If we go with Mickey, first year will be slightly better than this season. Probably a bowl game, of not one this season.
Year two is the big one for him by the time he's got some dudes on the roster. Year three could be the year at the latest to push for the conference.
Anyone thinking this is gonna take any less than some REAL rebuilding is delusional. Regardless of who we go with. At least NIL and transfer portal help our case some in the short term. You bet Mickey will be all over it if named the guy.
Just as a fan, my criteria is not very long. But, it does include a few things:
I don't want some "rebound" coach.
Urban would be a slam dunk, but likely never here more than 2-3 years or as long as it takes HIM to restore HIS coaching reputation.
I wouldn't hire the next HC, unless he could, in a perfect world, be the HC here for 10 years of so. Assuming he gets the thing moving in the right direction and puts NU back into relevant status. In other words, I don't want someone like Ruhle who would be gone in 2-3 years looking for a new challenge.
I don't want someone like O'Brien who leaves Alabama and has a reputation of wanting to run everything, yet, lacks the success to back up that type of thinking.
I think Campbell wanted the NU job badly, just based on his sideline antics of the last 2 weeks. I don't remember him hopping up and down and getting out of control pissed off by a bad call. Maybe I'm wrong.
None of us know, but I'm not sure how much interest LL has in the NU job. He and his family may be real happy in Lawrence.
I've always thought guys like Fickle, Lane, Gus, Gundy, and several others mentioned had zero interest in this job.
I think Freeze would jump at the NU job, but I don't want him, and he will maybe take any P5 job that's offered to him. I think the same thing with Gary Patterson, though his days as head coach are limited by his age.
It would be nice to return to the 8-10 year head coach that has enough success to keep the administration and fans relatively happy.
Harm avoidance is a powerful human element, so I think Trev's number one priority is trying to ensure he remains the AD for many, many years. As such, I think he will hire who he feels WILL give NU the best shot at returning to relevancy and that will be his number one reason for whomever HE hires.
If he makes the right hire and success follow the football team, Trev gains long term employment. If Trev makes a mistake, we all know how that ends.