At least if it’s up to him, you haven’t heard the last of Mack Brown when it comes to the college coaching game.
With a handful of openings across the country, the former Texas head coach has reportedly tossed his name into the mix for the vacancy at Virginia, not far from where he began his major college head-coaching career at another ACC school, North Carolina. From FootballScoop.com‘s update on UVa.'s search for a replacement for Mike London:
Brown has spent the past two seasons as an ESPN college football analyst following his resignation from Texas after 16 years with the Longhorns. At 64 years of age some would question how viable of a candidate Brown actually is, and the fact that he reportedly is actively seeking the position but can’t get an interview seemingly speaks volumes on that front.
The FootballScoop report comes a couple of days after 247Sports.com reported on Brown’s interest.
“Mack’s absolutely interested in Virginia,” the recruiting website’s Bobby Burton said. “He knows the conference and what it takes to win there. And he’s not a guy to cut corners on academics like a lot of coaches will.”
That said...
“I believe Mack Brown wants the job badly, but at this point - right now - the interest doesn’t seem to be as strong on Virginia’s end,” Jamie Oakes of Wahoos247.com concluded.
Aside from Brown’s apparent one-sided interest, the website goes on to mention that Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, Cal’s Sonny Dykes and former Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano are being considered for the position. There’s also a possibility that former Cal head coach Jeff Tedford, who stepped down from his job as a CFL head coach to pursue college coaching opportunities, could be in the mix as well. And, should Dykes move on from Cal for UVa. or Syracuse or Missouri -- he’s a rumored candidate at all three -- Tedford would reportedly get a look to refill his old position with the Bears.