Steve Addazio, DJ Durkin

Boston College coach Steve Addazio, left, and Maryland's DJ Durkin -- both former Urban Meyer assistants -- will coach against each other in this year's Quick Lane Bowl.

(Paul Sancya, Associated Press)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It's hard to imagine a scenario in which the ups-and-downs of college football's silly season would ever have a personal impact on Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.

Coaches across the country come and go, get fired and hired. But Meyer is one of a handful of coaches who calls his own shots, and will likely go out on his own terms -- whenever that time comes.

But Meyer's coaching tree is not immune to seasonal changes.

Meyer has been as successful as anyone at sending former assistant coaches on to head coaching jobs. That's something he takes a little bit of pride in, too. Meyer asks for two years from assistants, then will help them move on if the right opportunity comes along.

And he's a stickler for that last part. Here's what Meyer said about former assistant and newly-named Texas head coach Tom Herman on Thursday:

"I think he matured and was really ready to take on his own program," Meyer said. "I'm glad he went to Houston because of all the great players, and he was looking at some other jobs previous to that, and I kept discouraging him because it's all about can you go get good players in your program."

That's a peek into what's happening now with Meyer's coaching tree. Herman is on the move to Texas after two successful years at Houston. He's replacing Charlie Strong, a former Meyer assistant who was fired by the Longhorns this year.

That's a branch of the coaching tree hanging by a thread right now. It's possible Strong could land another head coaching job before next season.

Luke Fickell is a hot name for the Cincinnati opening. It's at the point where a hire feels imminent, but nothing is official yet. That's a job Meyer would encourage an assistant to take. Meyer loves Cincinnati and knows that's a program that can recruit good players.

So Herman is changing jobs, Fickell seems likely to be on the move, Greg Schiano has reported interest in the South Florida job -- there are a lot of moving pieces right now on Meyer's coaching tree.

But it's still one of the best in college football.

Pegging down exactly who has the best coaching tree is hard, because there are some guys who have been around a long time and have had a lot of assistants. Take New Mexico coach Bob Davie for example. He hired Meyer as a young assistant at Notre Dame. It would be tough for any other active FBS coach to point a stronger branch on his coaching tree.

So we're not going to say whether Meyer has the best coaching tree in college football. But we are going to compare it against two other active coaches who have moving parts on their own coaching trees: Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh.

For the sake of comparison, we're only including former assistants who are current FBS head coaches:

URBAN MEYER'S COACHING TREE

Who's in it? Dan Mullen (Mississippi State); Gary Andersen (Oregon State); Kyle Wittingham (Utah); Steve Addazio (Boston College); Doc Holliday (Marshall); Everett Withers (Texas State); Tom Herman (Texas); DJ Durkin (Maryland); Chris Ash (Rutgers).

Who could be next? Charlie Strong; Luke Fickell; Greg Schiano; Ed Warinner.

Breakdown: If you judge best by quantity, Meyer has more current assistants serving as FBS head coaches (9) than Saban or Harbaugh. If you go by winning percentage, that's where Meyer's group falls shorts right now. The nine current head coaches have a combined winning percentage of .555 (322-258). That percentage is hurt right now by Strong's unemployment.

Herman is the only active head coach in the tree with a major bowl win, guiding Houston over Florida State in the 2015 Peach Bowl.

Strong and Schiano both will get shots at being a head coach again. Fickell and Warinner both want to make the jump. Strong, 53-37 as a head coach would give the tree a record boost. Do you give Meyer credit for Schiano? He went 68-67 at Rutgers before moving onto the NFL and then to Ohio State.

Former Harbaugh assistant Willie Taggart was just hired as the head coach at Oregon.

JIM HARBAUGH'S COACHING TREE

Who's in it? David Shaw (Stanford); Derek Mason (Vanderbilt); DJ Durkin (Maryland); Willie Taggart (Oregon).

Who could be next? T.J. Weist, Mike Sanford Jr.

Breakdown: Harbaugh doesn't have the quantity of Meyer, but he does have some quality. This group's current winning percentage is .575 (123-91), which is boosted big time by Shaw. Since taking over for Harbaugh at Stanford, Shaw has won three Pac-12 title and two Rose Bowls.

Harbaugh and Meyer will always share Durkin, who worked at Bowling Green with Meyer and Stanford and Michigan with Harbaugh. Taggart is the recently-named head coach at Oregon after a 10-win season at South Florida.

Weist is the current interim coach at South Florida, though the former Michigan assistant under Harbaugh doesn't seem like a likely candidate to get that job (It could be Strong or Schiano). And remember Sanford. He's the Notre Dame offensive coordinator who has ties to both Harbaugh and Meyer.

NICK SABAN'S COACHING TREE

Who's in it? Mark Dantonio (Michigan State); Jimbo Fisher (Florida State); Jim McElwain (Florida); Will Muschamp (South Carolina); Kirby Smart (Georgia).

Who could be next? Lane Kiffin, Jeremy Pruitt.

Breakdown: Look at those schools. Maybe this isn't even an argument. The winning percentage is .683 (248-115), and Saban has Fisher -- the only national title winner in any of these groups.

(We're not counting this, but Saban also has three former assistants who are NFL head coaches: Jason Garrett, Mike Mularkey and Dan Quinn.)

Kiffin sounds like he could be on the move back to a head coaching job before next season after three years as Alabama's offensive coordinator. Pruitt, currently Alabama's defensive coordinator, will continue to be a fast riser.

VOTE

Who has the best coaching tree out of Meyer, Harbaugh and Saban?