TCU is zeroing in on potential candidates to become the school’s next football coach.
A source said Sunday that three “stand out as the best candidates” at this point in the search.
“It’ll come down to who is the best fit for TCU and who gives us the best chance to be successful in the near term,” the source said.
It’s unknown which candidates have emerged as the three strongest at this point.
TCU had a number of names being rumored to be on its list after the school and longtime coach Gary Patterson parted ways on Oct. 31. Known names on TCU’s list include SMU’s Sonny Dykes, Louisiana’s Billy Napier, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Other potential candidates such as UTSA’s Jeff Traylor are no longer on the list.
Of the emerging three, Dykes and Napier meet the criteria listed by TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati for his ideal next coach. Both are current head coaches with offensive backgrounds.
TCU continues to have strong interest in coaches with an offensive background. The head coach experience remains on the wish list but the school is interested in a couple non-head coaches, according to a source.
Dykes is familiar with the area and program, spending one season with TCU as an offensive analyst under Patterson in 2017. Dykes has since gone on to have success with SMU, but the Mustangs fell to Memphis on Saturday. A November slide could hurt Dykes’ chances.
Napier, meanwhile, has Louisiana in the AP Top 25 poll, checking in at No. 24 once again Sunday. The Ragin’ Cajuns are off to an 8-1 start. Napier has never coached in the Big 12, but is one of the rising stars in the industry. He won the Sun Belt Conference championship last season and is in position to repeat this year.
Elliott has been viewed as a future head coach given his success with Clemson, although it is in the midst of a down year. Sanders is an intriguing candidate given his stature as a Pro Football Hall of Famer who has shown his recruiting chops early in his tenure at Jackson State. And Moore is a wild card as he’s never coached at the college level but is viewed as a rising star in the industry.
Moore would be considered a home-run hire for TCU, although it remains to be seen if he’s more interested in pursuing an NFL head coaching job.
At the end of the end of the day, progress has been made on the coaching search front. Donati said he’d like to have the next coach in place by early December with the early signing period starting Dec. 15.
Whoever the next candidate is will follow in the footsteps of TCU’s all-time winningest coach. Patterson went 181-79 over 21 seasons with the Horned Frogs.
