College Football

Paul Pasqualoni fired: 7 possible candidates for the UConn job

Who will end up with the Huskies job?

By Pete Volk@Pete_Volk Sep 30, 2013, 10:45am EDT

With Paul Pasqualoni out at UConn after a dreadful 0-4 start, let's take a look at potential replacements for the Huskies.

Pat Narduzzi

Current job: Defensive coordinator, Michigan State

Born in New Haven, the 47-year-old played at Rhode Island and has major ties in the region. He's in charge of a Spartan defense that has led the Big Ten in total defense each of the past two years, and has gained a reputation as a very good recruiter in East Lansing. He also gets the Feldman seal of approval.

If I'm #UConn, #1 guy on my list is #MichSt DC Pat Narduzzi (born in CT & played at URI). Great def. mind/recruiter/motivator
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) September 30, 2013

After the Pasqualoni disaster, however, UConn may want to switch to a more offensive-minded coach.

Dave Clawson

Current job: Head coach, Bowling Green

Born in upstate New York, Clawson also has ties to the region. He played defensive back at Williams College in Massachusetts, and began his coaching career as a positional coach at Albany and Buffalo. His first head coaching job came at Fordham, also located in New York, and he turned a struggling Richmond program into a perennial FCS power. After a brief stint as Tennessee's offensive coordinator, Clawson was hired by Bowling Green in 2009 and will likely lead them to their third bowl appearance in five years this season.

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Pete Lembo

Current job: Head coach, Ball State

Lembo has nearly the exact same bio as Clawson. Born in New York, he played at Georgetown before being hired at Albany for his first coaching job. From there, he bumped around the region as an assistant before his first head coaching job, at Lehigh, where he posted a 44-14 record in five seasons. He was then hired by Elon, which he led to three straight ranked finishes before being hired by the Cardinals. After a 6-6 first season, Ball State finished 9-4 last year and stands at 4-1 in 2013.

Rob Ambrose

Current job: Head coach, Towson

Ambrose's Tigers blew out UConn in the opener -- could he also take Pasqualoni's job? He may be the most likely candidate, as he was the Huskies' offensive coordinator for three seasons (and quarterbacks coach for seven) before taking the Towson gig. He's done a fantastic job with the Tigers, improving from 2-9 and 1-10 in his first two seasons to two straight conference titles and ranked finishes, including a second-round playoff appearance in 2011. The only question for Ambrose is how far his allegiance to Towson runs -- he was a wide receiver for the Tigers in the early 1990s, and may want to stick around a few years more.

Mark Whipple

Current job: Unemployed

Rumored to be the other candidate to replace Randy Edsall when UConn hired Pasqualoni, Whipple has considerably fallen from grace, going from Miami's offensive coordinator to the Cleveland Browns' quarterback coach to unemployed in just a few years. He had very real success as a head coach, however, with a combined 121-59 record at New Haven, Brown and UMass.

Don Brown

Current job: Defensive coordinator, Boston College

Brown is from Massachussets, and has had great success as a defensive coordinator with Maryland, UConn (2011-12) and Boston College. He's 58 years old and hasn't held a head coaching position since 2008 (after compiling a 43-19 record at UMass), but that didn't stop the Huskies from hiring Pasqualoni.

Greg Schiano

Current job: Head coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After a 7-9 debut season, the Bucs are 0-4 in Year Two of Schiano's reign, and it is entirely possible he is fired before the season is out. Would he then want to return to college football, where he found so much success in the Northeast with Rutgers? Schiano completely built that program, taking them to six bowl games in seven years. Before their Insight Bowl appearance in 2005, the Scarlet Knights had not made a bowl game since 1978.