Is Kane Wommack college football’s next top head coach?

There’s no kind way to put it: the South Alabama Jaguars are not a good football program. Formed in 2009, the Jags saw a booming start as an FCS independent. But since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2012, they have been one of college football’s most consistent punching bags.

From 2012-2020, South Alabama failed to obtain a single winning record, begging the question of whether or not the team would ever make any true strides as an FBS power. That is until Kane Wommack came along.

Wommack was named the head coach of the Jaguars for their 2021 season and, for what should be obvious reasons, the bar that he was expected to hit was not placed tremendously high. Based on his first run with the team, it was looking like the foreseeable future would merely be more of the same.

In 2021, South Alabama went 5-7 and bumped their bowl drought up to five consecutive seasons. One bright light came from the fact that the Jags hadn’t even seen that many wins in a run since their last postseason appearance. However, that showing still wasn’t enough to get fans too hyped for the future. The same cannot be said about 2022.

This year, South Alabama saw what has easily been its best season since moving up to the FBS level, entering the postseason at an outstanding 10-2. If the Jaguars can win the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 21, they will obtain the most wins that the program has ever seen in a single season.

In other words, Kane Wommack has turned a historically snake-bitten college football team into one of the Group of Five’s most promising squads in just two seasons. If that performance can’t place his name in the minds of every Power Five university, I don’t know what can.

Who all could notice Wommack, and when?

It’s going to take more than one strong season to get Wommack any true consideration, though, as consistency is typically key in matters such as these. Not only that, but South Alabama’s abysmal history will only leave employers all the more eager to regard the 2022 Jaguars as a “fluke.” With that said, it would be in Wommack’s best interest to give Mobile some more of his time anyway.

So let’s say that Wommack sticks with the Jags for two more seasons (he signed an extension for longer than that but bear with me), and in each one he gets them at least eight wins. At that point, he will have proven that the USA program did not just tear off some random run, but that he had completely transformed it into a winner. There are many struggling teams that would clamor over a man with that kind of talent — but who?

In just a couple of years, we could see several Power Five schools stuck in desperate need of a coaching change. Considering where they stand today, some of these schools could be Boston College (finished 3-9 with two one-point wins), Northwestern (went 1-11, currently a bottom-three team in the Power Five), and Texas A&M (a program with monumental standards that failed to make the postseason).

Now sure, all of those teams share conferences with some of college football’s biggest and baddest names, so to go from coaching in the Sun Belt to any of their leagues after just a few seasons of experience would in no way be a comfortable transition — and it certainly wouldn’t promise any success. However, Wommack’s ability to do more with less will make him worth the gamble in the eyes of many.

Again, there is only so much to say about one great season, but if South Alabama can keep stealing some of the Group of Five’s spotlight, Kane Wommack can very well be the head coach of tomorrow.