UF must shift search as Kelly goes to UCLA
Nebraska fires Riley, may compete with Gators in bid to lure UCF’s Frost.
Chip Kelly is back, Mike Riley is out and Scott Frost is a wanted man.
College football’s silly season went into overdrive Saturday as UCLA announced it had hired Kelly, the former Oregon coach who had previously talked to Florida about its opening, and Nebraska fired Riley within about 15 minutes of each other, closing one high-profile search after less than a week and officially opening another.
There figures to be more activity in the next day or so. Texas A&M played LSU later Saturday, and there has been lots of speculation that Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin could be the fifth SEC coach to be dismissed.
Arkansas became the fourth SEC school with an opening on Friday. Bret Bielema was fired immedi-
ately following a loss to Missouri that ended Arkansas’ season with a 4-8 record. Mississippi, Florida and Tennessee are already searching for coaches. The Gators tried to woo Kelly, but he decided to return to college football in the conference where he has already had much success.
Kelly went 46-7 with three Pac-12 titles in four seasons at Oregon before trying his hand in the NFL. He had three seasons at Philadelphia and one with San Francisco, going 28-35, including 2-14 with the 49ers. He spent this season working for ESPN as an analyst.
With Kelly off the board, one of his former assistants at Oregon becomes the mostsought coach on the market. Frost is in his second season as UCF coach after leaving the Ducks. He has the 15th-ranked Knights 11-0 and heading to the American Athletic Conference championship game next Saturday against No. 20 Memphis and coach Mike Norvell, who is also expected to draw interest from Power Five schools with openings, such as Ole Miss and Arkansas.
Frost figures to be the next focus for Florida, where Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said he wanted a coach who could bring offensive excitement back to Gainesville. UCF is the highest-scoring team in the country.
The Gators will again have competition. Frost is a Nebraska native and former Cornhuskers quarterback who played under Hall of Fame coach Tom Osborne in the mid-1990s. Nebraska fans are pining for Frost, who has consistently said he would not discuss any other jobs while UCF is pursuing a major bowl bid.
Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos said the search is already well underway, and “Scott is somebody I’m considering. But I am sensitive to that he is still coaching a team.”
Moos was hired away from Washington State in October, leading to speculation that Cougars coach Mike Leach could follow his former boss, or be a candidate to move to another job. Leach is in his sixth season at Washington State. The 13th-ranked Cougars played No. 17 Washington in the Apple Cup late Saturday. A victory would send Washington State to the Pac12 championship game.
Florida also could turn to Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, a former Florida assistant under Urban Meyer who worked with Stricklin when the AD was leading the department in Starkville.
Mullen and Leach also are speculated to be targets for Tennessee.
Texas Tech decided to stick with coach Kliff Kingsbury after he led the Red Raiders to a victory at Texas on Friday night that made the team bowl eligible. Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt said after the game that Kingsbury, a former Texas Tech quarterback, would be back for a sixth season. He is 30-32 at his alma mater.
Another coach who may have saved his job is Todd Graham of Arizona State. The Sun Devils (7-5) beat rival Arizona 42-30 Saturday and have one more win than they did last season. But if the ASU job opens, it could be a landing spot for Sumlin.
Mississippi planned to interview interim coach Matt Luke before digging into outside candidates. Luke, who was promoted when Hugh Freeze was fired before the season, gave himself a shot to land the job permanently by finishing 6-6.