Mike Houston has Charlotte 49ers job offer. Here’s why it’s complicated.

Mike Houston might be waiting for James Madison’s football season to end so he can accept the head coaching job with the Charlotte 49ers.

Houston might also go ahead and take the job even if the Dukes’ season continues after their second-round NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff game Saturday.

But so much is swirling around the college football coaching vacancies carousel this week that it’s difficult to believe Houston’s decision can be that simple.

Houston, an N.C. native, said Wednesday that Charlotte athletics director Mike Hill has offered him the 49ers job and he has interest in it. Houston didn’t say he had accepted it; he didn’t say he had turned it down. He only said he was interested in it.

Houston spoke to reporters in response to a report by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman who, citing a source, said Houston was expected to be the 49ers new coach, replacing Brad Lambert, who was fired Nov. 18.

It was an unusual move by Houston, who took the Dukes to the 2016 FCS title and is known for his candor with the media. Still, it’s rare (and maybe unprecedented) that a coach will bring to light what’s going on with his job prospects, much less name the school that’s pursuing him.

But that’s what Houston did. He said that with a new early signing period beginning Dec. 19 approaching, he understood why Hill wants to move swiftly to hire a coach, even if it meant offering him the job while the Dukes are still playing meaningful football.

Then came Thursday and the news that East Carolina had fired Scottie Montgomery. Houston would seem a likely candidate for the Pirates job, too.

And there are potential dominoes elsewhere that could also fall to Houston. After Purdue’s Jeff Brohm said Wednesday he wouldn’t pursue the job at his alma mater of Louisville, Appalachian State’s Scott Satterfield started appearing on lists of possible candidates for the Cardinals job.

Houston, who said one of the attractions of the Charlotte job was its proximity to his hometown of Franklin in the N.C. mountains, would certainly pop up on the Mountaineers’ radar if Satterfield left. And Boone is about the same distance to Franklin as Charlotte.

Is Houston ready to say yes to the 49ers, as soon as Sunday, depending on how far the Dukes advance in the playoffs? Or could the door open for North Carolina’s three “Group Of 5” programs all go after Houston?

Each offers a different challenge:

▪ Charlotte is a young program with untapped potential in the region’s largest market. The 49ers, with 13 starters returning from a 5-7 team, are waiting for somebody light their fuse.

▪ East Carolina’s program has fallen into disarray, with the Pirates going 9-26 in Montgomery’s three seasons. A complete rebuild is necessary. Working against the Pirates is the fact they are without an athletics director. The school said in a statement that the new football coach will be hired by the new athletics director, which will hamstring ECU’s ability to move quickly.

The Harrisonburg (Va.) Daily News-Record reported Thursday that ECU moved up its decision to fire Montgomery after learning of Charlotte’s offer to Houston.

▪ The pieces are already in place at Appalachian State, which is playing for the Sun Belt Conference title at home on Saturday. The main task for a new Mountaineers coach would be not to mess up a good thing.

Yes, the timing of Houston’s admission about the Charlotte job was curious. For him to leave JMU before the season ends doesn’t seem likely, given what he said about his loyalty to his players on Wednesday. And the Dukes’ postseason doesn’t involve a superfluous bowl game like many Football Bowl Subdivision teams play; this is a run at a legitimate NCAA championship. That’s nothing to trifle with.

That doesn’ t mean he hasn’t already made a decision. For that we’ll have to wait.

This story was originally published November 29, 2018 at 3:44 PM.