Which of the UofL coaching candidates scare UK fans?

Take a look at the purported list.

UK players celebrate with the Governor's Cup after beating Louisville 31-27 this year. Photo by Britney McIntosh | Staff

According to Pat Forde, UofL athletic director Tom Jurich will go big or go home with this next football coach. Texas Tech’s swashbuckling Mike Leach, Houston’s high-flying Kevin Sumlin, Florida’s

aptly-named Charlie Strong, and a couple of guys who have just managed to put up undefeated seasons in the conference UK has had to fight to become bowl eligible in (Tommy Tuberville and Philip Fulmer, both sitting on their couches after being given the heave-ho after the 2008 season).

Needless to say, if any of those guys land down I-64, UK fans should be a little uneasy. UofL was on track to become a top-flight Big East school just a couple years ago, and there’s no reason the right coach couldn’t return them there. They have the fan support, the facilities (including that upgraded stadium), and just enough pedigree to become a force in recruiting.

Even in the last couple seasons, UK couldn’t ever dominate UofL in in-state recruiting. So if the Cards manage to land any of those five guys, UK fans should look out. Their resumes are all at least as impressive as Joker Phillips’, who made his bones helping UK to Music City Bowls.

My guess? I wouldn’t be surprised if none of those guys end up at UofL. Plenty of schools aim one tier too high when looking at coaching candidates, and that might be the case here. But if the Cards do land one of those guys, that’s huge for UK. And not in a good way.

Now, keep in mind that these guys that everyone thinks of as great hires don’t always work out. Steve Kragthorpe was a big-time candidate when UofL landed him and everyone thought Jurich had pulled off another coaching search coup. Closer to home, most analysts thought Billy Gillispie was a great hire at UK.

I don’t see Leach leaving Texas. And Sumlin seems like a guy who loves to recruit the Southwest, so he might wait for a Big 12 job (he made a name for himself as an assistant at Oklahoma). Fulmer and Tuberville are a bit stale, so I can’t guess that they’d be Jurich’s first choices. That leaves Strong. Boy, that would be big.

As with all of these things, you don’t know if it will work out or not. But Strong sure knows how to coach a defense (though it’s easy to coach a defense with the talent he returned to Gainesville this year). But I’d look out if he lands at UofL. We should know who it is soon, as UofL (at least internally) has probably already had conversations with several candidates during the season and has a short list of their own.

On the bright side, if Strong suits up at Cardinal Stadium, maybe UK will be able to score more than 7 points against Florida next season.