Southern Miss begins search for football coach

Cons: No Division I head coaching experience. He is successful at Division II but FBS football is a different business. Cignetti’s offense isn’t exactly lights out either, ranking 47th in Division II.

Eddie Gran 

(Associate Head Coach, Florida State)

Pros: Gran is one of the best special teams coaches in the country, and has spent 26 years as an assistant coach, 23 of those have been at the FBS level. Gran also coaches running backs at FSU and has coached running backs at multiple SEC schools, producing many NFL running backs throughout his career.

Cons: Although he has been a coach for 26 years, he has never held a head coaching position. In fact, Gran has never held an offensive or defensive coordinator position, either. It’s not common for such a coach to be announced as a head coach but it could happen.

Tyrone Nix 

(Defensive Coordinator, Middle Tennessee State)

Pros: A former Southern Miss athlete, Nix is one of the most respected defensive coaches in college football. Nix spent ten seasons at Southern Miss from ’95-’04 before spending the next seven seasons between South Carolina and Ole Miss. Over his coaching career, Nix has had several top ranked defenses at every school he has been at. Now at Middle Tennessee State, Nix has to be looking for a bigger job.

Cons: No experience as a head coach. Although he has been a coordinator for 12 seasons, Nix has never been a head coach, which makes you wonder why. Is he waiting for the right job- like his alma mater? Also, will a larger school scoop him up as a coordinator before Southern can get their hands on him?