Matt Rhule got canned. It was inevitable after the Panthers started 1-4 after two straight losing seasons:

They owe him more than $40 million. That’s awesome. I’d sit on my ass and play Goldeneye 007 for a full year before doing anything at all.

Rhule never had a tier 1 quarterback in Carolina, but he also didn’t do himself any favors. The defense was pretty poor. Christian McCaffrey couldn’t stay on the field. They were stuck in the same division as the Bucs and Saints. It just felt like those Panthers teams were spinning their wheels and not really going anywhere.

That said, colleges should be lining up the Brinks truck for Rhule’s services. This guy not only made Temple a legit program, but turned around a Baylor program that got rocked by that sexual assault scandal. Rhule is 47 years old and still relatively young by football coaching standards.

My top choice for Rhule is…. the Nebraska Cornhuskers! Auburn would be wise to get in on the action as well, but if I’m jumping back into the college game, not sure I’m going straight into the SEC West. The Big 10 west is where it’s at. All you have to do is score like 13 points to beat Iowa, and Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst this season, so they’re not going anywhere soon unless Rhule prefers Madison. Illinois and Purdue are frauds.

A dark horse candidate for Rhule’s next job? How about Arizona State? He’s already shown that he can turn around a troubled program, and the PAC 12 isn’t exactly murderer’s row these days. I actually kind of like that fit because you know you have some leeway in straightening things out. I also think he’d do a good job at Georgia Tech, replacing another former Temple dude in Geoff Collins. Ultimately, I think Rhule’s dream job is probably Penn State, but my three year old will be in college by the time James Franklin finally leaves.

Ranking my top five preferred and available gigs for Matt Rhule:

  1. Nebraska
  2. Arizona State
  3. Wisconsin
  4. Auburn
  5. Georgia Tech