Washington football: 5 potential replacements for Jimmy Lake

2. Deion Sanders – Jackson State Tigers head coach

Any school that is overlooking what Deion Sanders is accomplishing with the Jackson State Tigers is likely missing out on an incredibly intriguing coaching candidate. Sanders may not be the most conventional coaching candidate out there, but he’s someone who has already done more than enough to show he’s capable of coaching college football.

In his second season, Sanders has Jackson State off to an 8-1 start. In total, Sanders has a record of 12-4 as the head coach of the Tigers.

That’s not bad.

While there were some reasons to be somewhat concerned about him taking on a major, dysfunctional program a couple of years back, there’s little reason to doubt Sanders now.

Now, the jump from Jackson State to Washington would be a notable one, and who knows if Sanders would be interested in moving out to Seattle, but he’s by far one of the most intriguing names colleges should consider right now.

1. Joe Moorhead – Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator

If Washington really wanted to go out and make a splash while messing with a division rival, the Huskies would hire a guy like Joe Moorhead, who has turned Oregon’s offense into a pretty potent machine.

Moorhead has been a head coach at this level of college football before, and even though his offense didn’t work out at Mississippi State, that doesn’t mean it would fail with the Huskies. Assuming Moorhead was given enough time with Washington and he could focus on developing their offense, there’s a good chance this sort of move could pay off.

Moorhead went 14-12 in two seasons in Starkville with two bowl losses. Combining that with the way his offense struggled and there are plenty of questions he would need to answer before receiving the keys to any head coaching gig.

But, when examining his time as head coach of the Fordham Rams, his tenure as the offensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions, and now Oregon’s offensive coordinator, it’s clear that teams he’s affiliated with generally tend to win once they figure out how to run his offense. Oregon is currently averaging 441.3 yards per game and 35 points per game.

If he’s been able to learn from what went wrong in Starkville, take some of Mario Cristobal’s wisdom with him, and actually get his offense going, Moorhead could certainly succeed in Seattle.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.