5 college head coaches who might not be back if they win the College Football Playoff

We are only a few weeks away from the craziest college football postseason of all time. For the first time ever, we will have a 12-team College Football Playoff, one that will be chock full of automatic qualifiers and the best non-conference champions in the world. It should be enough to satisfy the viewer's insatiable need, but we are only a few years away from having it all fall apart like last season.

With how arduous of a task it may be to run the gauntlet through multiple rounds of the 12-team playoff, it may give some NFL teams who are in desperate need of a new head coach enough evidence to higher a proven head coach from the college game. It does not always work out, but Jim Harbaugh had great success before with San Francisco and is now having some over in Los Angeles.

It sounds crazy, but I think there is a chance that one of the head coaches vying for the playoff might end up leaving the college game for the pro game. It is a case by case basis, but Harbaugh has set the precedent. If you are good enough for the pro game to want you, the NFL will find a way. While guys like Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart are college coaches through and through, others could leave...

Let's start with one guy coaching a fringe playoff team who might already have one foot out the door.

5. Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin

This was the year that it needed to happen for Ole Miss. While the Rebels did beat Georgia, as well as South Carolina before they were good, they lost to Kentucky, LSU and Florida. Lane Kiffin has already coached in the NFL before with the Raiders, but he feels more like a college coach to me. However, I think there is a growing sense of frustration for him about the limitations that exist over at Ole Miss.

In a year where everything was set up to go right for the Rebels, they still failed to get it done. While there is an extreme outside shot that they make the playoff now, I would not count on it. Conversely, if they were to somehow make it in at 9-3, they have the roster to win the whole thing. Leading the Rebels to their first national title since the 1960s will be the crowing achievement for Kiffin to leave.

Can't you see it? Kiffin could be the offensive mind to go coach the Dallas Cowboys or something.

4. Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian

It could not happen, could it? Well, Steve Sarkisian is coaching a team that might very well win the national championship. Unlike Ole Miss, Texas is not a pipe dream candidate to make the playoff. The Longhorns went 11-1 (7-1) this season and will face the only team they lost to this year in Georgia in Atlanta for the SEC Championship. They are as every bit of a lock to make the playoff out there today.

Sarkisian has it made in Austin, but he does have NFL coaching experience before. In between gigs as the Alabama offensive coordinator prior to taking over at Texas, Sarkisian was calling the shots offensively for the Atlanta Falcons. While I think him leaving the college game for the pro one could be disastrous unless the absolute right job opens up, Sarkisian is a coach who can win at both levels.

Sarkisian's time to go back to the NFL may be coming in a few years, but right now, I think he is good.

3. Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day

Oh, this would be something, alright... Could you imagine Ryan Day winning his next four games, all of which being in the playoff, and then bolting for the NFL after winning his lone national title at Ohio State? Bill Parcells leaving the New England Patriots right after losing the Super Bowl was odd during my childhood, but we have seen crazier things happen in sports. Day might be tired of all this drama.

Again, he was promoted from with by Gene Smith after Urban Meyer "retired". Ross Bjork has rarely been in charge of a stable athletic department, and now he is in Columbus. With how much vitriol and disdain the Buckeyes fanbase has for its head coach, I could see a situation in which Day gets out of Dodge. There aren't many NFL jobs better than the Ohio State gig, but he does have NFL experience.

People tend to forget that Day was a part of both Chip Kelly's Philadelphia and San Francisco staffs.

2. Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning

This might make a lot of people mad, but I think there is a halfway decent chance that Dan Lanning could be one helluva NFL coach. He may be the greatest branch to stem off the Kirby Smart coaching tree, but he does not feel so college football driven. Lanning has worked all over the country in his run up to being the next head coach at Oregon. I would guess that he would draft very well from the start.

While I cannot say for certain that Lanning winning a national title at Oregon would be a one-off, but when have the Ducks ever one won? They have been more close but no cigar than Ryan Day at Ohio State. The fact that Lanning could conceivably work anywhere makes him such an appealing head coach. It would not shock me that if he left for the NFL that he brought Will Stein with him as well.

I think Lanning would be a fantastic dark horse candidate to replace Zac Taylor over in Cincinnati.

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman

This is the one to watch. Marcus Freeman exudes the quiet confidence to be a leader of men at any level of football. Even though he was promoted from within off Brian Kelly's staff at Notre Dame, I have always wondered if this is where he is going to coach out the rest of his prime. He is a noted Ohio State alum, one who would be a home run hire should the Buckeyes want to replace Ryan Day already.

There are three NFL jobs out there that I think Freeman would do a remarkable job at. He may be the right guy to lead Joe Burrow in Cincinnati should Zac Taylor fail. I also think Jerry Jones might have interest in him over in Dallas. However, the one place I think he is the best fit is to coach Caleb Williams in Chicago. I don't wish any on that job, but Freeman might be able to cut through the crap.

If Freeman won a national title at Notre Dame, I think NFL owners would give up the farm to hire him.