Buffalo Bulls Coaching Candidate - Chris Rumph

Last night the Bulls played their worst football since 2011, dropping a 37-14 decision to Ohio and all but eliminating the possibility of a bowl game. On the Bull Run postgame show everyone agreed that no matter how strong or weak UB finishes the season Danny White's coaching search will progress as intended. We could be in for three more dumpster fires or three promising contest but either way White will do what White wants to do.

(Not that there is anything wrong with that)

We don't know if that hire will be a big name, a promising FCS coach, or a long-established coach taking one last shot on the sideline. A part of me hopes that somewhere on White's short is Chris Rumph, the defensive line coach for the Texas Longhorns.

Before his current stint at Texas Rumph had been the defensive line coach at Clemson and Alabama. His time in Alabama came during their National Championship seasons.

His final year with the Tide saw his d-line anchor a unit whose run defense ranked seventh nationally and first in the SEC allowing just 106.2 yards per game on the ground. They held opponents to 286.5 yards of total offense to (5th nationally), and they gave up just 13.9 points per game (4th) in the nation.

Rumph helped develop Jessee Williams into a machine on the line. Williams came to Alabama as a promising but undeveloped junior-college lineman from Australia. He finished his career as a second-team All-SEC selection and eventual NFL Draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks.

Between 2006 and 2010 Rumph was with Clemson and during his tenure the Tigers ranked among the top 25 nationally in scoring defense and total defense every season. He served the first three years as defensive line coach and the last two as defensive ends coach.

Despite his pedigree Rumph does bring mid-major experience. Prior to his stint at Clemson, Rumph was the outside linebackers coach at Memphis for three years (2003-05). His time at Memphis coincided with perhaps best seasons of the BCS era.

In 18 years of coaching Rumph has been to 11 bowl games. He is still a young guy as far as head coaches go and he has long-established connections in the Deep South, where some of the nation's best recruits come from.

This would not be "big name" hire for the casual football fan but the fundamental building blocks of a solid head coach are there.

He is reportedly making 415,000 dollars a year as a defensive coach at Texas. It's unlikely UB could match that as a base salary but Jeff Quinn's last contract carried enough obtainable incentives to put the Buffalo coach at about 450,000 dollars a season.

So could the promise of his first Division One head coaching job be enough to lure Rumph to Buffalo, where his salary would be a push? White knows the South and has connections. His vision for Buffalo might match up nicely with what Rumph would want to build.