Out of ten main coordinators and position coaches, only five remain. Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury, OC Eric Morris, OL Lee Hayes, DC David Gibbs, and LB Zac Spavital. It was bad enough hearing of the three Red Raiders being let go earlier this month, but the real shock came from losing RB coach, Mike Jinks to Bowling Green and WR/ST coach, Darrin Chiaverini to Colorado. With no hires imminent, lets take a look at some of the possibilities that might be on the staff for 2016.
Don Dunn (DL Coach)
Current School: Western Kentucky
Age: 62
Chance at being hired: Medium - High
Don Dunn would be a perfect hire for Kingsbury. A 39 year coaching veteran has ties with David Gibbs from their days at Auburn in 2005. Dunn also coached at Texas Tech from 2009 to 2012 with Tommy Tuberville as Director of High School Relations, is a good background in recruiting and has coached the defensive line for many programs including Western Kentucky, who won 12 games this year, Ole Miss and Auburn.
Craig Kuligowski (DL Coach)
Current School: Missouri, let go by new coach
Age: 47
Chance at being hired: Medium
Kuligowski has spent the last 15 years at Missouri as defensive line coach and has close to 20 years experience coaching the D-Line overall. Long time assistant to Gary Pinkel, Kuligowski won the 2014 Defensive Line Coach of the Year award and this past year had Mizzou's D-Line ranked #3 in "Havoc Rate". There is no connection to Gibbs, but he would be a steal if Kingsbury could land him on the staff.
Brett Dewhurst (DB Coach)
Current School: Texas Tech
Age: 27
Chance at being hired: High
Brett Dewhurst played and graduated from Texas Tech, mainly as a backup. He was an assistant with Gibbs at Houston in 2013 and came with him to be a defensive quality control coach at the beginning of the 2015 season. He is one of the coaches who is stepping in to coach the bowl game and could be in line for a permanent promotion if Gibbs signs off on him. With him already being on staff and is a Gibbs guy, he has to be the front runner to take over the DB position for 2016.
Vernon Hargreaves (LB Coach)
Current School: Arkansas
Age: 53
Chance at being hired: Medium
Another Gibbs connection currently the linebackers coach at Arkansas, but might enjoy the reunion with Gibbs at Tech under the right circumstances. Hargreaves coached the linebackers of the vaunted Miami juggernaut in the late 90's to early 2000's, including their national championship team in 2001. He also has special team coordinator experience at South Florida and East Carolina which would be a two for one with the departure of Darrin Chiaverini to Colorado.
Those are just a few possibilities to keep an eye on in the coming weeks. We'll take a look at the offensive coaching needs next week. Let us know what you think of these possibilities in the comments below or give us your own choice for a coaching addition.
