Could one of the ascendant coaches in college football make Corvallis his home?
The Oregon State football coaching search is underway, and several names have been floated as potential candidates for the job. It is early in the process as the coaching carousel continues to spin across college football.
As the search rolls on, barring a major announcement or change in the search dynamics, The Oregonian/OregonLive will examine some of the potential candidates for OSU’s next head coach.
We continue with one of the ascendant names on the coaching market:
Jason Eck
Current job: HC, New Mexico
Age: 48
Head coaching record: 32-16
Why it works
Eck knows how to lift a program up. After bouncing around college football as an assistant, the former Wisconsin offensive lineman got the top job at Idaho in 2022.
The Vandals chose to drop down to the FCS level after a 4-8 season in 2017, and they went 15-25 in the four seasons before Eck showed up. He would lead them to a 26-13 record, three FCS playoff appearances, and two Top 10 finishes in the polls.
That success has carried over to New Mexico, a program with eight straight losing seasons before Eck’s arrival. The Lobos are now 6-3, bowl eligible, and blew the doors off Big Ten foe UCLA earlier this season.
Eck’s success is driven by his ability to get the most out of players. His teams are hard-nosed — particularly in the trenches — and run the ball well. The cultural foundation Eck provides lifts up guys who might not have been the highest-rated recruits.
That all fits perfectly at Oregon State in this difficult moment for the program, and it would be interesting to see what Eck could do in Corvallis given the proper resources to go out and recruit. A wave of roster change is coming for the Beavers, and Eck navigated something similar at Idaho with tremendous success.
Why it might not work
At a certain point, Eck can’t be expected to rescue every downtrodden football program in the country. And there is no guarantee things would work out the same way at OSU as they did at Idaho and New Mexico.
The Beavers are transitioning into the new Pac-12, and their athletic department has some institutional fixes to make. It can’t be business as usual if OSU football is going to compete again. As with some of the other most qualified candidates for this job, Eck’s success could vary depending on how OSU athletics navigates these next few years.
Building out a strong defense could be a shortcoming, too. While Eck’s 2024 Idaho team held eventual No. 1 Oregon to just 24 points in a shockingly competitive opener last year, this year’s New Mexico team has given up some big point totals — especially in its three losses.
Is he interested in Oregon State?
There hasn’t been solid reporting on Eck’s level of interest in the OSU job, or whether he is even interested in departing New Mexico after just one season. Right now, he seems fully committed to the Lobos.
There was a lot of buzz around Eck being a fit for the job at his alma mater, Wisconsin, but the Badgers have now publicly committed to Luke Fickell for 2026.
Maybe Eck waits for the situation in Madison to fully implode before changing jobs again. But the future of the Mountain West is, well, fickle. So, perhaps a Pac-12 job would be a more stable landing spot in the interim.
Know the other (possible) candidates:
Oregon State (2-8) at Tulsa (2-7)
- When: Saturday, Nov. 15
- Time: 10:00 a.m. PT
- Where: H.A. Chapman Stadium — Tulsa, OK
- TV channel: ESPN+ (Now called ESPN Select. This game is not available on traditional broadcast TV, only streaming on ESPN’s live sports streaming platform with the “ESPN Select” or “ESPN Unlimited” subscription plans. Here’s a look at how you can watch ESPN+ live on your TV.)
- How to watch streaming live: You can watch this game streaming live for less than $12 on ESPN Select (It costs just $11.99/month or $119.99/year for a subscription, and you can cancel anytime). Here’s a look at the breakdown of the new ESPN streaming plans, what they cost and include.)
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