By Michael GallagherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberWith major college football programs like Auburn, Florida, LSU, and Penn State all searching for new head coaches, its’ easy for lesser-profile schools like Arkansas and UCLA to get lost in the shuffle.
But both programs—along with a handful of others, including Cal, which fired Justin Wilcox on Sunday night—also have head-coaching vacancies to fill.
The Razorbacks likely won’t land a coach as high-profile as Lane Kiffin, who’s reportedly deciding between staying at Ole Miss or leaving for either LSU or Florida, but they should get a pretty nice consolation prize out of the second tier of coaches believed to be in consideration for new jobs.
Heading into the weekend, Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield was the betting favorite to get the Arkansas job—the same one James Franklin reportedly rejected before signing with the Virginia Tech Hokies—but as of Sunday morning, someone has usurped Silverfield.
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According to betting market Kalshi, North Texas head coach Eric Morris is now the new favorite to land the Arkansas job. Silverfield’s odds dropped to 41%, while Morris surged ahead with 67% odds of being hired.
Other head coaches reportedly in the running for the Arkansas gig are Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, and USF’s Alex Golesh.
Morris has led the Mean Green to a 10-1 record this season. With a win over Temple next weekend, North Texas will punch its ticket to the AAC Championship Game.
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Arguably working in Morris’ favor during the coaching cycle is the recent ESPN report that he plans to bring 3,000-yard quarterback Drew Mestemaker with him to whichever school that hires him.
Scoring head coach-quarterback package deal is awfully appealing to the 2-9 Razorbacks, who will lose senior QB Taylen Green at the end of the season.
Aside from junior Brayson McHenry, the other three QBs on Arkansas’ roster — K.J. Jackson, Trevor Jackson, and Grayson Wilson — are all freshmen with a combined 42 career pass attempts.
Mestemaker, however, leads the nation in passing yards (3,469) and ranks fifth in touchdown passes (26) and 12th in completion percentage (70.1).
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