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Note -- there are 50 names, so I only listed the ones who listed North Texas...or in Leavitt's case have been mentioned before. 17. Kendal Briles, Baylor OC: It’s his dad’s offense, but young Briles knows the secret sauce. Even playing their third-string QB, the Bears are potent, ringing up 700 yards of offense at Oklahoma State on Saturday. It also helps his cause that other Art Briles disciples, Dino Babers and Philip Montgomery have gotten off to impressive starts to their own head coaching careers. Kendal Briles could probably get North Texas but he may get a look from some bigger programs this winter. 18. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma OC: A Mike Leach protégé, Riley’s still very young at 31, but he’s very sharp and very mature. His offenses put up huge numbers at ECU before taking over the Sooners attack and sparking a return to the status of national title contender. What’s more impressive is that OU is doing this with one of the most inexperienced O-lines in college football. Riley won’t just take any FBS head coaching job, but if Mizzou came after him, that’d probably be too much to turn down. (Remember new Mizzou AD Mack Rhoades tabbed up-and-comer Tom Herman when he was the Houston AD.) Or if Herman leaves UH, Riley would probably be a strong option there. 22. Doug Meacham, TCU OC: His career has taken off in the past two years since revitalizing the Horned Frogs offense after getting his shot to be an FBS OC at Houston. Meacham turns 51 next month and probably will be eager to make his big move this winter. Would he take North Texas? Or would he hold out hope to get Houston if Tom Herman leaves? 34. Jim Leavitt, Colorado DC: He had a lot of success at USF where he built the program before being fired for allegedly mistreatment of players. The 58-year-old resurfaced as an NFL assistant before coming to CU as a DC. He might have a shot at K-State, where he worked for five years under Snyder. He also has some support at UCF to get him a shot there. 44. Jay Norvell, Texas play-caller: The Longhorns offense has sputtered although it has perked up in the past few games averaging 519 yards. Norvell is on the radar for the North Texas vacancy and could get a look at Iowa State, where he once was an assistant. read more: http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/lsu-tigers-miles-texas-longhorns-strong-houston-herman-florida-st-fisher-coaching-carousel-112215

Hindsight is 20/20, but I think we were so concerned about the lack of experience that was displayed in the Dodge regime we focused TOO much into experience and needing to hire a guy that had been a head coach. What we forgot about was recruiting. It is the LIFEBLOOD of programs at our level. I never felt like this staff was assembled with that priority in mind. It is not to say that we do not have good recruiters on this staff. I think Tommy Perry and KP have shown the ability to land quality prospects. I think this time around it really has to be a big component of the hire. And this does not mean that the head coach has to put all of the recruiting on his shoulders. Look at SMU. Chad Morris is a good coach and I am sure he can recruit. But the real big time recruiter on that staff is DC Van Malone. Malone has been a top producer of prospects at every stop he has been at. If you look at the staffs on the higher level programs, you don't just see one or two guys that can recruit -- every single one of them can. The other thing I think I would like to see is a coach who runs a more wide open offense. I know the Dodge years were painful in many respects, however offensively we were pretty stout at times. The big key was Dodge could lure some pretty good QB's into the program. I think the ground and pound philosophy does not attract the top QB talent. We are sitting in an absolute goldmine of talent here in DFW. Yet, we really have never put together a solid plan or formula to tap into this talent pool. Lastly, I think we need to embrace our strengths. We have numbers, tons of alumni and students who have either attended, graduated or have some type of connection here. We should have a much more powerful social media presence. We should be open access in terms of fans watching practice and scrimmages etc. We have basically gone a decade now where the coaching staffs have limited access during two-a-days and what has it got us? Note to self, there are not a bunch of opponent spies out trying to learn our playbook. I would like to see North Texas become a great stepping stone to bigtime p5 jobs. In other words, if you are a quality assistant you can come here and if you win you will get a big opportunity to move up the food chain as a head coach. There are places with far less resources who have managed to do this. What are they doing? How are they structuring things to be attractive? Why reinvent the wheel? Last time, we used a consultant (Chuck Neinas) to help us find Danny Mac. I am not against a consultant being involved but we need them to understand the priorities and not just try to match us to their best candidate, versus match us with the candidate that best positions North Texas to be successful. Again, we are sitting here in DFW and the great state of Texas. I would think someone who has experience here would be a big plus. Finally -- and this is important -- whomever we hire, does NOT need to remind us how tough things are here. That was my biggest issue with Mac. I understand that he was proud of his accomplishments at other places, but dammit you are at North Texas and I want you to be proud of what we have and see the potential here. We heard how bad the program was when the staff got here yet, in the bowl season our top players were from the same prior regime that was roundly criticized. Nothing to be gained by slamming the past. We know our past has been an issue. We need a coach that will look forward not back. We need to know that the next coach truly believes in this place and has a definitive plan on how it has to be structured for future success. Not just a resume. I think this type of forward thinking candidate is one that our fans will get behind and support unlike any coach we have had here before.