Ya, i think it will be one of those 7 or 8. doubt you'll see a Cally hire none of us saw coming. I still think the staff they assemble is far more important than the HC. So I want an HC that is able to put together a rockstar staff of quality assistants that recruit well. The rules out Frost as HC IMO.
Del Rio could put the staff together, but I don't think he could do the CEO side of things as a college coach. Kirby Smart is intriguing, but I doubt he's plucking anyone from Alabama and his entire coaching tree is centered around Saban and most of those guys are either coordinators or HCs already. Not sure what kind of staff he's bring together.
Dan Quin and Greg Roman are just downgrades to Del Rio. Mel Tucker is intriguing w/ his ties to the B1G and the upper midwest - but we're still going to be recruiting the south.
Graham, Hudspeth, and McElwain are interesting in a "jerry kill" sort of way - in that they'd like bring the bulk of their staff with them. That continuity would help with the transition.
Agreed, I posted somewhere last year that I thought Del Rio would be a good hire. I think with the connections and stuff that he's got from years of coaching would set us up nicely in the coordinator department. I could see a similar transition to what UCLA experienced with hiring Mora. The CEO part is the major question mark, but I do like how he fits. Plus we all know that recruits love to play for someone with any sort of NFL background