Cincinnati could look at Ohio State’s Kerry Coombs as a head coaching candidate to replace Tommy Tuberville

Compared to last year, this has been a relatively quiet coaching carousel season, but it might heat up in a big way now, especially for Buckeye fans.

According to Football Scoop, Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Tommy Tuberville is stepping down, after a lackluster season.

Whenever an Ohio position opens up, Ohio State assistants are often considered possible candidates, and this would be no different. Ohio State’s cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs has already been suggested as a possible candidate by one analyst, and he probably won’t be the only one.

Coombs would make a ton of sense for the Bearcats. Before joining the college ranks, Coombs was a highly successful high school coach in the greater Cincinnati area, spending time at local powers like Lakota, Loveland, and Colerain. He also coached at Cincinnati from 2007-2011, and few coaches know the area as well as he does. Coombs’ energy is also unparalleled.

He won’t be the only candidate, of course. This could be a landing spot for Charlie Strong, and Jeff Brohm, Western Kentucky’s head coach, could also be very successful there. Perhaps Neal Brown, Troy’s head coach and former Kentucky assistant, could do well here too. It’s also possible other Ohio State assistants could be interested in this job as well.

Cincinnati is a pretty good non-Power 5 job, close to a large concentration of talent, an ambitious athletic department, and is in the best non-power conference league in the country. The right hire could launch the program back into the Top 25. We’ll have to see if that hire comes from Ohio State’s staff.