The temptation for any hot-shot assistant college football coach is to take the first head-coaching offer that comes along, especially if it’s in a glamour conference such as the Big 12.

But with Kansas projecting to have such a weak roster for next season and with so little success in the past five seasons, it will be difficult for any coach to recruit top prospects and win games right off the bat.

A hot coaching prospect’s star fades faster than that.

Baylor coach Art Briles’ remarkable turnaround has been driven by an offense that perennially ranks among the best in the nation.

Philip Montgomery, 42, worked under Briles at Stephenville High, at the University of Houston and for the past seven seasons at Baylor, where he has been the Bears’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the past three seasons.

At Baylor, Montgomery always has the offensive mastermind Briles as a resource, a talented quarterback, fleet wide receivers, talented running backs and an efficient offensive line.

Going from that to the talent at Kansas might be a shock to his system.

Then again, Montgomery has had a front-row seat to Briles’ path from coaching a program with a losing tradition to one that is a perennial power on a national level.

Working for the charismatic Briles, Montgomery has remained in the shadows. He doesn’t appear to enjoy being dragged out of his comfort zone and interviews are not in his comfort zone. He doesn’t do very many of them. That begs the question of whether he would enjoy all that comes with being the head coach, the face of the program. If Montgomery has a colorful personality behind his stoic veneer, he would have to remove the mask as head coach at Kansas, which doesn’t sell out its football games and needs all the promotion it can get.

It also is a bit more of a risk taking a coordinator who works for a head coach whose strength is on the same side of the ball. In contrast to Montgomery, TCU’s Doug Meacham works for Gary Patterson, a coach with a revered defensive mind.

On the positive side, Montgomery knows what a good quarterback looks like, having tutored Case Keenum and Kevin Kolb at Houston and Robert Griffin III, Nick Florence and Bryce Petty at Baylor. Those are great ties to talk up in a visit with recruits.

Another plus: More than 20 head high school football coaches in Texas either played for or coached for Briles, so their first call when they coach or play against an extremely talented sophomore, goes to Briles. He can’t take everybody. Maybe Montgomery would get the second call and upgrade the caliber of Texas recruits heading to Kansas.