SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State fired coach Everett Withers on Sunday and there's already speculation about coaching candidates to take over the Bobcats program.

The popular name that has surfaced is UIW head coach Eric Morris, who led the Cardinals to an improbable share of the Southland Conference championship and an FCS playoff berth this season.

Another one expected to be in the mix for #TXState HC job is also an Air Raid guy Eric Morris. The fmr #TexasTech WR has had an excellent 1st season at Incarnate Word, 20 miles up the road. His team just qualified for the playoffs in Year 1 & has the top offense in that league. https://t.co/GiTGcFscWX — Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 18, 2018

Morris is in his first season at UIW after being an assistant coach for five seasons at Texas Tech under head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

The other name to emerge as a possible candidate is former Bowling Green head coach Mike Jinks.

Bowling Green dismissed Jinks after two and a half seasons as head coach. Jinks also coached under Kingsbury at Texas Tech and has a strong recruiting background in Texas.

Jinks also coached at Steele High School and turned the program into a Texas high school power. He is well-known in the San Antonio-Austin area, which is a fertile recruiting ground.

Talking to a few of my #TXST alums, and here are some names that have come up as their personal picks for new HC*

* - none of these alums have major clout that I know of.



Mike Jinks

David Beaty

Craig Naivar

Claude Mathis

Jake Spavital — Damon Sayles (@DamonSayles) November 19, 2018

Other names that have been mentioned are West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, Texas assistant coaches Jason Washington and Craig Naivar, and Houston offensive coordinator Kendall Briles.

Withers was dismissed by Texas State after the Bobcats fell to 3-8 on Saturday with a 12-7 loss to Troy.

The team was 2-10 in each of Withers' first two seasons at the Sun Belt Conference school, which has been playing at the FBS level since 2012.

BREAKING: Source tells me #TXST has fired head football coach Everett Withers. Nothing official yet from university, but Withers was reportedly informed yesterday after Bobcats loss to drop to 3-8 on season. (First reported by @FootballScoop)#KSATsports #ksatnews pic.twitter.com/9qtGqGI0pZ — RJ Marquez (@KSATRJ) November 18, 2018

Athletic Director Larry Teis said in a statement Sunday that defensive coordinator Chris Woods will coach the Bobcats in their final game against Arkansas State on Saturday.

Withers was a longtime college and NFL assistant before becoming interim head coach at North Carolina in 2011 following the firing of Butch Davis for NCAA violations.

Texas State hired him from FCS James Madison, where in two seasons as coach he was 18-7.