This is very, early early and these names are just in alphabetical order.
Anthony Becht - The current head coach of the St. Louis BattleHawks in the United Football League, Becht is a former West Virginia tight end that had a professional career with five different franchises before getting into the media and then into coaching. Becht got his coaching start for the San Diego Fleet in the Alliance of American Football as the tight ends coach and has been overtop the BattleHawks since 2023. He has interviewed for the position per a national report.
Jamey Chadwell - Chadwell is a popular name on coaching search lists and has had plenty of success over his career. The 47-year old has a career coaching record of 119-61 going from North Greenville to his current destination at Liberty. Chadwell had back-to-back 11 win seasons at Coastal Carolina and then a 9-win campaign before he took the job with the Flames. Since arriving there, Chadwell had a 13-1 season and this year is 8-3. The Tennessee native is compensated at Liberty, but is a name that should at least be considered given his track record of success.
Bob Chesney – Chesney is a Pennsylvania native that got his head coach start at Division III Salve Regina and then moved onto Division II Assumption, FCS Holy Cross and to his current landing spot at James Madison at the FBS level. Chesney has a career record of 119-48 and has led the Dukes to an 8-4 season in his first year atop the program. The 47-year-old has consistently won at every stop he’s been at as a head coach.
Liam Coen - The current offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Coen has already had multiple stints as an offensive coordinator at the college level at Maine and two different stops at Kentucky. Coen also has served as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 before previously working as an assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coach within the organization. The Rhode Island native has also had stints Brown, Rhode Island and Massachusetts as an assistant. The 39-year old already has plenty of experience under his belt at both major levels of football.
Jimbo Fisher – Another name that is going to make this list for obvious reasons is Fisher. The Clarksburg native started his career at his alma mater Samford before moving onto Auburn, Cincinnati, LSU and Florida State serving as the offensive coordinator at the final three on that list. From there, Florida State tabbed Fisher atop the program in 2010 and in eight seasons he amassed an 83-23 record including a 48-16 mark in the ACC. Fisher led the Seminoles to the 2013 National Championship and Florida State won at least 10 games in six of his eight seasons in Tallahassee. Fisher would resign at Florida State for Texas A&M in 2017 and take over the Aggies football program. He spent six seasons there going 45-25 and 27-21 in the SEC with three bowl wins in the Gator, Texas and Orange Bowls. He was fired in November of 2023 and is currently out of coaching largely due to the $77.5 million buyout attached to that decision.
Brian Hartline - A former player at Ohio State, Hartline now serves as the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. He has risen up the ranks with the Buckeyes going from a quality control assistant in 2017 to the wide receivers coach to the offensive coordinator. A dynamite recruiter, the 38-year old has been linked to a number of jobs but remained at Ohio State.
Jeff Monken - Monken has been the head coach at Army since 2014 and during that time has gone 80-56 at a place that is difficult to win. This current season Monken has led the Black Knights to their third season of at least 10+ wins since he arrived. Prior to that, the 57-year old, had four years at Georgia Southern where he won at least 10+ games in three of those. Monken began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Hawaii in 1989 and has made stops at places such as Arizona State, Buffalo, Georgia Southern and Navy, among others in various roles. The Illinois native has had success over his career as a head coach with a record of 118-72. He has interviewed.
Dan Mullen – Mullen is one of the more experienced names on this list with assistant stints at Wagner, Columbia, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Bowling Green, Utah and Florida before he got his first head coaching opportunity at Mississippi State from 2009-17. There Mullen amassed a 69-46 record including 33-39 in the SEC with three finishes in the top 25 and five bowl wins in his nine seasons atop the program. From there, Mullen became the head coach at Florida and went 34-15 in his four seasons there leading the Gators to three New Year’s Six games and a rankings of 7, 6, and 13 at the end of his first three seasons. His fourth season was 5-6 when the Gators elected to move in a different direction. He has since served as a broadcaster for ABC and CBS, but the Pennsylvania native is still only 52-years-old.
Rich Rodriguez – The name that everybody expects on this list. Rodriguez doesn’t really need an introduction as is a former West Virginia player that became the head coach in 2001 after rising up the coaching ranks with his last stop before Morgantown being the offensive coordinator at Clemson. Rodriguez was 60-26 during his time atop the Mountaineers including four outright or shared Big East titles. He would lead the program to three consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins and two BCS bowls. Rodriguez would leave West Virginia in 2007 to take a job at Michigan where he only lasted three seasons with a 15-22 record. Arizona would be the next stop as the Grant Town native was 43-35 in six seasons including a ten win campaign in 2014. After time on the staffs at Mississippi and Louisiana-Monroe he would become head coach at Jacksonville State in 2022 and has amassed a 25-10 record including a conference title in his first season. The 61-year old makes sense for a lot of reasons and has a career 186-123-2 record.
Jimmy Rogers - The South Dakota State head coach has spent two seasons with the program and amassed a 25-2 record including an undefeated 15-0 record and the FCS National Championship in his first year there. Rogers started his coaching career with the Jackrabbits and has been there since 2013 as an assistant in some capacity including defensive coordinator. The Arizona native is still just 37-years old.
Glenn Schumann – The current defensive coordinator at Georgia, Schumann is a Georgia native and graduated from Alabama. After serving as a graduate assistant with the Crimson Tide from 2011-14 he moved to Georgia as the inside linebackers coach. From there, the 34-year-old moved up the ladder to become the co-defensive coordinator from 2019-21 and promoted overtop the defense from 2022 on. His units have been very good during his time with the Bulldogs and even interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles for their defensive coordinator job in 2023 before electing to remain at Georgia.
Ryan Silverfield - Silverfield has been the head coach at Memphis since 2020 and has amassed a 41-21 record during that time including back-to-back 10 win seasons. The 44-year old has an extensive coaching career for his age serving first as an assistant at Hampden-Sydney before working within the Minnesota Vikings organization and as well as the Detroit Lions. He took the job as the Memphis offensive line coach in 2016 and worked his way up the ladder. A Florida native that during his five full years atop the Memphis program has yet to have a losing season and has won three bowl games.
Brent Vigen - The Montana State head coach has gone 44-9 in his four seasons atop the Bobcats football program and won at least 12 games in three of four campaigns. The 49-year old worked under Craig Bohl for most of his career at North Dakota State and comes from a very successful coaching tree. Vigen coached at North Dakota State from 1999-2013 in various roles and then followed Bohl to Wyoming as first the offensive coordinator and then associate head coach. In 2021 he was hired to lead Montana State.