Willie Taggart - Western Kentucky
Young. Energetic. 36 years old.
Harbaugh connection.
Took Western Kentucky from 2-10 to 7-5 to now 5-1.
Ebony skinned. The media likes that sort of thing.
Charlie Strong - Louisville
Mid-aged for a head coach.
Excellent track record as a defensive coordinator.
Took Louisville from 3-4 conference record to 5-2 conference record to this year's 6-0 overall record.
Experience in the SEC.
Ebony skinned. The media likes that sort of thing.
Mark Hudspeth - LA Monroe
Younger.
A proven winner at North Alabama and now at LA Monroe. Beat Arkansas and nearly beat Auburn.
In previous 8 seasons, only three did not feature double digit wins.
Caucasian. Auburn likes that sort of thing.
Mike Gundy - Oklahoma State
Definitely a different personality for the SEC.
A proven winner. Consistently good offense. Rather poor defense.
A man. He's 45.
Has not won less than 9 games since 2008.
Caucasian. Spikey hair.
Unrealistic options:
Chris Petersen - He loves it in Boise. He is not going to leave.
Gary Patterson - Again, loves it where he is. Has shown no desire over the years to leave TCU.
Art Briles - A Texas guy and besides, he doesn't have much to show without RGIII as his quarterback.
Paul Rhoades - Maybe he would come to Auburn, but I have a feeling he has no desire to clean up another Gene Chizik mess nor would he want to deal with our bullshit in the adminstration office.
Chip Kelly - It would cost too much money, and why would he leave one of the easiest gigs in college football?
Notes:
Texas is more than likely coming open after this year. To think that we'll land the #1 available head coach after firing a head coach two years removed from a BCS championship is looney-talk. We'll have to get someone that we feel is a reliable coach that can build the program into something respectable.
Gruden, Cowher, Rex Ryan, etc - please don't even think about those names. For one, they aren't dropping down to the college ranks. Two, why would you want them? They want to run a complicated, NFL system that wins. They want to get any player they want that can help them win. I wouldn't trust them one second to not go out and blatantly pay for players nor would I expect them to be able to relate to college kids and their parents.