(UPDATED) Coaching Hot Board: Who is Next To Lead Illini Football Program?

Illinois has several options to choose from in this search for a new head football coach.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois is the third Power Five Conference head football coach job to come open during this carousel season and depending on its financial situation, the candidate pool may be deeper than previously perceived.

Illinois announced Sunday morning Lovie Smith was terminated by athletics director Josh Whitman after five seasons that didn’t produce a single winning season and ended with a 17-39 overall record.

Illini Now/Sports Illustrated will now lay out some candidates for this job while also reminding folks that Whitman pulled a surprise five years ago by announcing the hiring of the former Chicago Bears head coach in 2016.

NOTE: This board will constantly be updated as news develops regarding the college football coaching carousel and the Illinois opening. 

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MONDAY, Dec. 14 UPDATE: 

5 p.m. UPDATE: Stadium.com reporter Brett McMurphy is reporting Justin Fuente will continue as the head coach at Virginia Tech. Therefore, Illini Now/Sports Illustrated has immediately eliminated him from the coaching candidate hot board. 

Justin Fuente is likely returning next season at Virginia Tech, industry sources told @Stadium. The school announced a Tuesday news conference regarding football topics

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 14, 2020

Virginia Tech athletics administration had announced early Monday afternoon that a Zoom media conference led by athletic director Whit Babcock would take place Tuesday to according to the school's release "answer questions on topics pertaining to Tech Football and Tech Athletics."

Justin Fuente - Virginia Tech head coach

According to multiple reports, Virginia Tech has announced a Zoom media conference to be led by athletic director Whit Babcock for Tuesday to according to the school's release "answer questions on topics pertaining to Tech Football and Tech Athletics."

Logically, you don't call that press conference to announce a status quo of your football program and it is probably no coincidence that Fuente's contract buyout drops from $12.5 million to $10 million by midnight tonight. Also, the language in the contract is similar boilerplate material about if Fuente, 44, would take another job before the end of his contract term with Virginia Tech, the amount of his new salary would be subtracted from the $10 million buyout owed by Virginia Tech to terminate him. 

Therefore, this chaotic situation seems similar to the scenario that resulted in Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman being able to pluck then-Oklahoma State head basketball coach Brad Underwood for his vacancy. 

Reports have surfaced Fuente and his boss have had a troubled relationship since Babcock hired Fuente away from Memphis on Nov. 29, 2015 to replace the legendary coach Frank Beamer. In his first season in Blacksburg, Fuente led the Hokies to a 9-3 regular season record and a trip to the ACC Championship Game while also winning the 2016 ACC coach of the year honors following the regular season before defeating the Arkansas in the 2016 Belk Bowl. 

Dating back to the start of the 2018 season, the Hokies are just 19-18 overall under Fuente and are suffering through a 5-6 season that includes most recently back-to-back blowout losses to Pittsburgh and Clemson that followed a home defeat to Liberty.

Prior to his arriving at Virginia Tech, Fuente orchestrated a complete rebuild of Memphis that ended with a 10-win sesason in 2014 and then a 9-win season in 2015 led by eventual first round draft pick Paxton Lynch at quarterback. Fuente had gained a reputation as a superior offensive mind and play-caller for his success as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at TCU, working with future NFL starting quarterback Andy Dalton for a period that saw the Horned Frogs complete a pair of undefeated regular-seasons and notch a Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin on New Year's Day 2011.

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Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Dave Clawson stands with tight end Jack Freudenthal (86) and offensive lineman Justin Herron (75) prior to taking the field for a 2019 game against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome :: Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports

Dave Clawson - Wake Forest head coach

While this isn't a fair topic to talk about during a global virus pandemic affecting finances across the country, this Power Five Conference coach finds himself on a hot board for an Illinois vacancy for no other reason than money. Oh, and he's perceived to be a really, really solid football coach. 

Of the 13 public schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference (which release salary and contract information), Clawson's 2019 salary of $2,189,063 is the lowest in the league and is nearly half of what Lovie Smith's annual salary was at Illinois. According to USA Today, Clawson is slated to get a ACC-low 2020 salary of $2,303,069. 

Clawson, 53, has reached four straight bowl games at Wake Forest and after losing the first two games of the 2020 campaign, the Deamon Deacons currently stand at 4-3 and they are looking to guarantee another winning record with a matchup Saturday vs. Florida State.  Since the start of the 2017 season Wake Forest is tied for the second-most wins in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Wake Forest's offensive production has set over 300 school records including marks for points scored, total offensive yards, first downs and passing yards over the past three seasons. 

Clawson is seen as a superior evaluator of talent as lower recruiting budgets and academic restrictions at Wake are seen as possible roadblocks to top-tier recruiting classes. However, Wake Forest's current 2020 recruiting class boasts committed players from 13 different states including North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 

Clawson has several years of experience as a program builder as before his arrival at Wake Forest, he qualified for back-to-back bowl games at Bowling Green including a 2013 Mid-American Conference championship. Clawson also had four seasons at Richmond where the Spiders qualified for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs twice. 

The current COVID-19 pandemic has been terribly difficult on the Clawson family as he admitted in August that he has been isolating from his family since July 12 as a precautionary measure. Clawson’s wife, Catherine, is a cancer survivor and has an increased risk of complications should she contract the coronavirus, because of a diminished number of white blood cells. 

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SUNDAY, Dec. 13 UPDATE: 

Cajuns head coach Billy Napier on sideline as Louisiana Ragin Cajuns take on the Miami University Redhawks in the Lending Tree Bowl in Mobile, AL. Monday, Jan. 6, 2020 :: Scott Clause/USA TODAY Network

Billy Napier - Louisiana head coach

Napier, 41, is 27–11 overall and 20–5 in Sun Belt Conference play in three seasons with Louisiana and has the Ragin' Cajuns football program at No. 19 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. Louisiana in the conference title game this weekend with a matchup against No. 13 Coastal Carolina.

Napier’s resume includes a four-year stint as Alabama's wide receivers coach under Nick Saban that included a national championship in 2016 before he was hired as offensive coordinator at Arizona State by then-head coach Todd Graham. Arizona State finished with a 7–5 record and a Sun Bowl trip under Napier’s spread option offense and Napier was offered the opportunity to remain on Herm Edwards’ staff at ASU but Napier declined and instead took the head coach job at Louisiana.

Napier was discussed as a candidate for the South Carolina opening just a few weeks ago before it eventually got filled by Sean Beamer and was seen as a leading candidate for the opening at Mississippi State last offseason before MSU athletics director John Cohen pulled a wild card in the search by hiring Mike Leach. Multiple industry sources have told Illini Now/Sports Illustrated that Napier, who was born in Cookeville, Tenn., is waiting on an attractive Southeastern Conference opening to happen such as Tennessee before jumping to another job.

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Buffalo Bulls head coach Lance Leipold looks on during a warm up prior to the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium :: Matthew O'Haren/USA TODAY Sports

Lance Leipold - Buffalo head coach

Leipold, 56, is finishing his sixth season at Buffalo and the Bulls are currently 5-0 in this 2020 campaign. Leipold is a Midwest guy after having been at Division III power Wisconsin–Whitewater where he went 109-6 and won the NCAA Division III Football Championship in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 while also being the national runner-up in 2008.

Leipold was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin under Barry Alvarez from 1991–1993. His recruiting ties to the Midwest are still very much up to date and he’s seen by industry sources as the perfect rebuilding candidate due to his ability to turn around Buffalo from a laughingstock to a program on the verge of its third straight bowl appearance.

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Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken holds up a football while celebrating with his players after a 15-0 win over Navy in the Army-Navy game at Michie Stadium :: Danny Wild/USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Monken - Army head coach

Monken, 53, is finishing his seventh season at Army and has the program completely turned around as it has accepted a bid to the Independence Bowl following a 8-2 record in 2020. Under Monken, Army has been in four bowl games in the last five seasons and that includes a 10-win season in 2017 and a 11-win season in 2018.

Monken has ties to state of Illinois after being born in Peoria graduating from Millikin University after playing wide receiver there from 1985-1988. In 2009, Monken was hired at Georgia Southern and led the Eagles to a 10–5 record and a berth in the 2010 FCS Playoffs semifinals, defeating top-ranked and previously undefeated Appalachian State. In 2011, Monken led GSU 11–3 record, the Southern Conference championship and a second-straight trip to the 2011 FCS Playoffs semifinals. In 2012, Monken again led the Eagles to a Southern Conference Championship with a 10–4 overall record, a third consecutive FCS Semifinal Game appearance and final No. 3 national ranking. Georgia Southern accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference in March 2013 and subsequently made the move to FBS. In its first transition year in 2013, the Eagles were not eligible for the NCAA playoffs and ended their FCS history with a 26–20 victory over Florida in the regular season finale.

The major knock against Monken is speculation that the wishbone triple option offense that he’s used at Georgia Southern and Army is not seen as appealing to athletic directors and to recruits in 2020. However, industry sources have told Illini Now/SI that if Monken, who is a cousin of Todd Monken, the former Southern Mississippi head coach, NFL offensive coordinator and current offensive coordinator at the University of Georgia, gets a Power Five Conference head coach opportunity, he isn’t committed to that style of offense.

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Kent State Golden Flashes head coach Sean Lewis argues with an official after an unsportsmanlike conduct call during the game against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium :: Julie Bennett/USA TODAY Sports

Sean Lewis - Kent State head coach

Lewis, 34, is a candidate where Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman might have to look beyond the overall record at Kent State of 12-17 to realize the massive rebuilding job he’s overtaking with this Mid-American Conference program.

Illini Now/Sports Illustrated had an industry source who used to be a coordinator in the Mid-American say this about the job Lewis has done since taking over at Kent State in 2018.

“The job he’s done there is unbelievably impressive,” the source said. “Trust me when I tell you that when we prepared to play them the year before he arrived, they couldn’t move the football, not one inch. They have no facilities to recruit to and the fact that he took them to a bowl game last year and has them winning this year is a minor miracle.”

Lewis, who makes an annual salary of $440,000 at Kent State, played college football at Wisconsin from 2006–2007 and his resume includes serving as an offensive assistant under Dino Babers at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green. Lewis’ first game as a FBS head coach came at Memorial Stadium when Kent State lost 31-24 to the Illini in 2018.

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New England Patriots defensive line coach Bret Bielema stands win the sidelines before the game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium :: Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports

Bret Bielema - New York Giants LBs coach & senior defensive assistant/fmr. head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas

Bielema basically needs no introduction but for the purposes of this hot board here goes: The 50-year-old from Prophetstown, Illinois played football for Iowa under Hayden Fry and can boast recent successful periods as a head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas. Bielema was 68–24 in seven seasons after taking over the Badgers program from Barry Alvarez after he assumed the athletics director position. Bielema left Wisconsin to take the job at Arkansas where he went to bowl games in three straight seasons 2014-16 but expectations were he’d challenge Alabama and Auburn for the Western Division title during his tenure and a 4-8 record in 2017 doomed his future as the Razorbacks fired him after five seasons. Since being fired from Arkansas, Bielema was hired by the New England Patriots as a defensive consultant to head coach Bill Belichick and was promoted ahead of the 2019 season to defensive line coach. Currently, Bielema serves as the outside linebackers coach and senior assistant coach with the New York Giants under first-year head coach Joe Judge. The Giants are currently leading the NFC East and in line for a playoff berth this season.

If Whitman can afford Bielema’s price tag and wants a hire to infuse excitement into a 2021 season, Bielema’s hire might do just that and his return to the Big Ten where his power running style of offense is seen as effective, might be considered similar to Greg Schiano reviving the Rutgers program last offseason.

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Nevada head coach Jay Norvell leads his team onto the field to take on Portland State at Mackay Stadium in Reno :: Jason Bean/RGJ via Imagn Content Services

Jay Norvell - Nevada head coach

Norvell is a Midwest guy doing remarkable things in Nevada as he’s primed for a third straight bowl appearance. The Madison, Wisconsin native played defensive back at Iowa under Fry from 1982–1985 and played for the Chicago Bears in 1987. Ironically, when Norvell turned to coaching, he flipped sides of the ball and became an offensive assistant high in demad. He served served as the offensive coordinator for Nebraska (2004–2006), UCLA (2007) and was the the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops (2010-2014) and had play-calling duties at Texas in 2015. He was previously the wide receivers coach at the University of Texas. Norvell got his first head coaching job at Nevada and has a 24-22 overall record and is 6-2 this season. Under Norvell, Nevada has non-conference wins over Purdue, Oregon State and a bowl win over Arkansas State.

Norvell has a resume that boasts coaching in both the BCS National Championship Game with Oklahoma and Super Bowl XXXVII with the Oakland Raiders.

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Western Michigan Broncos head coach Tim Lester on the sideline in the third quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome :: Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports

Tim Lester - Western Michigan head coach

Lester, 43, took over the Western Michigan program after P.J. Fleck left WMU for Minnesota but the Wheaton, Illinois native was not on Fleck’s previous staff. Lester has massive Illinois ties and would be seen as a popular hire by the Illinois high school football coaches after he got his start in the business in 2000 as the offensive coordinator at Warrenville South High School in Wheaton, Ill. In 2015, Purdue hired Lester to become its quarterbacks coach and he recruited and was the first college position coach to develop David Blough as the Boilermakers averaged 294.9 passing yards a game, ranking 21st in the country.

Lester has a 24-19 record at his alma mater and has led them to back-to-back bowl appearances. Lester’s 2019 campaign featured an All-America selection at linebacker, the Mid-American Conference most valuable player, the league’s offensive and defensive players of the year and a sixth consecutive year of bowl games.