College football’s 2019 coaching carousel predictions
2. Washington State and Houston
With Mike Leach now in Morgantown, someone will have to replace him at Washington State. The Cougars’ facilities and talent have seen a major upgrade over the past seven years under Leach and it will be a much more desirable landing spot for a head football coach in 2019.
Craig Bohl would be a great fit in Pullman at Washington State. He has experience coaching all over the country as a native of Lincoln, Neb., and former Cornhusker defensive back. After serving as a graduate assistant at Nebraska, he coached at North Dakota State, Tulsa, Wisconsin, Rice and Duke before returning to Nebraska and taking over the NDSU program in 2003.
At North Dakota State, Bohl won three consecutive FCS championships before taking the head coaching position at Wyoming.
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Since arriving in Laramie, Wyo., Bohl has managed back-to-back eight win seasons for the Cowboys. Under Dave Christensen, Wyoming managed one eight-win season but finished out with nine wins over two seasons to close out his tenure. Coach Bohl started off rough with only six wins in two seasons before 16 between 2016-17. The Cowboys surprisingly expect an even better season in 2018 with the defense, his specialty, even with the loss of Jared Allen to the NFL.
Bohl has experience recruiting the Northwest, as well as Oklahoma, the Midwest, and Texas locally — and has recruited California at both NDSU and Wyoming which is a plus for the Cougars’ brass.
Down in Houston, I could see Kliff Kingsbury returning to the Cougars but this time around as the head coach. Major Applewhite can be the coach that makes or breaks the Cougars chance to join the Pac-12 turned Pac-14 or the Big 12. Neither conference will think about splitting revenue dollars for a 7-5 Cougars squad.
Applewhite also took a risk on hiring Kendal Briles as offensive coordinator. He’s the son of Art Briles — the coach that was fired in Waco after a shameful amount of sexual assault allegations and subsequent coverups. If Briles and Applewhite can’t put together a double-digit win season the gamble to hire a coach connected to that big of a scandal will be costly to Appelwhite’s tenure in Houston.