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Oregon State Football: 5 coaching candidates to replace Gary Andersen

By Brad Berreman

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 07: Head coach Gary Andersen of the Oregon State Beavers on the sidelines during the first half of the game against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 07: Head coach Gary Andersen of the Oregon State Beavers on the sidelines during the first half of the game against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes/Getty Images
Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes/Getty Images /

1. Mike Riley

The heat on Riley at Nebraska has eased a little bit since an upset loss at home to Northern Illinois a few weeks ago. But the Cornhuskers are still just 3-3 so far this season, and you can pretty much book them for 3-4 with a home game coming Saturday against Ohio State.

Another mark against Riley in Lincoln is, quite literally, the man that hired him is no longer employed by the school. Shawn Eichorst was fired as Nebraska athletic director after the loss to Northern Illinois, coincidentally or not, with former player Dave Rimington coming in as interim athletic director. A permanent replacement for Eichorst, assuming it’s not Rimington and as it should practically go without saying, may look to hire their own football coach.

Riley has had two previous stints as head coach at Oregon State, in 1997 and 1998 (8-14 record) and from 2003-2014 (85-66 record). Things took a downward turn over his final five seasons, with just two bowl appearances and a 29-33 combined record, but that obviously didn’t prevent Nebraska from having interest as Riley represented a polar opposite personality to Bo Pelini.

Though he has left twice on his own motivation, rather than having been fired, Riley could be Billy Martin to Oregon State’s George Steinbrenner. Sometimes there’s a lot of comfort in knowing exactly what you’ll get from a coach, good or bad, so Oregon State could go back to the Mike Riley well one more time.

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