Well, Arizona State has its coach.

Stanford just lost its coach.

And Colorado is still looking for its coach.

All-in-all, we’re lacking the absolute insanity of the past few seasons, but the Pac-12 is still in flux nonetheless.

Here’s a breakdown of the 3 coaching searches and situations so far:

Arizona State: Got their guy

The Sun Devils secured the services and showed the benefits of zeroing in on your man early in the coaching search. Not many names were ever seriously linked to Arizona State aside from Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, and while the Ducks were about to play Oregon State on Saturday, word leaked that Dillingham was headed to his alma mater.

Interestingly, Dillingham didn’t play for the Sun Devils. He tore his ACL in high school and turned to coaching at the age of 17, quickly moving up the coaching ranks in the greater Phoenix area. He first joined the Arizona State staff as an offensive assistant under then ASU offensive coordinator Mike Norvell in 2014, then became one of the most sought-after young offensive minds in college football, serving as offensive coordinator for the likes of Memphis, Auburn, Florida State and Oregon. At Arizona State and then Memphis and Florida State, he was Norvell’s right-hand man, ultimately blossoming into one of the best recruiters in college football.

His recruiting skills will come in handy in the desert; ASU was a barren wasteland of talent in 2022 after a mass exodus of players to the transfer portal following allegations of recruiting misconduct and the subsequent firing of half the coaching staff during the last year-plus. Dillingham must set to work restoring the Sun Devils’ brand, both locally and in nearby recruiting hubs like southern California, southern Nevada, Texas and the midwest.

Dillingham proved this year that he is a lot more than just a recruiter, though.

His Oregon offense was one of the best, sturdiest, most consistent offenses in the country, with a beautiful scheme that fit a talented offensive line. Until Bo Nix was banged up at the tail end of the Washington game in Week 11, the Ducks had been one of the best offenses in the country. With Nix a bit hobbled, the offense struggled a bit the last 2 weeks, and Dillingham may have had his mind elsewhere for a moment or two.

Now that he’s returned to his roots, however — and made the important decision to double down on those roots by retaining former interim head coach Shaun Aguano, who coached at the prep level locally for years — I expect Dillingham to make an immediate impact on the recruiting trail and in the community.

Colorado: Will Buffaloes land their big target?

There’s one prime-time decision still waiting to be made, and it’s one of the biggest question marks in all of college football at the moment.

Will Deion Sanders take his swagger to Boulder, where he’s reportedly been offered the head coaching job by Colorado?

There’s no doubt that hire would be the flashiest in all the offseason, bigger even than Luke Fickell and Matt Rhule.

Would it be the right move? That’s debatable. Sanders is one of the most fascinating coaching candidates to emerge in a long time, and he has brought a lot more than just top-level talent to Jackson State. The Tigers are 11-0 this season and 8-0 in SWAC play, one of the true feel-good stories in all of college athletics. Sanders has brought a spotlight to HBCU football not seen in ages, and his star is on the rise as well.

I’m not sure Colorado job would be a great fit for either side. Sanders is Southeast, through and through, born and raised in Florida, finding his college success at Florida State, and now he’s helped Jackson State carve out a big piece of Mississippi. Forget the cold — does he have the relationships around the Rockies and west of the Mississippi River to make an impact on the recruiting trail? More importantly, if he does have success, would he want to stick around?

The Buffaloes have made one bad hire after another, replacing Mike MacIntyre with Mel Tucker, who tucked tail and ran to Michigan State for a better gig, then replaced Tucker with the ineffectual Karl Dorrell.

Yes, Colorado needs a dynamic leader. Yes, Sanders is a dynamic leader. But he’s not the leader for this team, right now.

The other major name that’s been connected with the job, former Texas and Houston head coach Tom Herman, makes a lot more sense. He’s looking to rebuild his image after a so-so layover with the Longhorns, and Colorado would give him the time and the foundation to build upon.

If that person isn’t Herman, it may just be former Colorado safety Ryan Walters. The Illinois defensive coordinator is reportedly a finalist for the job. USA Today’s Paul Myerberg called Walters the “favorite to become the next head coach at Colorado,” and cited Walters’ job in turning around a moribund Illinois defense to one of the best in the Big Ten and beyond.

Either way, the Buffaloes need someone who is going to want to stick around for the complete rebuild.

Stanford: Cardinal caught between past success and fear of the future

Less than a week into one of the most fascinating coaching searches in recent college football memory, it’s too early to tell which of the names popping up most frequently on Stanford coaching hot boards are legitimate and which are pipe dreams.

Chris Petersen — that seems like a pipe dream. The former Boise State and Washington head coach shocked the world when he stepped down from the Huskies, but he was burnt out. Now enjoying life as a college football television analyst, he doesn’t seem in a hurry to jump back to the sidelines, and particularly not at a school where recruiting is so complex and the transfer portal so dangerous.

Bronco Mendenhall — seems legitimate, but is he the right fit? The former BYU and Virginia head coach seems, I dunno, a little rigid to be the head coach at a place like Stanford, where Shaw’s openness to engage in thoughtful conversations on off-the-field and even controversial topics was welcomed by school administrators. I guess what I’m saying is Mendenhall frowns a lot, and that doesn’t feel right for Stanford in this era.

What about the local guys, Troy Taylor of Sacramento State and Brent Brennan of San Jose State, whom many expected to get the Arizona job before Jedd Fisch snagged it 2 years ago? Taylor is a former Cal player and assistant and knows the landscape very well, and Brennan played at UCLA and had a Pac-12 stint as an Oregon State assistant from 2011-16.

As it stands, Peterson is the betting favorite.