It’s an easy connection to make. There are tons of fans who are doing it already.

Take a look at where Jim McElwain and Butch Jones came from. McElwain got the Florida job because of his success at Colorado State while Jones got the Tennessee job because of his success at Cincinnati. Both would’ve been labeled as “Group of 5” candidates.

In a matter of weeks, we’ll likely be talking about which Group of 5 candidates are interviewing for those openings. Many fans already have and will continue to opt against going the Group of 5 route. After all, that’s what Jones and McElwain were. That didn’t work out so well.

They’ll instead want a “splashy” hire. Perhaps they don’t think that a Group of 5 coach can handle the demands that come at a place like Florida or Tennessee. They’d rather someone with proven Power 5 experience or even NFL experience get the job. Turning to a Group of 5 candidate might seem like the last resort.

What those people might not understand is that Jones’ and McElwain’s failures were not the lone result of where they came from. Their personality traits had a lot to do with the negative public perception that led them to where they are now. Assuming every Group of 5 candidate will crack under the pressure like they did would be naive.

This is about getting the right coach, whether it’s a Group of 5 candidate, a Power 5 candidate or an NFL candidate. Eliminating one of those subgroups is foolish.

Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Bear with me if you read this story from me before. I promise it’ll provide some different context.

Six weeks ago, I suggested to a colleague that Scott Frost should be at the top of any list of candidates that Tennessee or any SEC program has. That colleague, who knows the pulse at Tennessee as well as anyone, said that Frost would likely be 10th on Tennessee’s list, and that he wouldn’t be received very well by the public. Why? He was a Group of 5 candidate, just like Jones was.

I’ll save you my rant about how ridiculous that response was, but reality is, there are probably a lot of people who feel that way. They don’t care that in just two years, Frost rebuilt 0-12 UCF into a team that’s the favorite to win the Group of 5’s New Year’s 6 slot. It doesn’t matter that Frost’s team full of 2- and 3-star recruits would dominate Tennessee on a neutral site tomorrow.

This isn’t just about Frost. It’s about the entire Group of 5 pool getting a fair shot to land these jobs. There are candidates like Memphis’ Mike Norvell who would make plenty of sense at Tennessee. And what about Chad Morris at SMU? Why wouldn’t he be among the top candidates to fill a potential opening at Texas A&M?

Between those three, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo and a handful of others, there are plenty of Group of 5 candidates who are plenty qualified to get a crack at the big time. It wasn’t long ago that a handful of successful college coaches were eager, Group of 5 candidates.

Look at some of the Group of 5 candidates who took over big-time programs in recent memory:

  • Urban Meyer, Utah
  • Chris Petersen, Boise State
  • Brian Kelly, Cincinnati
  • Willie Taggart, USF
  • Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State
  • Tom Herman, Houston

By the way, that doesn’t include guys like Mark Dantonio, Justin Fuente and Matt Campbell, all of whom had Group of 5 roots before they got their respective Power 5 jobs (and now all of them are coaching top-25 teams). Imagine if those coaches weren’t even given a fair shot because they wreaked of Group of 5 stench like their predecessor.

It seems silly because it is silly. Putting a candidate at the bottom of the list just because he’s a Group of 5 coach doesn’t make very much sense.

Now if an athletic director sits down with a Group of 5 candidate — or any candidate, really — and decides that they don’t share the same vision on how to build the program, that’s a different conversation. Hires are about finding the right candidate who has the right makeup to succeed with his resources. Period.

It remains to be seen what direction Florida and potentially Tennessee, Texas A&M and others choose to go in. Their list of candidates should be long and full of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds. There is no perfect makeup for a head coach in college football. If there was, everyone would be copying it by now.

Instead, administrators and fans should open their minds and realize the obvious — there’s no such thing as Group of 5 stench.