ASU Football Coaching Search 3.0

ASU seems to have gone into lock down mode in their search for a new football coach, very little info is being leaked at this point.  I'm at a loss trying to figure out which direction they are going to go.  You'd have to think they will try to get something done quickly (so that they can salvage recruiting as well as maintain a couple of top assistants).  The way the search has been run so far doesn't make me optimistic though.  There was some talk about Utah's Kyle Whittingham but it appears that he was just using the ASU opening to squeeze more money out of Utah (which he accomplished).  Anyways,  unless they can pull a rabbit out the hat (think someone like Butch Jones, Charlie Strong, Dan Mullen, maybe Bronco Mendenhall), I'm guessing they end up with one of these guys:

1-Mike Bellotti, in my mind, at this point, this is the best case scenario.  I know some people see him as being too similar to Dennis Erickson but the fact is the guy can coach, he's got a lots of west coach ties, he has a history of putting together good coaching staffs.  He's also a fairly big name so they'd also save face with some for the mess this search has been.

2-Ron English, he's got ASU ties, he's fit's the desire for a young energetic guy and he'd probably be willing to keep some of the current staff (i.e. Mazzone & Brousard), which many people are clamoring for.  His teams at Eastern Michigan have struggled but have also shown improvement every year.

3-Robin Pflugrad, this name is growing on me.  He's currently the head coach at Montana so he's got the requisite head coaching experience.  I know, it's only Montana but head coaching experience is head coaching experience (I was very impressed with Montana when I watched them on ESPN this past weekend).  He has ties to ASU (he was an assistant from 1995-2000 and his son played WR for ASU the last couple of years).  He's got west coast ties.  He coaches a fast paced up tempo offense which would translate well to the current roster and recruiting class thus easing the transition to a new staff.  I'm guessing he'd also have an interest in maintaining some of the current staff (i.e. Mazzone & Broussard). 

4-Justin Wilcox, I keep hearing this name, the thought seems to be to bring in a young, energetic defensive minded coach and pairing him with Noel Mazzone.  There are obviously risks associated with that given that he has no head coaching experience.  Perhaps he'd also want to pick out his own staff.  My preference is that they find someone who has some head coaching experience.  I personally don't think that ASU (or the PAC12) is the place for a young coach to learn their trade. 

5-Noel Mazzone, why not just give him a chance?  He's very popular with the players and the alumni, his offense has been very successful.  The transition would be smooth.  If they're going to hire an offensive minded assistant coach I'd feel better about Mazzone than someone like Mark Helfrich. 

6-Todd Haley, maybe following the USC (Pete Carroll) and UCLA (Jim Mora Jr) model is the way to go.  Haley is a young, energetic coach who could use his NFL experience to his advantage with recruits.  He's never coached at the collegiate level though so there would be some growing pains.  His temperment also may not sit well with college age players (think Mike Stoops). 

7-Jack Del Rio, another former NFL coach, he may get a look for many of the same reasons that Haley would.  He's still fairly young too, he may just be ready for a move to the collegiate level.  There is lots of upside.  The lack of college experience would obviously be a big negative.  

8-Jim Leavitt, I've heard they've cooled on him some.  One of the reasons that Dennis Erickson was let go was that his teams committed a lot of penalites and didn't play with a lot of discipline, those were also apparently traits of Leavitt's South Florida teams.  Still, if they want an experienced coach with a great track record he fits the bill. 

9-Mark Helfrich, he's an innovative, young, offensive minded coach with ASU and west coast ties.  He does lack head coaching experience though.  I'm guessing he's a long shot but given the state of the current search nothing would surprise me. 

10-Dan Cozzetto, probably the favorite of much of the alumni (i.e. ex players), he has ASU ties and extensive west coast ties.  He also has no head coaching experience.  I'm thinking he's a long shot.