The Oregon Ducks have one of the bigger job openings in college football after firing offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer on Sunday.

With Maryland, Baylor, and NC State as the only Power 4 head coaching jobs open currently, the OC vacancy of the Ducks is one of the better positions in college football for a coach looking to boost their resume.

Would that job catch the eye of a head coach at a Group of 6 school?

Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire placed North Texas head coach Neal Brown on his hot board list for potential offensive coordinators at Oregon. Brown is in his first season at North Texas, taking over the job after Eric Morris became the head coach at Oklahoma State.

The Mean Green are 6-2 and have an exciting offense. North Texas is averaging 505 yards per game, which is No. 3 in the country and has the No. 4 scoring offense, averaging 39.8 yards per contest.

Brown went 35-16 during his four seasons at Troy before taking over the head coach job at West Virginia in 2019. He went 37-35 during his six seasons with the Mountaineers. He's 77-53 as a head coach and 5-1 in bowl games. Troy won the Sun Belt in 2017.

In 2025, Brown served as the assistant head coach at Texas.

While it might seem like a demotion for Brown to leave the head coaching job at North Texas to become an offensive coordinator at Oregon, there is upside for the 46-year-old coach. He could have a better opportunity to land a better Power 4 coaching job if he were to win a national championship with the Ducks.

Oregon would have plenty of resources and talent for Brown to succeed in Eugene. He’d also provide head coach Dan Lanning over two decades of coaching experience, which would be valuable for a program trying to make a deep run in the College Football Playoff in 2027.

Oregon has an attractive OC position

The Ducks blew an opportunity to compete for the national championship this season in part because Lanning took the risk of promoting Mehringer over hiring an elite and proven offensive coordinator when Will Stein left for Kentucky.

Oregon needs to search for a candidate for 2027 that can help the Ducks reach the next level. Even if the Ducks don't land Brown, there are other Group of 6 coaches or NFL coaches who should be considered for the job.