New Names Added to USA Football Coach Search

Most USA fans are already familiar with the names that have leaked out so far for the coaching search. Jeff Bower, Chris Scelfo, Woody McCorvey, and Dabo Swinney have all spoken on some level to AD Joe Gottfried. Whether any of these turn into full-scale interviews remains to be seen, but we do know that the list has grown longer by three.

The first name is the one fans should most likely keep in mind. Dan McCarney was the head coach at Iowa State for 12 years and led the Cyclones through one of the most successful periods in their history. He currently is the assistant head coach and defensive line coach for the South Florida Bulls. According to people close to the situation, McCarney is a very serious contender for the job and will probably be among the three or four finalists. Given the fact that Joe Gottfried has mentioned South Florida several times as the blueprint program for USA to follow, this seems likely.

Next on the list is current Clemson defensive coordinator Vic Koenning. Koenning was very successful as the defensive coordinator at Troy prior to taking his present job. He has head coaching experience at Wyoming, albeit his stay there resulted in a very uninspiring 5-29 record. His defensive units at both Troy and Wyoming have ranked very highly nationally.

The final new addition is Auburn running backs coach Eddie Gran. While having never served as an offensive or defensive coordinator, Gran has coached some the best running backs in recent history at Ole Miss (1994-1998) and Auburn (1999-present) , including Deuce McAllister, Rudy Johnson, Carnell Williams, and Ronnie Brown. In addition to these duties, Gran has been responsible for directing Auburn’s special teams which have been among the nation’s finest.

As mentioned previously, McCarney is definitely a name to watch on the this list, but a good interview by one of the young fellows such as Gran or Swinney may give them a shot at this job. Certainly we are seeing at this point that Joe Gottfried was correct when he said the quality and experience of people interested was very impressive. We’ll keep you as up-to-date as possible at JagsJungle.com as more information becomes available.