Guys available who had better resumes than Charlie, and I am not AT ALL saying they turned out to be better in their jobs, nor am I saying they would have worked out better at TExas. Chances are they would not have, but the list included:
Briles
Malzhan (he openly stated he wanted the job)
Mora Jr - they interviewed him and moved on quickly
David Shaw - turned down the job twice mainly because he had his dream job, and we didn't offer him enough to make texas his new dream job
Harbaugh - was a really hot name to return to CFB. he was waiting to get the UM job, but for the right price likely would have taken the Texas job (according to someone who would know)
CHarlie
Chris Peterson - we didn't even consider him
Hindsight, it would seem Briles would have obviously been better, but we would have been really embarrassed. Malzhan would have been exponentially better than CHarlie, but im not sure he would have been a great long term fix. My guess he would have been about like Mackovich here. Mora likely wouldn't have worked, but then again who has worked out at UCLA? He still a better football coach than Charlie, but probably not a long term solution. the rest, meh...in the end we checked a non-football box with Charlie, and got a guy I think we are relatively happy with as of now. Recruiting has picked up dramatically, toughness and playing hard has picked up dramatically, and we have developed a QB after 10 years in the desert.