Liberty went 34-15 in four seasons under Hugh Freeze. (Nelson Chenault \/ USA Today)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSo what names could get in the mix?<\/h2>\n
Liberty is expected to make swings at some active head coaches, due to its resources. Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell<\/strong> hasn’t been able to get Power 5 bites, despite his massive success at Coastal, opening the possibility of other Group of 5 jobs that share a lot more, like USF. (And unlike USF, Liberty has won recently.) Chadwell is 31-5 over the past three years at Coastal, and he’s won everywhere he’s been. He was the lowest-paid FBS head coach before the breakout season in 2020, later doubling his salary to more than $1 million. Liberty can offer him a lot more. But would leaving the Sun Belt for Conference USA be a step up? Liberty could also make a push for other Sun Belt names like Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton<\/strong> and James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti<\/strong>.<\/p>\nIndiana head coach Tom Allen<\/strong> has had a rough two years since the breakout season of 2020. After a top-15 finish that year, the Hoosiers have gone 2-10 and 4-8 in the past two seasons, including 2-16 in Big Ten play. Could a break be beneficial for both sides? His buyout is massive, at $ 20 million if Indiana wanted to fire him even after the 2023 season. But the buyout on Allen’s end to leave drops to $4 million on Dec. 1, which is plenty manageable. His salary is right around $ 5 million, something we know Liberty could pay, as it did for Freeze. Allen and Freeze also go back more than a decade together. Of course, leaving a Big Ten job for a Conference USA job would be basically unprecedented, but multiple industry sources have mentioned Allen’s name as one to potentially watch.<\/p>\nClemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter <\/strong>was a Liberty assistant from 2006 to 2011, including three years as offensive coordinator before the move back to Clemson. He was Trevor Lawrence’s position coach and has a strong recruiting background. Streeter was promoted to offensive coordinator this season, and while the offense did struggle at times, Clemson still improved to 27th in scoring, up from 82nd in 2021.<\/p>\nArkansas offensive coordinator Kendall Briles<\/strong> has a previous relationship with McCaw from their time at Baylor, where Briles coached from 2008 to 2016 under his father. Post-Baylor and the school’s sexual assault scandal, the younger Briles never left FBS football, serving as offensive coordinator at FAU, Houston, Florida State and now Arkansas over the past six years. He improved the Razorbacks offense from outside the top 100 nationally in scoring into the top 50, as the program bounced back, though this 6-6 season has been a disappointment. As for his father, Art Briles<\/strong> is not expected to be on the shortlist or in the mix for Liberty.<\/p>\nSMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons<\/strong> was Freeze’s defensive coordinator at Liberty from 2019 to 2021. The scoring defense ranked 117th the year before he got there and became a top-25 unit by the time he left. He was named to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s 40 under 40 this summer, but this year’s SMU defense ranks 123rd nationally in points allowed.<\/p>\nAfter losing a coach to Auburn, how about a former Auburn coach? North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik<\/strong> won a national championship with Cam Newton in 2010. Chizik has spent three years at UNC over two stints around periodic breaks from coaching. North Carolina’s defense struggled this year, but he would bring head coaching experience.<\/p>\nFlorida State tight ends coach Chris Thomsen<\/strong> went 51-21 as Abilene Christian’s head coach over seven seasons from 2005 to 2011, when it was a Division II school. The Texas native has coached at Texas Tech, Arizona State, TCU and FSU since then.<\/p>\ncould Nick Rolovich<\/strong> be an option? Liberty had no hiring someone with a controversial background in Freeze. Rolovich was fired at Washington State because of the state’s vaccine mandate. The coach wouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine and his religious exemption request tied to his Catholic background was denied. As a coach, Rolovich went 28-27 at Hawaii, including 18-11 in his final two years, with a division title, behind an explosive and creative offense. He was 5-6 at Washington State before he was fired. Rolovich is also in the process of suing Washington State and officials over his firing, which makes him a non-starter at most schools.<\/p>\nAs for internal options, Liberty co-offensive coordinator\/quarterbacks coach Kent Austin<\/strong> developed Malik Willis into a third-round pick. Austin has been at Liberty since 2019 and was previously the head coach of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2013 to 2017. Co-defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge<\/b> was named interim head coach after Freeze’s departure. He joined the staff in 2019 and was a Broyles Award nominee in 2021. Aldridge was promoted to co-coordinator after Symons went to SMU, and the two previously worked together at South Georgia.<\/p>\n(Top photo: James Guillory \/ USA Today)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n