clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Matt Rhule and Barry Odom appear to be top Missouri candidates

Plus, a breakdown of Missouri's bowl chances at 5-7 and catching up up on all the latest coaching carousel news

By Oscar Gamble
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

What we know:

Missouri's interim coach

I confirmed yesterday evening that assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach Andy Hill is currently Mizzou's interim head coach, as reported by PowerMizzou's Pete Scantlebury. With regards to possibly attending a bowl game at 5-7, the sense I got was that Rhoades is waiting to allow Missouri's next head coach to decide if they would accept a bowl invite, were one offered.

Mark Richt is out after 15 years at Georgia

Mark Richt and Georgia have mutually agreed to part ways according to numerous sources, first reported my Mark Schlabach.

This is significant for a few reasons, chiefly because Richt was one of the candidates interviewed during the hiring cycle that brought Gary Pinkel to Missouri. Many fans and perhaps boosters might consider him a candidate still. According to the AJC, Richt does not plan on pursuing any coaching jobs, at least for this year.

Nick Saban, on Georgia letting Mark Richt go:

"I don't know what the world is coming to in our profession."

Most importantly it means another very attractive opening on the college football landscape - one that could cause other dominos to fall and the associate staff shakeups.

One source suggests Houston's Tom Herman could be interested in the Georgia job. Many have already suggested Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart as the lead candidate for Georgia, while many think that if Richt wants to continue coaching the Miami job would be a good landing spot.

Matt Hinton on twitter ranked the current job openings thusly:

Job rankings

1a UGA

1b USC

3 Mizzou

4 Miami

5 S. Carolina

Les Miles is staying in Baton Rouge

Les Miles isn't going anywhere, but LSU's AD handled the situation awfully. Dennis Dodd put it this way,

What a spectacular miscalculation. What disarray. What a joke. What a time to be Joe Alleva.

With all the sincerity of Valdamort, LSU's athletic director announced Saturday night that "Les Miles is our football coach and will continue to be our football coach."

*cough* Voldemort *cough*

They carried Les Miles off the field

And yes, Les Miles absolutely "dabbed" after beating Texas A&M 19-7.

Matt Campbell is headed to Iowa State

Despite Toledo extending a "generous offer" in an attempt to keep him the Toledo Blade reported late on Saturday night that Matt Campbell has agreed to become the next head football coach at Iowa State. This was backed up by a report from the Ames Tribune a little while later which added that ISU running backs coach Louis Ayeni, who coached with Campbell at Toledo, is expected to remiain on staff. Toledo's OL coach Tom Manning is expected to join him at Iowa State.

Campbell reportedly signed a 6 year deal for $2 million in the first year. That kind of money suggests to me at least, that Missouri never seriously offered him because the common wisdom is the Mizzou head coaching job would command more in the $3-4 million dollar range.

All of this on Campbell's birthday no less.

This came after a Sports Illustrated report on Saturday afternoon which listed Matt Campbell as the lead candidate at Iowa State and Matt Rhule as the lead candidate at Missouri.

According to David Morrison, "neither [Matt Campbell or Matt Rhule] has interviewed and it is not certain either will."

On Friday before playing Western Michigan, Matt Campbell told the media:

"Really easy: I haven't talked to anybody. I have zero interest in terms of anything other than this football team and being its head football coach. That's always been my stand on that. This is really important to me, and doing it the right way and getting it to where it needs to be is important to me."

Western Michigan upset No. 24 Toledo 35-30 to send Northern Illinois to the Mid-American Conference championship game.

Justin Fuente is probably headed to Virginia Tech

Justin Fuente will become the next football coach at Virginia Tech, a source confirmed to ESPN's Brett McMurphy on Saturday. The Hokies expect to keep the well-regarded defensive coordinator Bud Foster and associate head coach Shane Beamer when Fuente takes the job. The report came on the heels of Memphis' 63-0 drubbing of SMU.

UPDATE: It's official.

What we think we know:

Matt Rhule is meeting with Mack Rhoades Sunday

Per Footballscoop.com, Mack Rhoades is meeting with Temple head coach Matt Rhule today (Sunday) - although it should be noted they also reported Rhoades would meet with Matt Campbell, which conflicts with reports above.

Rhoades is familiar with Rhule from his days as an AD in the AAC and at Akron from 2008-09 when Rhule was Temple’s offensive coordinator.

Matt Rhule's Temple Owls beat Connecticut 27-3 on Saturday to land a spot in the AAC Championship vs. Tom Herman's Houston Cougars, who has been essentially ruled out of contention for the Missouri job.

Rhule told reporters after Temple's win Saturday,

"You guys know me. I’m not going to talk about anything, This program’s about these kids. Anybody that throws my name in things, it’s a credit to the players and the administration. So I won’t talk about jobs."

You can hear that at the 8:28 mark here.

"Scouting report on Rhule from a peer in the industry whose opinion I value: relentless recruiter, engaging, strong rapport with NFL scouts", says Dave Matter on twitter

Some solid info from OwlScoop.com, Temple's rival website:

There's a very good chance that Rhule is listening to Rhoades today and simply doing what is in his best interest professionally while also knowing that he very much wants to stay at Temple. He and his wife, Julie, love Philadelphia and engage with their neighbors in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood. They have three children and their oldest son, Bryant, is a mainstay at the team's facility and was on the field Saturday night as the team celebrated its division championship. And while it's unrealistic to think that Rhule will spend the rest of his career on North Broad Street, it's very realistic to think that Rhule would like to be on the sideline some day if or when Temple plays its first game in that new stadium.

Barry Odom is the leader to replace Justin Fuente...

According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, current Missouri defensive coordinator Barry Odom is in strong contention to replace Justin Fuente at Memphis.

"Missouri defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who spent the previous three years in the same position at Memphis, is among the top candidates to replace Fuente. Assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Darrell Dickey is expected to be interim coach for the Tigers in their still-to-be-determined bowl game."

There were some conflicting reports on Sunday afternoon, one said Odom had already been offered Memphis' HC job, another said not so fast.

...unless he's the next head coach of Missouri

We also heard from a FoxSports reporter that Barry Odom would have a second interview for the head coaching position.

A source told FOXSports.com Saturday night that Tigers defensive coordinator Barry Odom will be receiving a second interview for the vacancy being created by Gary Pinkel's retirement.

One take is that Campbell took the Iowa State job because Matt Rhule and Barry Odom were viewed as being "ahead" on the pecking order, and that would certainly make sense.

Which leaves us still reading the tea leaves and waiting for more news until later today.

Missouri's bowl chances at 5-7:

With 75 six win teams and 80 bowl slots, as it stands there could be two (and as many as five) 5-7 teams that go bowling. Currently, Kansas State is tied with Missouri in APR (the Academic Progress Rate metric that the NCAA determined would decide eligibility). The only other team the APR rates higher than Missouri and Kansas State is 5-7 Nebraska who's regular season is already over.

The folks over at Underdog Dynasty laid it all out for us:

  1. Kansas St., Georgia State and South Alabama all win: the top two APR teams, Nebraska and Missouri are in
  2. Kansas St. wins, Georgia St. or South Alabama wins: Nebraska, Missouri, San Jose St and Minnesota are in
  3. Kansas St. loses, Georgia St. and South Alabama both win: Nebraska, Kansas State and Missouri are in

Since at least one team, Alabama, is likely headed to the College Football playoff, there won't be enough SEC teams to fill one of the bottom tier bowls. Yes - that means Mizzou could be headed back to Shreveport vs an ACC opponent. Kentucky is the other 5-7 candidate although they have a lower APR (Missouri: 976 vs Kentucky: 945).

Here's the SEC's bowl selection process:

Also, to make matters more confusing:

Next Up In Mizzou Football