Another one bites the dust in the Group of Five.
After just 23 games and a 7-16 record in charge of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Kevin Wilson is out as head coach. Expected to be a splashy, offensive-minded hire flopped as the program struggled to accumulate talent and was below average on both sides of the ball.
The job isn’t the best in the Group of Five, but it’s certainly not the worst. Who could Tulsa target to replace Kevin Wilson? Here are five potential candidates.
Replacement Candidates for Kevin Wilson at Tulsa
Tulsa has potential as a Group of Five power, but it would take the correct coach. The NIL infrastructure is awful right now, and Oklahoma isn’t the kind of high school football state that is talented enough to sustain an entire Group of Five program, especially one that shares the state with two Power Four schools.
Accordingly, I think the Golden Hurricane needs a coach with some sort of player personnel background. It won’t be enough to rely on expert scouting or a unique scheme there, Tulsa needs to improve some of its deficiencies, not just work around them.
That said, a coach who can maximize his limited talent pool is a must.
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Tulsa is over 250 miles from the closest Group of Five schools, so there is potential to take the route the Dakota schools have patented in the FCS by taking overlooked players from nearby states without many Group of Five schools.
The Kansas Jayhawks, Missouri Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, and Oklahoma State Cowboys can only take so many players, and there are certainly plenty to fall through the cracks.
Here are five guys who could be successful at Tulsa.
Zac Alley (Oklahoma Defensive Coordinator)
My apologies for describing the perfect coach and then listing Oklahoma’s first-year defensive coordinator, but Zac Alley is a future head coach and it would be silly to see him leave the state and find success. He’s young, energetic, and has a creative scheme and likely a plan to succeed at the Group of Five level.
Alley would need to decide early on what kind of offense he’d like to run and then recruit to that scheme early, but he could apply pressure to the administration to improve the Name, Image, and Likeness situation at Tulsa, which would help them compete.
Brennan Marion (UNLV Offensive Coordinator)
If Tulsa decided to go the schematic route, Brennan Marion would make perfect sense. He can recruit at a high level and has deep connections to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is difficult to recruit in and has plenty of competition, but it is also overflowing with talent.
Marion’s “Go-Go” scheme is the most unique in FBS college football right now. It includes elements of the spread, option, and unique two-back sets. It would appeal to players in the area who might be overlooked by the local Power Four schools.
Taylor Braet (Kansas State Director of Recruiting)
Here’s an under-the-radar off-field name to keep an eye on. Taylor Braet has been with the Kansas State Wildcats for the entirety of his coaching career, but he’s an elite recruiter and was one of the first in the sport to be a full-time recruiting director.
His roots in Kansas City are deep, and if he surrounds himself with elite coaches, he can run the CEO model to perfection, getting more out of less at Tulsa. It’d be risky, but at this point, what Group of Five hire isn’t risky?
Collin Klein (Texas A&M Offensive Coordinator)
Collin Klein made his name as a quarterback and then quarterbacks coach at Kansas State before moving to the Texas A&M Aggies last season. His work with quarterbacks has been well-documented, and he’s a strong recruiter.
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The thought around the industry is that Klein will be a head coach sooner rather than later and Tulsa is the type of school that could benefit from both his coaching and his deep recruiting connections.
Corey Batoon (Missouri Defensive Coordinator)
While Kirby Moore (offensive coordinator) seems to be the Missouri coach getting the biggest push for a head coaching job, I think defensive coordinator Corey Batoon is the better fit at Tulsa. Batoon has coached all over, both on and off the field, at multiple levels of the sport.
Batoon is best known for his stingy defenses, but he was an integral part of Hugh Freeze’s Ole Miss Rebels coaching staff, first off the field and then as a special teams coordinator. He has recruiting relationships all over the country, but especially in the South and Midwest.
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