I'm far from convinced he would, and I'm going to enjoy the season and not fret about it for three months. But I will say I strongly believe the right move would be to hire Applewhite. I know some fans won't want that because he went to UT, but IMO he would be the ideal choice. Some fans may think of the "continuation" project with Levine, but Applewhite's a horse of a different color. He has been an OC and AHC at places like Alabama and Texas. He's an almost iconic figure to many football fans in the state. He's a top recruiter and IMO an excellent OC. Herman said he called a great game Saturday. He would likely keep some of the assistants, possibly Wyatt, Giles, Meekins (would likely need to promote those guys), and Pope, and I'm sure he gets how important a guy like McKnight is to our success. I really feel it would be a mistake to hire the coach at Western Kentucky or Sonny Dykes or some such coach and go back to an air raid offense.
