We provided a lay of the land of the UTSA job on Monday, but I'll give you the elevator pitch version here. Only two schools in the entirety of the Group of 5 share a profile with UTSA -- a pro market with no NFL team inside a talent-rich state -- and those schools are UCF and San Diego State. UCF is 34-4 since 2017, and San Diego State is 48-18 since 2015.
As if that isn't enough, the school also has deep pockets. Outgoing coach Frank Wilson made $1.125 million in 2019, the fourth most in Conference USA.
So, the school shouldn't have trouble attracting candidates, and someone who knows how to get players to San Antonio will be set up to compete for championships.
Sources told FootballScoop Wednesday that three familiar names in South Texas have emerged as candidates to become the next top Roadrunner: Former Arkansas head coach Chad Morris, former Houston head coach Major Applewhite and Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding.
Morris, fresh off his dismissal in Fayetteville, also spent three seasons as the head coach at SMU and prior to that spent four years helping Dabo Swinney build Clemson into CLEMSON. Before that, though, Morris spent a decade and a half climbing the Texas high school football ranks, where he went 169-38 with three state championship appearances and three victories.
Applewhite has been a major figure in Texas longer than Morris, dating back to his career as a Longhorn quarterback from 1998-01. He quickly climbed the ladder as a coach, becoming the offensive coordinator at Rice by age 28, Nick Saban's first offensive coordinator at Alabama by 29, and the assistant head coach at Texas by 30. Applewhite helped Houston win the American championship and the Peach Bowl in 2015, then became the Coogs' head coach when Tom Herman left for Texas in November of 2016; he was let go after compiling a 15-11 record in two seasons, and spent the 2019 season as an analyst at Alabama.
Speaking of Alabama, Applewhite has company from his own office.
Golding does not have near the history inside Texas as Morris or Applewhite, but he has much closer, more immediate ties to UTSA in particular, having served as the Roadrunners' defensive coordinator in 2016-17. UTSA went 12-12 with Golding on staff, and 7-17 in the two Wilson-led seasons without him.
Golding's interaction with AD Lisa Campos was limited however, as she was not hired until Nov. 17, 2017, weeks before Golding left for Alabama.
More candidates are expected to emerge as the search progresses.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.