Unless you've been living in a cave the past two days, you no doubt have heard Northwest Missouri State football coach Mel Tjeerdsma is a finalist for the Texas-San Antonio head coaching position and will interview with the Roadrunners next week.

The announcement surprised many of us who just assumed Tjeerdsma, 62, would retire a Bearcat. And he still might because I believe the Roadrunners will hire former Miami coach Larry Coker over Tjeerdsma.

If I were launching a Division I-AA (or Championship Subdivision, if you're into that sort of thing) program like the Roadrunners plan to do, I can think of few coaches better qualified than Tjeerdsma. He essentially lifted up the Bearcats from nothing (0-11 and playing in some of the worst facilities in Division II to perennial national title contender with one of the nicest stadiums in D-II).

Coker, on the other hand, inherited a Hurricanes team from Butch Davis that finished 11-1 the year before and won the Big East. Coker won the national title in his first year in Miami, but the more of his players got into the program, the more the Hurricanes faded, going 12-1, 11-2, 9-3, 9-3 and then 7-6 when he was finally fired.

Once upon a time, Coker served as an assistant at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and thus should have some familiarity with Texas recruiting, but I doubt he spent much time in the Lone Star State while coaching in talent-rich Florida. Tjeerdsma, meanwhile, brings in a handful of Texas recruits each season and certainly is familiar with the terrain.

Bottom line, Tjeersdsma built a top-notch program and a stadium from nothing in his time at Northwest, while Coker inherited one of the best D-I programs in the country and then watched it steadily descend under his watch. But UTSA needs to raise $15 million as part of launching its football program. And universities want big names to bring in the big bucks. Coker won a Division I national title, and for that reason, I think the Roadrunners will choose Coker when the better choice is Tjeerdsma.