The Nebraska football team has been searching for a new head coach for about a month now and it doesn’t appear the program is any closer to announcing a choice. Of course, we all knew it was going to be a while before this thing ended.
Trev Alberts was plenty up front about the fact that the new Huskers’ head coach isn’t going to be named until after the season is over. That won’t stop us from keeping track of the buzz that surrounds the men who are the biggest names in the search.
This week’s Nebraska football coaching search power rankings have some names moving quite a bit based on what happened this weekend and the season as a whole.
Nebraska football names that are hot, hot, hot
Yes, the Kansas Jayhawks lost for the first time this season, but they were going up against one of the hottest teams in the country and entered the game as the underdog. They also had one heck of a chance to pull off the upset against TCU. The Jayhawks also had to play most of the game without their starting quarterback.
Lance Leipold is one of the hottest names in coaching and it helps that the Nebraska football team is rumored not to be the only school that is going to take a long look at the KU headman.
I am one of those that tends to believe that when Trev Alberts is looking for the next head coach, he’s looking for someone who has a longer track record of being a head coach than three games. But there’s very little doubt that the more Mickey Joseph wins, the more the Nebraska football fanbase is going to be behind him.
No, neither Huskers win under the interim head coach has been all that impressive. In fact, the Cornhuskers spent a good portion of the Rutgers game looking downright terrible. But it’s also clear this team fights hard and it appears his coaching staff makes impressive adjustments at the half. He was near the bottom of the rankings last week but Mickey Joseph has made a big jump after leading the Nebraska football team to consecutive conference wins for the first time since 2018.
Lane Kiffin is the only coach on this list who is going to drop not because he’s not still red hot, but because it feels like the more he wins at Ole Miss, the less likely it is he’s going to leave.
While guys like Matt Campbell and Lance Leipold are going to make their case stronger with wins, Kiffin is busy making his Ole Miss Running Rebels look like they could be a legit power in the SEC and if he gets them there, hard to think he’d want to start over with the Nebraska football team.
For a while on Saturday, his team looked like they were going to be in trouble. They trailed Vanderbilt 20-10 at the half. Then outscored the ‘Dores 35-8 in the second half.
Dave Aranda didn’t do anything to hurt his ranking this week. He also didn’t do anything to help his case. The Baylor Bears were off this week, no doubt watching the Big 12 hierarchy get shaken up just a little bit more as Oklahoma fell to 0-3 since beating the Huskers.
When it comes to these kind of power rankings, staying out of the headlines is almost as bad as suffering an actual loss. There are some names that are going to get hotter and get more mention when a coach has the entire weekend off.
That appears to be the case with Aranda, who is still right up there when it comes to the desires of Nebraska football fans, but things have calmed down a bit on him. He can certainly heat things back up this Thursday when Baylor travels to West Virginia.
I’m obviously biased because I’m on the record thinking that he is in fact, the man who Trev Alberts is eventually going to pick to lead the Nebraska football team. However, despite the fact that Matt Campbell is just 3-3 this year, he is also just four points from being 5-1.
While Nebraska football fans likely don’t want to hear anything about “close losses” it’s absolutely true that Campbell has given Kansas, Kansas State, and Baylor all they can handle.
At the same time, the Cylcones’ achilles heel appears to be an offense that hasn’t scored more than one touchdown in a game for a couple of weeks now. Nebraska football fans love their defense, but they also love their offense. While Campbell seems to still be doing more with quite a bit less, his star isn’t burning all that bright right now.
Yes, Chris Klieman’s Kansas State Wildcats beat Matt Campbell’s Iowa State Cyclones this week, but only scored 10 points in the process. That’s been the biggest thing that’s held Klieman back in these rankings. The Wildcats spent two weeks looking explosive, but they’ve also scored less than 20 points against teams like ISU and Tulane.
There just doesn’t seem to be much push behind Klieman to get the Nebraska football head coaching job. That’s despite the fact that he’s got his Wildcats well-positioned to win the Big 12. They’re all alone at the top right now and will have a chance to create some space between themselves and their closest competitors when they take on TCU next week.
There’s a bunch of names out there that could eventually get into the “Top 6” at some point but for now, they’re even longer than the longer longshots. In no particular order, here’s the best of the rest. One might want to keep an eye on Dave Doeren especially, who almost made it into the power rankings all on his own.
Bill O’Brien – Alabama offensive coordinator
Jim Leonhard – Wisconsin interim head coach
Matt Rhule – Head Coach Carolina Panthers
Dave Doeren – Head Coach North Carolina State
Jamey Chadwell – Head Coach Coastal Carolina
Gary Patterson – Defensive Analyst Texas (former TCU head coach)
Mark Stoops – Kentucky Head Coach
This group could eventually be on the Nebraska football program’s radar, but for now, they seem to be on the outside looking in.
Guys like Leonhard and Stoops are still on here, despite the fact that should likely drop off for one reason or another. Perhaps by next week, they’ll stop even being in the outside consideration for Nebraska football’s next head coach.