The Florida Atlantic job is open. Head coach Tom Herman was fired Monday after a five-game losing streak dropped his overall record to 6-16 in less than two full seasons.
Herman tried to revive his head coaching career at FAU after a successful run at Houston and an unsuccessful stint at Texas. His Owls never took off, despite the program’s potential in a talent-rich area. They went 3-11 in the American Athletic Conference during his tenure and were 0-6 in league play this season.
“We firmly believe in our ability to win championships and compete for bowl games, and that remains our standard,” FAU athletic director Brian White said in a release.
So how good is the FAU job? What names could get in the mix? Based on conversations with industry sources, here is a report card for the job and the potential candidates to watch.
On-field outlook: C
Talent should not be an issue. The Owls are in the middle of the American Athletic Conference in 247Sports’ talent composite rankings, and the school sits in one of the country’s most fertile recruiting footprints. It can be an enticing destination for Power 4 transfers, like leading rusher CJ Campbell Jr. (from Florida State) and quarterback Kasen Weisman (Colorado).
The roster has promise. Leading tackler CJ Heard is a true freshman who originally committed to Florida State as a recruit. Campbell and top receiver Omari Hayes both have remaining eligibility. But there will be a lot of work to do this offseason. Half of last week’s starters were seniors, and the Owls rank outside the top 100 nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
Redshirt junior quarterback Cam Fancher was fine before he broke his collarbone against East Carolina. The Marshall transfer put up average passing statistics in the conference while rushing for at least 50 yards in five games. His backup, Weisman, has completed 53.4 percent of his passes as a redshirt freshman.
Money situation: B-
The Owls moved from Conference USA to the American last year, bringing a step up in on-field competition and off-field spending. FAU’s football budget in 2022 would have put the Owls in the bottom half of the American, according to figures submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. Among public-school coaches in the conference, Herman’s $1 million salary was tied for second-to-last, according to USA Today’s coaching database.
But FAU’s finances appear to be moving in the right direction. The school reported $23 million in athletics fundraising during the 2023-24 academic year, an increase of 51 percent from the previous cycle and a department record for the third consecutive year. Although FAU must spend more to keep up in the AAC, conference payouts are rising, too.
The school has shown a willingness to invest in athletics. The 30,000-seat FAU Stadium opened in 2011, and its athletic building, the Schmidt Family Complex, opened three years ago.
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University stability: C+
Athletic director Brian White has held that role since 2018 and earned a five-year extension in September. The fact that White was able to keep men’s basketball coach Dusty May for another season after the Owls’ Final Four run speaks well of the athletic department (May has since left for Michigan).
Though White is respected in the industry, the university’s administration remains in flux. Stacy Volnick has been interim president since September 2022 during an ongoing, stop-and-start search that drew scrutiny from Florida’s attorney general about whether the process broke state law. The chairperson of FAU’s board of trustees resigned earlier this year after a no-confidence vote from the entity that oversees Florida’s public universities. With administrative alignment poised to become even more important in the revenue-sharing era, any concerns about two of the school’s most important positions are problematic.
Recent history/tradition: C-
FAU is a relatively young program; its history only dates back to the turn of the century when Howard Schnellenberger helped build it from scratch. The Owls have played in five bowl games, winning four of them.
The growing pains are reflected in the year-by-year standings. Of FAU’s six full-time coaches, five finished with losing records. That includes Herman and predecessor Willie Taggart (15-18), who both had previous success as Group of 5 head coaches.
FAU’s coaching outlier is recent and high-profile: Lane Kiffin won a pair of Conference USA titles with 11-win seasons in 2017 and 2019. The success catapulted him to the Ole Miss job and proved the right coach can win big here.
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Coach pool: B-
Penn State co-offensive coordinator Ja’Juan Seider has drawn head coaching interest before and makes sense here. He’s from nearby Belle Glade, coached at three area high schools and is a member of the Palm Beach County Hall of Fame. His deep South Florida background would be a boon in recruiting.
Georgia wide receivers coach James Coley is from Miami and has coached football there at all three levels (six years in high schools, four in colleges at Florida International and Miami, two seasons with the Dolphins). With a dozen seasons as an offensive coordinator/co-coordinator, he has the resume for the next step.
Georgia assistant head coach Todd Hartley was the position coach for superstar tight end Brock Bowers and spent three seasons as a Miami assistant under Mark Richt. The 39-year-old doesn’t have the same South Florida roots as Coley but would be an intriguing candidate.
Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson is a major reason why the Hurricanes are College Football Playoff contenders. His offense is on track to shatter school records in scoring (45 points per game) and total yards (544.8 per game). The quarterbacks he coached as a Houston assistant lit up the AAC.
UCF offensive coordinator Tim Harris has spent his entire career in Florida. He won a state title at Miami’s Booker T. Washington High School and spent seven seasons at FIU before bouncing back between UCF and the Hurricanes. Unlike many others on this list, the 39-year-old wouldn’t have to worry about the College Football Playoff affecting his candidacy/start date.
Florida State defensive backs coach Patrick Surtain made three Pro Bowls with the Dolphins and was a decorated high school coach in South Florida. But is it a concern that his college coaching experience is limited to two seasons? His alma mater, Southern Miss, also has a vacancy.
Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. is a 31-year-old wunderkind who runs a top-five scoring unit that has the Rebels in the Playoff mix. He won a conference title at FAU as an assistant under Kiffin, but his previous AAC experience was a flop at USF. He’s bright enough to be a head coach eventually. Is he ready now?
Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino would fit FAU’s Herman/Taggart/Kiffin mold as a former Power 4 head coach looking for (another) fresh start. The fact that he recruited Lamar Jackson from the area to Louisville would help. But controversy always seems to follow the 63-year-old.
Miami defensive line coach Jason Taylor is beloved in the region thanks to his Hall of Fame career with the Dolphins. Though his college coaching experience is limited to one season as a Hurricanes analyst and another as a position coach, his football knowledge and pedigree are unquestioned.
Roger Harriott has led national high school powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas to five consecutive state championships in nearby Fort Lauderdale. He was considered one of the conference’s top recruiters during his time as an Owls assistant and would be a less conventional hire.
Overall grade: B-
What the Owls lack in tradition, they make up for in possibility. There’s enough homegrown talent to sign from high schools or coming back to the area through the portal to make this a winning program, even if it’s not a turnkey job.
(Photo: Mark Brown / Getty Images)
