The clock is ticking for the University of Colorado to select a new head football coach, and it looks like a well-known alum is leading the charge. Eric Bieniemy, one of CU’s best running backs of all time, is emerging as the strongest candidate right now, writes The Denver Post. Bieniemy has never been a coordinator, much less a head coach, but the former Buff has earned a solid reputation for the coaching he’s done at CU (running backs coach from 2001-02) and other schools, as well as his work as running backs coach and assistant head coach for offense with the Minnesota Vikings.

CU interim head coach Brian Cabral has made no secret of his desire to take on the job full time, even if he’s not the leading candidate. “Do I want to remain a Buff? I do. I do want to remain a Buff. Do I want to be a head coach? I really want to be a head coach,” Cabral tells the Longmont Times-Call.

Another leading candidate, Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, says he’s no longer interested, notes Boulder’s Daily Camera, a significant blow to the search effort, since Calhoun has been consistently successful in Colorado Springs.

And popular former head coach Bill McCartney is still in the running, although some CU employees are opposed to re-hiring him because of his alleged anti-gay and sexist opinions. The Camera reports in a separate article that McCartney’s outspoken religious views, expressed most powerfully through his Promise Keepers organization, have inspired nearly two dozen letters urging CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano not to hire McCartney.