Coaching Carousel (Idaho Vandals)

Normally the coaching carousel doesn't start going till after the season starts, but the Idaho Vandals wasted little time in making a decision.  Idaho fired Akey in the middle of his 7th season with the Vandals with a  20-50 record with the school and only one bowl appearance.

Akey came to Idaho to replace Dennis Erickson who left after spending 10 months at the school.  Before coming to Idaho Akey was the defensive coordinator at Washington State.

His best year came in 2009 where they went 8-5 and won the Hummanitarian Bowl in a thrilling game against Bowling Green.  However the Vandals only won 6 games the next year before a miserable 2-10 year and then a 1-7 start to this year.   Administration stated that they did so they could start immediately to find his replacement. 

The biggest problem that Idaho is going to have when finding their next coach is they won't have a conference to call their own.  Idaho is currently in the WAC, but because of conference expansion the Vandals have been left out in the cold.  Nobody wanted them and they will become a Independent after this season.  Being an Independent will be very hard for Idaho who will have no bowl tie ins and might struggle to schedule games.  This may also cause some candidates to pass on the job.

Possible Candidates

Dan Hawkins (Former Colorado and Boise State Head Coach)
This would probably be their top choice and a great hire.  Hawkins had a ton of success at Boise State and knows how to recruit to the area.  However there is a lot of talk that Hawkins isn't interested in the job and would prefer to go somewhere where it is easier to get recruits to.

Jason Gesser (Current Interim Head Coach)
Gesser is the Vandals offensive coordinator and was tabbed as the interim coach when Akey was fired.  Gesser is the former Washington State QB who lead the Cougars to the Rose Bowl in 2003.  Given Idaho's situation as an Independent the best strategy to find a young energetic coach who can get players to Moscow.  Add in that Gesser played at WSU he is fimilar with the area.

Beau Baldwin (Eastern Washington Head Coach)
It may be hard for Idaho to persuade a FBS coach to come there or even a coordinator.  However one route they can go is down to the FCS ranks.  It worked with Ohio State who took Jim Tressell from Youngstown State, maybe the Vandals can dip down and land a successful coach.  Beau Brown won a National Championship at Eastern Washington and would bring a wide open spread offense that might be able to attract some talent to Moscow.  However it will take a lot for Baldwin to leave a school that he's winning at a high rate.

Blaine Bennett (Central Washington Head Coach)
If they can't get one of the top FCS coaches, what about moving down to Division II?  It's not ideal, but the Vandals aren't in the most ideal situation.  Just because it's DII doesn't mean there isn't good coaches there.  Brian Kelly was a former DII coach before making his way up to Notre Dame.  Bennett has done a great job of building the Central Washington program up.  He's won the conference title three out of four years he's been there.  Bennett was also an assistant at Purdue and Michigan State before returning to his home state of Washington. 

Paul Wulff (Former Washington State Head Coach)
One name that isn't getting a lot of attention, but could be a great sleeper candidate.  You may remember Wulff from his horrible four years at Washington State where he only won 9 games.  Now he wasn't succesful there, but when he was at Eastern Washington he was a regular in the FCS playoffs.  He isn't a big name, but he could be looking at a second chance at being a head coach.