Step 1. Make the decision internally that the Lovie Smith era is over and it's time to start working on what's next.
Step 2. Reach out to Jeff Monken to gauge his interest in taking the job with Cory Patterson and Isaiah Williams attached. My guess is he'd be all in.
Step 3. *QUIETLY* have Patterson gauge Isaiah, his family, the other Trinity kids, etc's willingness to transition to a triple option system with Isaiah as the centerpiece.
Step 4. If there is a Khalil Tate-like resistance to it, move on to plan B. If they want to do it, full speed ahead, Monken is your guy.
Plan B Part I: Assess the market for opportunities that might not be obvious to outside observers. Mike Norvell and Luke Fickell are probably on this list, but maybe there are others, even bigger names, that might be more gettable than it appears. Assess those opportunities on a case-by-case basis, though for the purpose of this exercise we'll assume none of these leads come to fruition.
Plan B Part II: The Shortlist (in no particular order):
Jason Candle, Willie Fritz, Seth Littrell, Sonny Dykes, Tony Elliott, Chip Long, Mike Tressel, just a handful that have caught my eye. Some on the list might not be interested, some might look less appealing as you dig in, but keep assessing, keep adding and subtracting from the list, and have a sense what you want the next 12 months to look like. This is not a superfund site teardown. This is about taking a platform that you've painstakingly built, and putting it in more capable hands.