New Texas Longhorns head coach Tom Herman is still filling out his staff, and one of the most notable openings is at offensive coordinator. He was expected to bring his OC at Houston, Major Applewhite, with him to Austin, but Applewhite ended up getting the head coaching job at Houston to replace Herman. Now, who are the Longhorns looking at to take over the role? Here are the top five candidates:
5) Drew Mehringer, wide receivers coach, Texas
Herman just hired Mehringer from Rutgers, where he just spent one season as offensive coordinator. Still just 29 years old, Mehringer was the wide receivers coach on Herman's staff at Houston in 2015 before taking the Rutgers job. Herman may choose to give him another promotion, but that's unlikely - entering the final weekend of the season, Rutgers ranked last in total offense, second-to-last in scoring offense and 122 out of 128 teams in passing offense.
4) Sterlin Gilbert, former offensive coordinator, Texas
Gilbert is currently a coaching free agent after Tom Herman decided not to retain anyone from Charlie Strong's staff, but it certainly makes sense for Herman to reconsider now that Applewhite isn't coming. While the Longhorns struggled this year, offense wasn't the issue - they ranked 19th in the country in yards per game. However, he only has one year of experience coaching at the Power 5 level.
3) Jeff Scott, co-offensive coordinator, Clemson
Scott has been a co-offensive coordinator at Clemson for two years now, helping engineer what has been one of the top units in the entire country. He is also an excellent recruiter, being responsible for a good deal of the offensive talent currently on the Tigers' roster (he was their recruiting coordinator from 2008-14). At 35 years old, he is one of the rising stars in coaching.
2) Sonny Cumbie, co-offensive coordinator, TCU
Cumbie turned down the Texas offensive coordinator job last year before Gilbert got it, and it's very likely they could offer it to him again. He has been at TCU since 2014, splitting OC duties with Doug Meacham - which, uncoincidentally, was the first year in which TCU went from being a defensive team to an offensive one. Texas could easily match (or top) the $1.4 million he makes with the Horned Frogs.
1) Mark Helfrich, former Oregon head coach
Despite his failures the last two years as Oregon's head coach, Helfrich did lead them to the first College Football Playoff championship game - and was the offensive coordinator for four years under Chip Kelly. Offense was never Oregon's problem with Helfrich (in fact, they were always one of the best in the country), and considering the success he had as the OC with the Ducks, he could be a slam dunk hire for the Longhorns.
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