday’s game at rival Louisville just 6-5, Stoops, 56, a former SEC Coach of the Year, has led the Wildcats to two 10-win seasons since 2018. Only one 10-winner since 1951.
A big wild card is looming here. Don’t be surprised if Texas A&M pursues Ohio State’s Ryan Day, according to these sources. Day is 56-6 as a head coach and 39-2 in the Big Ten heading into Saturday’s matchup against Michigan. Last year, it came in the College Football Playoff on a last-second field goal against Georgia, but a streak of back-to-back losses against arch-rival Michigan hung over Columbus. Now, if Day leads the Buckeyes to a win over Ann Arbor on Saturday and primes the Buckeyes for a CFP run, he probably won’t get that call. But if they lose, he might be more open to listening to A&M’s pitch.
Go deeper
He left out how Jimbo Fisher’s setbacks cut short Texas A&M’s championship dreams.
Michigan State
Michigan State has hired Jonathan Smith away from Oregon State as its next head coach, the school announced Saturday. Smith’s hiring comes after months of a coaching search, and sources say the Spartans are focused on Smith. The athletics Saturday before the announcement.
Smith knows all about building a program under the shadow of a high-profile and better-resourced program in the state, similar to what Michigan State faces when compared to Michigan. Beavers former star QB Smith has deep ties in Corvallis, and while the Beavers’ conference standings are shaky right now, it still wasn’t an easy decision to shut him down.
NC State’s Dave Doren, Kansas’ Leipold and Toledo’s Jason Schama were believed to be in the mix.
Go deeper
Where does Michigan State football go?
Bayer
Another hot seat situation to watch is at Baylor. The Bears are 3-8 and close against West Virginia on Saturday in Waco. Baylor has lost four in a row, and the pressure is mounting on Dave Aranda. Aranda soon led Baylor to a 5th place finish with a 12-2 record in 2021, but the Bears are 9-15 since then. Baylor’s administration likes Aranda a lot, and I’m told he’ll probably be back in 2024 if he comes up with a plan to make key changes they like.
(Photo of Ryan Day: Jason Mowry / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)