There are going to be a lot of disappointed fanbases in the next few weeks. Dan Mullen became the latest big-name coach at a big-time program to be shown the door, as Florida decided it was time to move in a different direction. While the midseason parting of ways could be seen coming, it still felt like a shock to the system considering where Florida was at this time a year ago.
Mullen wasn’t even the only coach fired Sunday, even if he was the one grabbing the headlines. Troy fired Chip Lindsey, too, meaning there have now been 14 coaches fired at the FBS level and it isn’t even Thanksgiving. While four of those jobs (Georgia Southern, Texas Tech, UMass and UConn) have already been filled, there are likely to be even more openings coming as teams finish their seasons on Thanksgiving weekend. It also happens that three of the top-20 jobs in the country — I’ll let you argue amongst yourselves whether it should be top 15 or top 10 — happen to be open right now, as Florida joins LSU and USC. Outside of those three, there are another four Power Five gigs currently available.
Those are seven jobs that will be attractive to a lot of coaches, but there’s a significant problem: Which coaches are going to fill those jobs? I took Economics 101. I learned about supply and demand. Right now, there’s a far greater demand than there seems to be a supply capable of filling it.
Seriously, take a look at the coaching candidate lists written not just on this site, but every site, the moment a job comes open. They all have the same core of five to six names. Once you’ve read one, you’ve read them all.
There just aren’t a lot of proven commodities available at the moment. Jimbo Fisher has said as loudly and emphatically as he can that he’s staying at…
..
