The Akron Zips fired head coach Terry Bowden on Sunday and could be moving quickly towards hiring their next head football coach.

First reported by Kyle Kelly of The Carroll News, former John Carroll and current University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head coach Tom Arth is the leading candidate to be the next head coach at Akron.

WRCB in Chattanooga reported Wednesday that Arth will interview with Akron on Friday.

Kelly also reported that the Zips plan to interview Notre Dame special teams coach Brian Polian, who has head coaching experience from his time In Nevada, has Northeast Ohio ties due to attending and playing for John Carroll and is the son of NFL Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian.

With the recent trend of young offensive minded head coaches, it makes for Akron to pursue Arth after the Zips were 129th in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game.

Arth has been the head coach at UTC for the last two seasons with a record of 9-13 during that span.

Arth spent four seasons as the head coach at John Carroll, posting a 40-8 record and had three trips to the Division III playoffs with his last season in 2016 being his most successful going 12-2, winning the Ohio Athletic Conference and reaching the Division III semifinal.

The Blue Streaks averaged at least 31 points per game under Arth with two of his four seasons averaging over 41 points per game.

He also played for John Carroll after attending Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland. Arth was the starting quarterback for the Blue Streaks all four years and set school records with 10,457 yards and 89 touchdowns in his college career.

He spent three seasons in the NFL as Peyton Manning’s backup quarterback with the Indianapolis Colts from 2003-2005 before playing in the CFL and the Arena Football League until retiring in 2008.