It is certainly not unprecedented for a head coach to lose his job before October in college football, but it is a rarity to see three head coaching changes be made before the calendar flips from September to October. Yet, on Monday, Georgia Tech became the third FBS program to part ways with its head coach by relieving Geoff Collins of his head coaching responsibilities in Atlanta. Georgia Tech followed Nebraska and Arizona State in making changes at the top of their respective football programs in September, and the Yellow Jackets job, in particular, could have some familiar names to Penn State fans circling around as potential candidates for the job.
And no, we are not talking about [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag].
One name that stands out right away could be [autotag]Charles Huff[/autotag]. The current head coach of Marshall is a former running backs coach under Franklin from 2014 through 2017, and his name has quickly become a name to monitor in the head coaching carousel rumor mill. Huff coached Marshall to an early-season upset of Notre Dame in South Bend, but the Thundering Herd have lost two straight games since then. But he has established himself as a worthy candidate, according to Football Scoop.
From Football Scoop;
Huff has recruited – at an elite level, mind you – at Vanderbilt University and been an integral cog at both Alabama and Penn State.
His own story is incredibly relatable to today’s athletes, and his climb through the coaching ranks is not to be ignored. Simply put, it’s merely a matter of time before Huff is a Power-5 head coach.
Former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] is also constantly a name to keep an eye on as a potential head coaching candidate, and the Georgia Tech job would seemingly be one that could work for O’Brien. O’Brien is currently the offensive coordinator for Alabama, which in itself is a position that has led to multiple head coaching opportunities including Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss and Steve Sarkisian at Texas.
O’Brien has never been shy about his desire to be a successful head coach. Even from his start as head coach at Penn State, O’Brien made it known how he felt the highest rings on the ladder are being a winning head coach in the NFL. While Georgia Tech is not the NFL, a return to being a head coach with an opportunity to truly grow something at a program that could have a quick turnaround under the right leadership could be an intriguing option for a guy like O’Brien.
No outlets have gone so far to tap into the current Penn State coaching staff just yet, although offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz could find their names working into some carousel rumor mills down the line if things go well for Penn State this season. Diaz, of course, has previously head coaching experience in the ACC with Miami, for whatever that is worth.
So, for now, we’ll keep a watchful eye on the news coming out of the Georgia Tech coaching search just in case the ACC program goes with anyone with some sort of connection to Penn State.
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