Jeff Traylor has reached the point where the next move matters.
At UTSA, he has built one of the most accomplished programs in the Group of Six ranks, and this season the Roadrunners are again the best team in their conference with a chance to make the college football playoffs. That kind of success usually sends a coach climbing fast, and Baylor ought to be one of the schools paying attention.
The assumption around Traylor has long been that he has stayed in San Antonio because he wants the Texas or Texas A&M job. He already passed on Texas Tech, and neither Texas nor A&M is expected to open this year.
Still, the coaching carousel can turn ugly in a hurry. Maryland, North Carolina State and Baylor have already fired their head coaches in October, and more changes could be coming.
In that kind of market, a coach like Traylor should at least get serious consideration from a power program in Texas.
Baylor makes sense as the cleanest opening. It is not Texas, but it is a strong job with money, facilities and the ability to attract players who are not treating it as a waypoint to Alabama, Texas or Michigan.
There is no reason it cannot compete for the Big 12 title every few years and make a playoff appearance. Winning a national championship from the Big 12 would take nearly everything aligning at once, but if Traylor can live with that reality, it is still a worthwhile move.
His case is built on the same thing he has always shown: he gets more out of less. For the third time in seven seasons at UTSA, the Roadrunners are at the top of their conference.
Coaches who keep producing like that at the Group of Six level usually do not stay there long. Eric Morris went from North Texas to Oklahoma State.
Jon Sumrall was at Tulane this time last year before landing at Florida. Bob Chesney spent the previous two years at James Madison before moving to UCLA.
Before Curt Cignetti got to Indiana in 2024, he had spent 2022 and 2023 at James Madison.
Traylor should be on that same track.
His Texas roots help, too. He built a power at Gilmer High School early in the century and formed relationships with influential people at Texas along the way.
It is easy to see why he would have wanted the Longhorns job, and maybe why he would have waited for it. But he is 58, and if Steve Sarkisian keeps things rolling, the path to Austin may never open.
If Traylor waits too long, he may never get another chance to move up.
There is also a strong argument for staying right where he is.
UTSA arrived in his hands as a difficult job when he took over in December 2019. The program had started in 2012, and the sport was already shifting hard by the time he arrived.
The transfer portal had not yet turned into a freeway with no speed limit, police or railings. NIL had not yet become “pay players money for playing college football.”
And the Big Ten and SEC had not yet tightened their grip on the sport.
Now, Group of Six programs are feeders for the power conferences. A winning G6 team can be forced to replace an entire roster almost every year, which wears on a coach. Traylor has made clear that UTSA needs to spend more to keep up, but there is only so much a job like that can do.
The tradeoff is that he can live well without needing to chase every opening. At UTSA, he does not need to win 10 to 12 games every year to have a seven-figure coaching job. He can become a fixture in San Antonio and stay part of a community that offers a comfortable life, much like former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich or Spurs stars Tim Duncan, David Robinson and Manu Ginobili.
That is not a bad place to land. Coaches are hired to be fired, and the shelf life for a Power 4 head coach now is short enough to make a housefly look long-lived.
Gary Patterson understood the appeal of staying put. So did Bill Snyder, who never left Manhattan, Kansas despite plenty of chances. Patterson eventually “resigned” from TCU in 2021, but he still lives in Fort Worth and remains active socially with the friends he made over two decades as head coach there.
Traylor has a good thing in San Antonio. But there is a limit to what UTSA can become, even if the Group of Six eventually creates its own postseason.
The Texas Tech door has closed. Baylor may still be open.
If he wants to find out how far he can go outside the River Walk - and if he wants a shot at a major conference title and a playoff stage - this season may be the time to leave. Even if Austin is not where he ends up, he probably cannot afford to wait much longer.
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