In the days after Baylor rocked the football world with the firing of head coach Art Briles amid alarming controversy and the likely intent to wipe the slate clean after getting through the 2016 college football season, there is much anticipation to see who steps in to take over the suddenly startled Baylor football program. Whoever steps in to be the new permanent head coach in the years to come will do so knowing he is taking on an unenviable task at a program that has never had things come served on a silver platter.
Maybe Mike Singletary is just the man for the job?
Singletary’s name has come up at times in the recent days as the guessing game begins for figuring out who takes on the role of head coach of the Bears. Singletary should be Baylor’s next head coach, writes Jarrett Bell for USA Today. He is also already receiving some high praise and a recommendation from another familiar name in the football world, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow.
“Experience. Reputation. Ties to the school. He’s a good fit,” Winslow said. “They need to restore their credibility, as a school and with their football program. To do that, you need to change the whole culture.”
Hiring Singletary would be a drastic change of culture for the Baylor program, which has come under fire for operating under a terribly misguided football culture for the sake of winning games. Singletary is hard-nosed and would set a brand new tone and establish a new order at Baylor. Singletary has never coached in college football but has some experience at the NFL level. The former Super Bowl champion linebacker with the Chicago Bears was a head coach for the San Francisco 49ers for the 2009 and 2010 seasons before being removed in favor of then-Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh. The majority of Singletary’s coaching career as been filled as an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, 49ers and Minnesota Vikings.
A Baylor alum and member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame, Singletary would likely be well received by the Baylor community from the start. He would also command a level of respect from day one given his football background, but he would most certainly need a good offensive-minded staff around him to help balance out his defensive focus.
For now, Singletary is sitting on the sideline and hoping his university sorts out its issues to establish a firm path going forward. He has not shut down the idea of being a part of that plan, but he is not actively and publicly throwing himself at the front of the line for an interview.
“The most important thing for me to do is just wait and see what they’re thinking,” Singletary said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
