It will be interesting to see if Kerwin leaves.
Taking a look at the previous coaches, the guy Kerwin replaced (David Dean) won two NC's and left to be the OC at Georgia Southern (then got fired after 1 year). He's the head coach at D2 West Georgia now (2 years in, went 10-2 this year losing to VSU). I bet he wishes he had stayed at VSU (vs. taking the OC job at GSU).
Hal Mumme went straight from VSU to Kentucky (as head coach). I did not realize that.
Chris Hatcher is VSU's Steve Spurrier. He left to be head coach at Georgia Southern and got fired. He's since had moderate success at Murray State, and is now the head coach at Samford (and took FSU to the wire earlier this year). But has never seen the success he had at VSU.
I'd love to see Kerwin get a D1 job. I think he'd do very well. I'm sure he'd find a good DC and would have 85 scholarships. It seems though that he could easily get an FCS/1AA job.
Also, these current head coaches all coached as assistants and coordinators at VSU:
Kirby Smart - VSU DC in 2001, GA at FSU 2002-2003, then DBs at LSU under Satan 2004
Will Muschamp - VSU DC in 2000, then LB 2001 at LSU under Satan, and then LSU DC 2002-2004
Mike Leach - VSU OC 1992-1996, then OC at Kentucky and Oklahoma before HC at Texas Tech in 2000
Dana Holgorsen - VSU QB/WR/ST 1993-1995, eventually HC at West Virginia in 2011
Others:
Guy Morris - VSU OL 1992-1993, OL Arizona Cardinals 1994, eventually HC at Kentucky in 2001, then Baylor in 2003
Mike Cavan - VSU HC 1986-1991, HC at East Tennesee State 1992 and SMU 1997
That doesn't really mean much, but there is definitely evidence that there a career path from VSU as opposed to some jobs that are career death traps.