Georgia Tech’s younger options and news on 6 other coaching changes

One of the sport’s youngest and most intriguing Group of 5 jobs took a turn this week when James Madison head coach Mike Houston interviewed with the 49ers (the school offered Houston the job during the interview) and agreed verbally on Wednesday morning. Charlotte immediately called off its search and didn’t finish interviewing its other candidates.

Meanwhile, East Carolina finalized plans to fire head coach Scottie Montgomery on Wednesday night — and chase Houston, a name on ECU’s radar since his JMU team beat the Pirates by 20 in 2017.

Houston has long wanted to return to his native North Carolina and positioned Charlotte and ECU against one another. Meanwhile, Charlotte returned to evaluating other candidates, most notably Austin Peay head coach Will Healy and Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran.

Friday, Charlotte AD Mike Hill announced “we withdrew a contract offer” to Houston.

If Houston doesn’t land at ECU, one name to watch would be Oklahoma assistant head coach Shane Beamer, as well as former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones, who worked for current ECU interim AD Dave Hart in Knoxville.

Multiple outlets have reported that Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt will interview for the open Georgia Tech job. Whisenhunt played for Georgia Tech, but the former Cardinals and Titans head coach hasn’t coached in college since 1996.

Other names to watch are Appalachian State’s Scott Satterfield, Georgia native and former GT recruiting coordinator Geoff Collins, and Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.

In the college ranks, there’s a massive amount of interest in the Tech job, albeit with the understanding that Tech lags behind its ACC peers in facilities and fundraising, and has a flexbone roster that would need overhauling. Whereas strict academic requirements and local apathy have turned off others, many young coaches from the Southeast feel like GT could be reinvigorated to better recruit and represent the greater Atlanta area.

After losing a highly publicized back and forth with Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, Louisville has to regroup and find a hire to sell as next-best to alumni and fans. Brohm was the obvious, unanimous pick in the inner circle of UL boosters, and there’s no consensus replacement.

We previously reported Troy’s Neal Brown, Appalachian State’s Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell, and Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker as being on the backup list.

So far, it looks like Steve Addazio will get a seventh year as head coach. If he does, he’ll be doing so with a new offensive coordinator. Scot Loeffler somewhat surprisingly got hired by Bowling Green as its head coach.

Addazio has a decision to make to replace Loeffler, and it’s going to be crucial for his future heading into next season.

As the Buffs continue their process to replace Mike Macintyre, they’ve evaluated Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason. Broncos coach Vance Joseph has been contacted to vet Mason. The two share an agent, and Joseph was a member of CU’s 1990 national championship team.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Ryan Day is one of the most sought-after assistants in the country. He turned down an SEC coaching job last year. If he wants, Day could have the opportunity to interview at Colorado and/or Maryland. However, Football Scoop reports Day is receiving an “unwritten understanding” that he’ll eventually replace Urban Meyer.

It remains clear that some around the program still heavily favor former Terps offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. Neither he nor Day will interview anywhere before their conference championship games are done. But it’s important to understand who actually wants Locksley at Maryland.

Support primarily comes from boosters who are willing to bet big on his recruiting prowess locally. School administrators like president Wallace Loh and athletic director Damon Evans are not so head over heels. From our notes roundup earlier this week:

There are said to be residual feelings to sort out between Locksley and athletic director Damon Evans, because Locksley didn’t get the job when it went to Durkin in December 2015. Locksley had been Maryland’s interim head coach and had a loud camp of backers, the same ones now urging the school to hire him. Evans was the No. 2 person in the Maryland athletic department then and deeply involved with the coaching search. But fences can be mended if both parties want Locksley at Maryland now.

If Locksley does go back to College Park, current Bama wide receivers coach Josh Gattis is a prime candidate to join him on his staff.

The most attractive element to USU for potential head coaches is that Wells was given time to recover from multiple bad seasons (the Aggies won 19 games in Wells’ first two seasons, then won six, three, and six) and rebuild to a 10-win season, which got him a Big 12 job. AD John Hartwell’s one major FBS hire was Neal Brown at Troy, so he’s one for one so far.