It’s as good a place to start as any.

In the wake of firing David Beaty, Kansas is the first Power 5 team officially in the market for a new coach, save for scandal-plagued Maryland.

This hire is crucial for athletic director Jeff Long. A school spokeswoman confirmed to SB Nation that Long will lead the search, and that Kansas won’t retain a search firm.

Long came over from Arkansas last summer. Men’s basketball may be on set-and-forget status forever under Bill Self, but if Long can make a hire that transforms the football team and brings Mark Mangino-era success back, then it’ll be a big boost to his own credentials as an administrator. It’ll also pair nicely with $315 million in planned stadium renovations.

So far, we don’t know much about Long’s mindset beyond this:

But what his Twitter account does offer is an inkling about who’s on his general radar. Whether they’ll actually get some run for the job or if they’re just people Long has a previous relationship, I’ll leave for you to decide for yourself — and if Long’s just trolling everyone with misdirection like he’s Lane Kiffin, that’d be hilarious too.

He’s followed these coaches since around the time he took the KU job in July, with some coming much more recently than that.

Houston Nutt

He stands alone on this list, and deservedly so. Nutt has been interested in the Kansas job before, in addition to basically every other job that’s opened over the last decade.

If Long’s following Nutt, who else is he looking at?

Various coordinators and position coaches

Don Brown, Michigan defensive coordinator
Manny Diaz, Miami defensive coordinator
Dave Aranda, LSU defensive coordinator
Greg Schiano, Ohio State defensive coordinator
Randy Shannon, UCF defensive coordinator
Mel Tucker, Georgia defensive coordinator
Todd Orlando, Texas defensive coordinator
Tee Martin, USC offensive coordinator
Bruce Tall, West Virginia defensive line coach
Pete Germano, Ohio defensive line coach
Charley Wiles, Virginia Tech defensive line coach
Jim McElwain, Michigan receivers coach

Out of this group, many have coached in the Big 12 at some point in his career, even if briefly. Shannon and McElwain have Power 5 head coaching experience as well. (Note I said experience, not success). It’s unclear if Kansas can even afford Aranda, who makes more than Beaty and many dozens of other FBS head coaches. Maybe someone will try to hire Schiano, though the last public attempt led to a coach-search mutiny.

Established head coaches and others who probably/definitely wouldn’t leave for Kansas

Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Major Applewhite, Houston
Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
Jeff Tedford, Fresno State
Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
Steve Addazio, Boston College
Mike Leach, Washington State
Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Mark Stoops, Kentucky
Tom Herman, Texas
Dan Mullen, Florida
Butch Davis, FIU

Any of these guys leaving would be a fairly large to historic upset. Many of them are at the start of tenures at their various schools or in a pretty good spot where they’re already at. Some are in places you just don’t leave for Kansas unless you’re a basketball coach. Davis is the only one of these who seems possible, but he’s 66 and has deep South Florida ties.

Head coaches who would maybe leave for Kansas

Frank Wilson, UTSA
Matt Wells, Utah State
Craig Bohl, Wyoming
Seth Littrell, North Texas
Rocky Long, San Diego State

Littrell brings the all-too-important Texas recruiting ties, and if he brings offensive coordinator Graham Harrell with him, then there’s the potential for an exciting offensive identity. Wilson comes with Louisiana recruiting cache, and there’s weirdly already a tiny bit of Louisiana-to-Kansas pipeline. Bohl’s a coaching mainstay in the region, and Wells has Utah State in the top 14 of S&P+ rankings. This is the group of guys that, if you heard one took the Kansas job, you might think some degree of “Oh, that makes sense.”

Sure

Les Miles: might very well be the front-runner
Bill Snyder: would be a marvelous middle finger to Kansas State
Jim Leavitt: same
Brent Venables: same
Ron Zook: yeah, do this
Mike Stoops: remember what I said about McElwain and Shannon?
Todd Graham: does want to get back in the swing of things
Butch Jones: please don’t laugh this actually makes a shred of sense
Urban Meyer: hahahahahahahahha
Jim Harbaugh: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Rick Neuheisel: huh
Gene Chizik: seems to be enjoying retirement way too much, but OK
Clay Helton: may need a job, so don’t laugh at this one either

Snyder seems close to the end in Manhattan anyway, so why not pry him away from your rival? Leavitt has a so-called Kansas State clause in his contract. Venables used to play for Snyder, and his name comes up often on dream Kansas State lists. If Long wants to lean into the spite, then I’m here for it.

Zook’s been a special teams coordinator in Green Bay for far too long, and if you’ve spoken to Graham in the last year (like I have), you can tell he wants to get back in the game. If Jones gets any job, he’ll be the latest in the line of Nick Saban analysts who have used a stint in coaching rehab to get back on their feet.

Watch Long’s follows list for more information.

It is the place we got official confirmation of Beaty’s firing. Maybe we’ll learn of his replacement there too.