Jeff Hafley Isn't Going Anywhere After 2020 Season
On Sunday, the University of South Carolina became the first Power 5 school to fire their head coach, when they summarily dispatched Will Muschamp. The veteran head coach is the first and most certainly will not be the only Power 5 head coach fired after this season. Odd season or not, the coaching carousel will certainly be roaring at full speed in December.
In Ann Arbor, the natives are getting restless with Jim Harbaugh who continues to disappoint starting the season 1-3. If he continues to struggle, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Wolverines move in a different direction. At USC, Clay Helton isn’t reaching the goals the Trojans need to hit, and has been seemingly permanently entrenched on the hot seat, while in Texas Tom Herman's job security always appears in doubt.
With coaches getting fired, you can count on various media outlets linking Jeff Hafley's name to coaching searches. His profile has started to rise given his success with the Eagles. He hasn't popped up with South Carolina because they are a southern school and most candidates have ties below the Mason-Dixon line. But if Harbaugh was to be fired, he certainly will be a name that pops up.
But don't believe the rumors. Jeff Hafley isn't going anywhere. At least after this season.
First off, let's be realistic here. Hafley currently sits at 5-4 and has three losses against Top 25 teams. At this point in his career he can't be that attractive for a school like Michigan who is going to want a home run hire if they move on from Harbaugh. If the Wolverines were to hire a coach like Hafley, the donors and fan base would be furious. He would be seen as "too green" and inexperienced, and not yet at the level of a Luke Fickell or PJ Fleck, two other names certainly that will be batted around.
With his resume not yet attracting the traditional power schools, or even the NFL, Hafley probably will be linked to some other mid level Power 5 openings. Again, at this point this would make no sense. Personally for Hafley, he has said over and over again that Boston College checks off a lot of boxes that he was looking for. He is building something at BC, and seems sincere that he cares about his players and the program. Hafley would have to be a stone cold career opportunist to just immediately drop what he is doing here, leave kids in the lurch and move on for something that may be a tad better than BC. Again, I don't see him doing this.
Of all the programs out there, the one I might be concerned about is UCLA. Run by former AD Martin Jarmond, he clearly thinks highly of Hafley. But would Jarmond do his former program dirty like that? And would Hafley even want to uproot his family and move them across country to work at a program that hasn't really been relevant on the football field in years? Again, don't see it.
Don't be naive though. In a few years, if Jeff Hafley truly builds a Top 25 program at Boston College, along with some big wins, those big programs and the NFL will come calling. And he would be doing a disservice to himself if he didn't listen. You can just sense that he has an upward trajectory that will end up being bigger than coaching at Boston College. But at this point in his career you can feel pretty confident that he will be back in Chestnut Hill in 2021.
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