What the UCLA job opening means for Tennessee

The UCLA Bruins have thrown their hat into the ring of the 2017 coaching cycle. After losing to USC on Saturday, UCLA pulled the plug on Jim Mora.

UCLA joins Florida, Tennessee and Nebraska as the premier jobs on the market. After the Chip Kelly noise heated up in Gainesville last week, it’s not a big surprise to see UCLA join the party now.

Chip Kelly has been connected to this job by many already. He was always thought of as more of a west coast guy anyways. How could this affect Tennessee’s search? The trickle down of all this might just change the destination of Dan Mullen.

To be clear, we aren’t even sure if Mullen would leave Starkville yet. But just about everyone you talk to seems to think that Tennessee’s search will end up focusing on him at some point.

If UCLA does in fact land Kelly, that could directly change the search at Florida. With the overwhelming masses thinking that Scott Frost goes home to Nebraska, that could throw the Gators right back to Dan Mullen.

Assuming the Grumors don’t pan out, that would leave Tennessee picking from the perceived B-list. I’ve been concerned with what comes after Mullen in this search for Tennessee and I really don’t want to have to find out. I just don’t think hiring another up and comer would go over well in Knoxville.

Maybe I’m being paranoid. It does seem like there are more jobs (and potential jobs) out there than there are qualified candidates. I’m just not sure what Tennessee’s floor is here.

Every head coaching hire is crucial, but this one feels especially vital. Tennessee has been irrelevant for the better part of the last decade. With every botched hire, the perception of the job drops another notch on the totem pole.

The bleeding has to end here, and UCLA just potentially made things a little bit tougher for John Currie.