Rice fired head football coach Mike Bloomgren on Sunday, and while the Owls have not been a major player in college football in a long time, there is speculation that the program could make a splashy hire soon.
Bloomgren spent parts of seven seasons leading the Rice football program before his firing, and after going 24-52 in that time span, it appears Owls leadership may not be interested in hiring a first-time head coach like Bloomgren again. Instead, athletic director Tommy McClelland may end up being “aggressive” in his choice of the next head coach, according to CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz and John Talty.
That aggression, the pair of insiders speculated, could manifest itself as former UAB football coach Bill Clark.
“Former UAB head coach Bill Clark is one, for instance, who could emerge as a potential candidate — although he has never coached a college program outside the state of Alabama before,” they wrote. “Clark took UAB to five bowl games in six seasons before stepping down in 2022 citing back issues.”
Zenitz and Talty reported that there is “belief Rice could be willing to spend more” than the nearly $1 million annual salary of Bloomgren if it landed the “right candidate.”
Whether Clark is the right candidate seems irrelevant because it likely will have come down to whether Clark is ready to return to coaching and, if so, to lead Rice's football program.
Clark became the Blazers' head coach before the 2014 season, and in his first season, he led the team to six wins and UAB's first bowl game since 2004. A day after becoming eligible for a bowl, however, UAB announced the elimination of its football program.
Although the program would soon be reinstated, the Blazers were essentially built from the ground up during 2015 and 2016, years in which the team did not play any games. Once the program returned, though, Clark, who stayed as head coach the entire time, led UAB to an 8-5 record and a bowl appearance. The next season, Clark orchestrated UAB's best-ever season; the Blazers won 11 games, the Conference USA, and earned their first bowl win in program history. Clark was named Sporting News and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year following the historic year.
In six seasons as UAB head coach, Clark went 49-26, won the only two conference titles in Blazers program history, and qualified for a bowl every year. Since his retirement in 2022 — he had been ailed by severe spinal issues for years — UAB is 12-20 and current coach Trent Dilfer would appear to be on the hot seat.
Taking over Rice would likely be a similar challenge to the one Clark faced when he rebuilt the UAB program following it's elimination. Although Rice is located in Houston, a recruiting hotbed, the university prides itself on being academically selective. Additionally, the Owls football program is consistently one of the worst in Conference USA.
Although Rice reached bowl games in each of the last two seasons, the team has not had a winning record in a decade. Since their last winning season, the Owls are 33-81.
Rice, if it is a legitimate suitor for Clark, will certainly not be the only one. Multiple Group of 5 teams already have coaching vacancies — East Carolina and Southern Miss have also fired their respective coaches — and would likely be interested in luring Clark, who did not close the door on returning to coaching when he stepped down from UAB in 2022, to their schools in hopes he can recreate the magic he found in Birmingham.
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