CoachingSearch.com says that former Ole Miss running game coordinator and offensive line coach Mike Markuson is a candidate to fill Texas Tech's open offensive line position:
Texas Tech: I am hearing that former Ole Miss offensive line coach Mike Markuson has emerged as a candidate to fill the Texas Tech offensive line job.
Markuson was and is actually really pretty darned good at his job and as noted above, he was the running game coordinator, but son of a gun, I don't really care because he was really good at his job. To get some links out of the way, here's Markuson's Wikipedia, Ole Miss bio and Rivals page. Also, here's Ole Miss' NCAA stats page so you can check out their yearly stats as Markuson was the at Ole Miss since 2007.
Back to the task at hand. Other than 2011, where Ole Miss was #84 in rushing offense, Markuson had the #19 rushing offense in 2010, #33 in 2009, #31 in 2008 and in his first year at Ole Miss, the Rebels were #84. Markuson has essentially followed Houston Nutt from Arkansas to Ole Miss and again, other than last year, Ole Miss has regularly had a pretty good offense, however, you wonder if the offense was the result of Markuson or the passing game coordinator, David Lee, but I think that Lee (he was a former Dallas Cowboys coach, which is why I remember his name) was just the passing game coordinator last year.
One other stats, Markuson's line was also (other than his first or last year) in the top 20 or so in terms of sacks allowed. In the first and last year, he was awful, but during the time in between, he had some lines that did a good job of protecting the quarterback.
This potential hire will obviously lead to a couple of questions and I actually think that Tuberville is playing this somewhat smart. Offensive coordinator Neal Brown has allegedly interviewed or been contacted about three coaching positions, the latest was the Arkansas St. job, that was just filled by Gus Mahlzan. You could think that Brown is actively looking for a head coaching job and he should, as long as he's being honest with Tuberville and I have no reason to believe that he's not. Either way, the fact that Markuson was a coordinator of the Ole Miss offense in some capacity, the more successful part, is a good thing in case Brown leaves and it comforts me a bit knowing that Markuson has been around a long time and around a lot of offenses that have scored some points.
The key is that I think that Markuson has the ability to take over, but just like with John Lovett being hired, the former Miami defensive coordinator with DC Chad Glasgow, Brown may need to look over his shoulder a bit if he doesn't perform. The thing is that Brown has performed relatively well this season and I don't think that Brown should be replaced, but it gives Tuberville someone on the staff (he's never worked with Markuson) with a lot of experience and from what I can tell, Markuson has been pretty good at his job. One other note, there was a rumor via BON last year that Markuson was a candidate for the offensive line coach at UT.
I don't know that I'll be able to post much, if anything later today, but feel free to post in the comments or I may update this post.