I’m reserving judgment until the assistant coaching staff is filled out.
To recap the search, I think CU found the following:
1. No current power 5 head coach was going to jump. CU does not have the extra $20 million per year that Big Ten schools have to overpay.
2. Eric Bieniemy wanted to stay in the NFL
3. Little interest from prominent coordinators in college, with Sarkisian being the noted exception. CU made a good offer, a very rich Alabama made a better counteroffer in Sark’s eyes. Avalos had no interest according to reports. Not much about Grinch, but I think that’s the case with him too. He’ll stay at OU and leverage that for a job in the eastern half of the country.
4. CU kicked around lots of retreads and non power five coaches because it had to. Long looks were given to Bielema, Mora, and Calhoun for sure, and probably others like McElwain, perhaps Blake Anderson and the like.
5. It’s really hard to lure an NFL coordinator away since they are typically in line to get a shot as a head coach. Even some sniffing around Greg Roman of the Ravens landed him a raise.
6. Promoting from within was also an option, keeping the staff left over from Tucker. Who would Chev have landed as OC, OL coach, etc.? There are few assistants to pull from right now, fewer still willing to hitch to a first time head coach. I believe this hurt Chev in the search process.
So, playing armchair athletic director, where do you go?
Ultimately, this appeared to be Rick George’s realistic options:
1. Sarkisian (declined offer)
2. Bielema
3. Mora Jr.
4. Calhoun
5. McElwain (maybe, never saw much smoke here)
6. Karl Dorrell
7. Chev
Based on that list, I think the offer to Sark made sense. The next best option on that list was really anyones guess, but I can see the reasons why George chose Dorrell. In context of the search, it makes a lot of sense.