2021-22 Coaching Carousel

Well, it’s that time of year again. It was an unusually busy offseason when it came to the comings and goings in the world of FBS college football. A number of high-profile schools made changes, including LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC and Oregon. As always, here’s my annual list of which hires were, in my opinion, the best:

1) Brian Kelly, LSU

• Age: 60
• Hometown: Everett, Massachusetts
• Alma Mater: Assumption College
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Notre Dame

What a difference two years makes. Ed Orgeron, Louisiana’s favorite son, was on top of the world in January 2020 after finishing a perfect 15-0 national championship season with Heisman-winning quarterback Joe Burrow. But, 13 NFL draft picks and two lost coordinators later, LSU was a shell of its former self, despite stellar recruiting.

To the man’s credit, Orgeron wasn’t afraid to make staff changes and withstand criticism from fans, but with potential NCAA violations hovering around the program, LSU athletic director Scott Woodward had no choice but to make a change. Orgeron handled it with class, agreeing to mutually part ways with the Tigers at the end of 2021, but the stakes have never been higher for LSU.

All three of LSU’s most recent coaches—Orgeron, Les Miles and Nick Saban—won a national championship in Baton Rouge. Brian Kelly did almost everything but win a national title at Notre Dame, but he still finished his career second on the school’s all-time wins list (92). Kelly will also be helped by a talented roster that returns numerous players who were injured in the 2021 campaign. A quick turnaround isn’t out of the question—and it’s just what the doctor ordered.

2) Billy Napier, Florida

• Age: 42
• Hometown: Chatsworth, Georgia
• Alma Mater: Furman University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Louisiana-Lafayette

The inexplicable meltdown that was Florida’s 2021 season started with some outstanding games, including a nailbiter against Alabama that the Gators ultimately lost by two points. But terrible defensive play, inconsistency at QB, and plenty of injuries took their toll. Dan Mullen’s defiant press conferences and excuses began to get old in the Swamp, especially after Georgia—their most hated SEC rival—was steamrolling everybody in their path. 

Napier, who won 39 games in four seasons at Louisiana, is one of the few men in America who can claim to be mentored by both Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban, and his Ragin’ Cajuns were the class of the Sun Belt for the past few seasons. It’s been an endless storm of speculation as to what job would finally cause Napier to leave Lafayette, and it’s safe to say that question was answered. Embracing high expectations is part of the job in Gainesville, but the stakes have never been higher.

3) Brent Venables, Oklahoma

• Age: 50
• Hometown: Salina, Kansas
• Alma Mater: Kansas State University
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Clemson

The return of Venables is sure to have Sooner fans licking their chops after Lincoln Riley’s shocking move to USC in late November. After the retired Bob Stoops filled in during the Sooners’ bowl win against Oregon, Venables officially became the next OU coach. And it’s only fitting—he was the hottest assistant in the nation while he was defensive coordinator at Clemson and spent 12 seasons working under Stoops (from 1999-2012). OU’s move to the SEC looms in 2023, and Venables seems like the perfect candidate to take them there.

4) Lincoln Riley, USC

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Muleshoe, Texas
• Alma Mater: Texas Tech University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Oklahoma

The “will they, won’t they” question was finally answered in Week Three, as the long-under-fire Clay Helton was finally dismissed at USC after a 1-1 start and a 46-24 overall record. Recruiting had suffered under Helton and the Trojans clearly weren’t dominating a mediocre Pac-12. The temptation to both reward Helton’s loyalty and view him as a stabilizing force after the disastrous tenures of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian led to the dismissal of athletic director/NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann. 

Current AD Mike Bohn needed to make a decision, and he did, bringing in Oklahoma superstar Lincoln Riley, who went 55-10 in Norman and is widely considered America’s premier quarterback whisperer and one of its best recruiters. Can USC return to its glory days? The never-ending question continues, but Riley could prove to be the home-run hire that the Trojans have desperately needed. 

5) Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

• Age: 35
• Hometown: Huber Heights, Ohio
• Alma Mater: The Ohio State University
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Notre Dame

It was a shock to many when Brian Kelly bolted to LSU in late November as the Fighting Irish still had a conceivable chance at the College Football Playoff. But school officials moved quickly, promoting defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to the full-time head coaching gig. And who doesn’t love that hire? Freeman was phenomenal as the DC under Luke Fickell at Cincinnati before moving to South Bend for the 2021 season. The Irish are still in a tricky position—being a perennial playoff contender without a conference—but they have the ingredients to continue to be relevant under Freeman.

6) Mario Cristobal, Miami

• Age: 51
• Hometown: Miami, Florida
• Alma Mater: The University of Miami
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Oregon

You can look at this hire in two different ways: on the one hand, what Cristobal has accomplished at Oregon the past four years has been fantastic. He expanded the Ducks’ already impressive recruiting regions, he upgraded both the offensive and defensive lines, and he kept the fast-paced, entertaining football that’s helped make UO such an intimidating opponent in the past 15 years. Cristobal is also a Miami alum who has ties to the Hurricanes’ glory days, as he was part of the 1989 and 1991 national championship teams. 

On the flip side, Miami is in perpetual rebuild mode. The Canes haven’t won a New Year’s Six bowl game since 2004, haven’t appeared in one since 2017, and haven’t won a national championship since the fairytale 2001 season. Manny Diaz lasted all of three years before being fired, and Mark Richt lasted only three seasons before stepping down due to health problems. Cristobal will have to win immediately. 

7) Dan Lanning, Oregon

• Age: 35
• Hometown: Kansas City, Missouri
• Alma Mater: William Jewell College
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers Coach, Georgia

Mario Cristobal is a Miami alum, but it was a shock when he departed for The U at the end of November. Oregon, which traditionally promotes from within, was caught flat-footed at first, but it’s hard to argue with Lanning, who commanded a record-shattering Georgia defense in 2021. Lanning is still only 35 and has also worked under Nick Saban at Alabama and Mike Norvell at Memphis. He’s a terrific recruiter and should be able to improve upon the great work that Cristobal did to upgrade the trenches in Eugene. The Ducks are still in a position to contend in a weak Pac-12, but there’s still more work to be done to truly return to the nation’s elite. 

8) Brent Pry, Virginia Tech

• Age: 51
• Hometown: Lexington, Virginia
• Alma Mater: The University at Buffalo
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Penn State

Justin Fuente was in a tough spot taking over for Hall of Famer Frank Beamer in 2016, but he had some early success before he was dismissed in November following six seasons at the helm. Few programs have been impacted by the transfer portal like the Hokies have, and the lack of consistency on both sides of the ball was glaring, especially for a program used to recruiting at a higher level, playing Top 25 defense, and winning the Coastal Division year in and year out. Fuente’s track record with QBs—he mentored a young Andy Dalton at TCU—didn’t seem to translate in Blacksburg. 

Brent Pry, who spent the past six seasons as Penn State’s defensive coordinator, began his career as a GA at Virginia Tech under Beamer and legendary former DC Bud Foster. Tech is still a program with incredible potential, and school administration has upgraded the investment in the past few years. Pry was also smart to retain interim head coach/defensive line coach J.C. Price, who coached the Hokies to a win over rival Virginia. The recent decline of Clemson also proves that there’s much more parity in the ACC than meets the eye. Can the Hokies take advantage?

9) Kalen DeBoer, Washington

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Milbank, South Dakota
• Alma Mater: The University of Sioux Falls
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Fresno State

Jimmy Lake was seen as a perfectly logical choice in 2019 after Chris Petersen’s sudden retirement; after all, Lake had coached under Petersen at both Washington and Boise State and was known as an ace recruiter and defensive backs guru. But Lake’s bizarre tenure ended after just 13 games. He could afford to get a mulligan thanks to the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but several things didn’t help Lake in 2021, including a stunning season-opening loss to FCS Montana while ranked in the top 25, bizarre comments about Oregon’s academic standards heading into rivalry week (Oregon won anyway), as well as an ugly sideline incident where Lake struck a young Husky linebacker and was suspended for a game by school administration. Lake underachieved as a recruiter, too. 

DeBoer was only at Fresno State for two seasons, but he has a proven offensive background and, ironically enough, mentored Washington transfer QB Jake Haener to a terrific 2021 season. Washington is a school with big aspirations, and they certainly have the money, facilities and fan support to back that up. How will a second coaching change in less than four years impact this program?

10) Mike Elko, Duke

• Age: 44
• Hometown: South Brunswick, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: The University of Pennsylvania
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach, Texas A&M

David Cutcliffe made Duke relevant, which is more than numerous predecessors did, and it was safe to say that the former Manning quarterback whisperer should’ve been allowed to retire on his own terms. But ever since QB Daniel Jones left Durham to start collecting NFL paychecks with the Giants, the Blue Devils have been spinning their wheels in the ACC, bottoming out with a 3-9 record in 2021. It’s often said that hard jobs remain hard, and there’s still a lot of ground to make up, even in the famously unpredictable ACC Coastal. Still, six bowl games under Cutcliffe might as well be six national titles for long-suffering Duke football fans who’ve been celebrating any type of success they can find. 

Enter Mike Elko, former defensive coordinator at Texas A&M. On the surface, Elko might be a strange hire, as he’s a New Jersey native whose lone ACC experience came during his three-year tenure as the DC at Wake Forest (2014-16). But he worked wonders at both Notre Dame and Texas A&M and is one of the nation’s top recruiters. There’s plenty of work to do at Duke, but Elko’s hire gives the Blue Devils a much-needed jolt of new energy.

11) Tony Elliott, Virginia

• Age: 42
• Hometown: Watsonville, California
• Alma Mater: Clemson University
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach, Clemson

Bronco Mendenhall was considered a strange hire when he moved from BYU to UVA in 2016, but he got the long-struggling Cavaliers to five bowl games and a 2019 ACC Coastal Division title. A longtime defensive specialist, Mendenhall’s units had struggled on that side of the ball in recent years, but it was still a shock when the 55-year-old stepped down in December. It’s been tough to have sustained success in the 21st century in Charlottesville—can that change?

Of course, Elliott was one of the hottest coordinators in the country before Clemson slid out of playoff contention in 2021. He’s a Clemson alum and has spent his entire career recruiting in ACC territory, so he knows the terrain as well as anyone. But UVA is one of the tougher jobs in the ACC, and Mendenhall seemed to have hit a ceiling there. Getting to bowl games should be the minimum expectation, but Elliott’s tenure might be defined on how many times he can beat Virginia Tech. Although the Hokies have struggled in recent years, they’ve still beaten the Cavs in 20 of the last 22 meetings–Mendenhall only beat the Hokies once in six tries.

12) Sonny Dykes, TCU

• Age: 52
• Hometown: Big Spring, Texas
• Alma Mater: Texas Tech University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, SMU

Gary Patterson is TCU’s all-time winningest coach, and his accomplishments speak for themselves: 181 wins in 21 seasons, two AP Top 10 finishes (2010 and 2014), five conference titles and one share of a Big 12 championship (2014). But in the past four seasons combined, the Horned Frogs were a mere 22-21, with two losing campaigns. New blood was eventually going to be needed, and Jerry Kill did an admirable job as interim head coach. In the end, rival SMU provided an answer in Sonny Dykes, who has an overall record of 71-62 during head coaching stints at Louisiana Tech, Cal and SMU from 2010-2021.

Bottom line: TCU has an appealling history, a recent track record of success and plenty of NFL alumni. It won’t be hard to recruit and retain talent, but an outright Big 12 championship is a lot to ask, even with Oklahoma and Texas soon moving to greener pastures. If Dykes can provide some of the offensive fireworks he has at his previous stops, Frogs fans will be ecstatic.

13) Joey McGuire, Texas Tech

• Age: 50
• Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
• Alma Mater: The University of Texas at Arlington
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Outside Linebackers Coach, Baylor

In 2018, Matt Wells was coming off a very impressive tenure at his alma mater, Utah State, going 44-34 and making four bowl games in five seasons. He jumped to Lubbock and the Big 12, but he ran into recent problems that have stymied Texas Tech coaches in the post-Mike Leach era—routinely mediocre defenses and inconsistent offenses. While the case can certainly be made for getting rid of Wells too early, with the Big 12 reshaping itself in the near future, the Raiders can’t afford to be mired in mediocrity anymore.

McGuire has credibility in the state of Texas as a legendary high school coach at Cedar Hill in suburban Dallas. He’s an excellent defensive mind and was the lone assistant coach that was retained by Baylor head coach Dave Aranda when he took over before the 2020 season. However, his lack of any collegiate coordinator experience will be disappointing for Red Raider fans accustomed to the big school success that guys like Leach or Kliff Kingsbury had prior to coming to Lubbock. McGuire signed a quality recruiting class and Tech is in a position for a quick rebuild, but the margin for error is slim.

14) Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech

• Age: 40
• Hometown: Snyder, Texas
• Alma Mater: Texas Tech University 
• Previous Job: Interim Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Texas Tech

Skip Holtz, a former head coach at East Carolina, UConn and USF, arrived in Ruston, Louisiana with little fanfare, but after a 4-8 debut in 2013, he led the Bulldogs to seven straight bowl games, winning six of them. He also collected three Conference USA West Division titles and was the 2016 C-USA Coach of the Year. However, cracks began to show during the 2020 season and there were glaring inconsistencies on both offense and defense. In 2021, at 3-8 heading into the season finale at Rice, AD Eric Wood met with Holtz and decided that he wouldn’t return. 

A Mike Leach disciple, Cumbie was named interim head coach at Texas Tech after coach Matt Wells was fired in October and was originally retained by new head coach Joey McGuire. There’s a recent track record of success in Ruston and Cumbie is an acclaimed offensive mind, so this shouldn’t be a bad fit at all.

15) Jay Norvell, Colorado State

• Age: 58
• Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
• Alma Mater: The University of Iowa
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Nevada

After two mediocre seasons under veteran coach Steve Addazio, the Rams decided to move on. Addazio was a bizarre fit in Fort Collins to begin with, having exclusively coached in the south and on the east coast and having only middling success at programs like Temple and Boston College. Norvell, on the other hand, has Mountain West experience at Nevada and, after a 3-9 debut in 2017, went 30-17 in the following four years with four bowl games.

Colorado State is blessed with high-quality facilities and, unlike some of their Mountain West peers, they’ve invested in their football program. However, there’s only a finite amount of in-state talent and the Mountain Division isn’t getting any easier. It’s a long climb back up, even for Norvell, a gifted recruiter who won consistently in Reno.

16) Rhett Lashlee, SMU

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Springdale, Arkansas
• Alma Mater: The University of Arkansas
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Miami

After winning 30 games in four seasons, Sonny Dykes was bound to move on eventually, but moving across town to rival TCU was certainly a shock. Rhett Lashlee, a former SMU OC, is a quality choice after helping Miami resurrect its 2021 season offensively. Lashlee is still young (38) and he was mentored by Gus Malzahn, so his offenses should be fun to watch. Given that SMU is in the midst of its best run since before the death penalty days, Lashlee should be able to embrace the high expectations. The offensive fireworks should continue.

17) Jerry Kill, New Mexico State

• Age: 60
• Hometown: Cheney, Kansas
• Alma Mater: Southwestern College
• Previous Job: Assistant to the Head Coach/Interim Head Coach, TCU

Doug Martin took over at New Mexico State in 2013 and inherited a punchline of a program riding the nation’s longest bowl drought (50-plus years). But he built the Aggies slowly—rebuilding with high schoolers rather than JUCO transfers—and finally got to that elusive bowl game in 2017, winning a thriller over Utah State in the Arizona Bowl. But then the Sun Belt Conference showed the Aggies the door, and it’s been a smattering of one, two, and three-win seasons since then. Martin had also rubbed the fanbase and administration the wrong way, lamenting the lack of resources being invested into the program and canceling press conferences unexpectedly. 

The unlikely savior in Las Cruces is Jerry Kill, the former Minnesota and Northern Illinois head coach who was forced to retire due to health issues in 2015. The 60-year-old Kill is fresh off a stint as interim head coach at TCU after Gary Patterson left midseason. He should be able to assemble a solid staff, plus he finally has a conference: NMSU will play only one more season as an FBS independent before heading to Conference USA in 2023.

18) Jeff Tedford, Fresno State

• Age: 60
• Hometown: Lynwood, California
• Alma Mater: Fresno State 
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Fresno State (2017-19)

Kalen DeBoer only lasted two seasons in Fresno, but he was remarkably successful; the Bulldogs had explosive offenses and routinely out-muscled their opponents on defense, too. Unlike other Group of Five conferences, the Mountain West isn’t expanding, so it should be business as usual for Bulldogs’ fans. Fresno State has a recent track record of success, plenty of NFL alumni, and is surrounded by high-level talent in both northern and southern California. 

Tedford, the former Bulldogs’ head coach from 2017-2019, originally stepped down due to health issues, but he’s been a winner not just in Fresno, but at Cal, where he mentored a young Aaron Rodgers. He recruited players that are still on the roster and he’s a Bulldog alum, to boot. Fresno should stay relevant, although it remains to be seen if they can eclipse rival San Diego State in the West Division. 

19) Joe Moorhead, Akron

• Age: 48
• Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Alma Mater: Fordham University
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Oregon

Tom Arth seemed like a good hire for Akron at the time. After all, he was a native of nearby Cleveland, he had success at lower levels of football (D-III powerhouse John Carroll and FCS Chattanooga) and had a reputation as a good recruiter and someone who could do more with less. Two and a half years later, Akron showed Arth the door after going an awful 3-27 (2-17 in the MAC). 

Former Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead didn’t produce the desired results or consistency needed in Starkville, but he’s still an excellent coach who did a great job these past couple of seasons at Oregon, plus he has experience at Akron, having spent the 2004-08 seasons there. No one’s saying that Akron is an easy place to win—the Zips have a mere three bowl games and one conference championship in 34 years at the FBS level. But they should be better than this, given the amount of talent in Ohio and given that the Zips play in one of the weakest conferences in the Group of Five.

20) Ken Wilson, Nevada

• Age: 57
• Hometown: Virginia, Illinois
• Alma Mater: North Central College
• Previous Job: Co-Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach, Oregon

This has the feeling of a sneaky-good coaching hire. Wilson coached in Reno during two separate stints under Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault, 1989-1998 and 2004-2012. Wilson followed that up by spending the past nine seasons in the Pac-12 working under Mike Leach at Washington State and most recently for Mario Cristobal at Oregon. Nevada has historically been strong in football, but has received tepid support from school administration in the post-Ault era. Wilson has the recruiting prowess, experience and Nevada roots to change that.

21) Clay Helton, Georgia Southern

• Age: 49
• Hometown: Sugar Land, Texas
• Alma Mater: The University of Houston
• Previous Job: Head Coach, USC

Chad Lunsford was a long-time assistant at Southern who got the full-time job off the strength of his interim head coach work in 2017, when school administration fired Tyson Summers halfway through the season. Lunsford was a solid recruiter who got the Eagles to three straight bowl games, but his overall record was an average 28-21, including only 17-14 in the Sun Belt. The Eagles have done well since moving up from the FCS ranks in 2014, but they’re currently playing catch-up against Coastal Carolina and historic rival Appalachian State in the Sun Belt East. A loyal fanbase expected better, more consistent play. Thankfully, this is still an attractive job for the right candidate, even during another round of conference re-alignment. 

Enter Helton. The former USC coach went 46-24 overall, which would be excellent at any program not named USC. He could thrive with a lesser spotlight at a program with a winning tradition, although some longtime Eagle boosters weren’t particularly thrilled, given the long history of Georgia Southern’s triple-option scheme and the fact that Helton prefers more of a spread offense. It’ll be an interesting transition.

22) Stan Drayton, Temple

• Age: 50
• Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
• Alma Mater: Allegheny College 
• Previous Job: Associate Head Coach/Running Backs Coach/Run Game Coordinator, Texas

Drayton was the final hire to be made in the coaching carousel (mid-December, and he wasn’t on the radar for a lot of programs. But firstly, here’s some context:

Prior to 2009, Temple had appeared in only two bowl games in a century, had been booted from the former Big East and was one of the worst teams in the country. Since then, the Owls have appeared in seven bowl games and former head coaches include Steve Addazio (Boston College, Colorado State), Matt Rhule (Baylor, Carolina Panthers), and Geoff Collins (Georgia Tech). So it’s safe to say that the standard has been raised, which is why Rod Carey was shown the door after winning only 12 games in three seasons. Carey had five winning seasons in six years at Northern Illinois, but he dealt with massive transfers at Temple and had difficulty establishing an identity on either side of the ball. In 2021, the Owls finished dead last in the AAC with a 3-9 record (1-7 in conference), so new athletic director Arthur Johnson decided to make a change. 

Drayton has six years of NFL experience and, while he’s never been a college coordinator or coach, he has coached running backs at schools like Texas, Ohio State, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi State. This was an outside-the-box kind of hire, but the Owls have slowly raised the standard to where they can bounce back relatively quickly.

23) Jim Mora, UConn

• Age: 60
• Hometown: Los Angeles, California
• Alma Mater: The University of Washington
• Previous Job: Head Coach, UCLA (2012-2017)

Randy Edsall was the savior for UConn football that wasn’t. He had, after all, led UConn to its first — and only — New Year’s Six bowl game in the BCS era way back in 2010 (the overmatched Huskies lost badly to Oklahoma). After some tough sledding at Maryland, Edsall came back to the Northeast to try again, but after the AAC unceremoniously booted UConn out, the Huskies entered no man’s land as an FBS independent. Edsall had originally arranged to step down at the end of 2021, only to ditch the team after an 0-2 start. 

Although he’s never coached in the Northeast, Jim Mora brings NFL credibility to the role. While his tenure at UCLA didn’t go the way he hoped, he still finished with a winning record. Any winning at all would be welcome at UConn at this point.

24) Jake Dickert, Washington State

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Oconto, Wisconsin
• Alma Mater: The University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
• Previous Job: Interim Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Washington State

This one was tricky—the Cougars were 4-3 and riding a winning streak when second-year head coach Nick Rolovich was dismissed, along with four of his assistants, after choosing not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (a requirement for all state employees, including Rolovich, who was making about $3 million per season). It was a tough pill to swallow, as Rolovich’s recruiting and offensive philosophy was just beginning to take hold. 

The team dealt with the distractions as best as they could, and credit is due to interim head coach/defensive coordinator Jake Dickert. He steered the Cougars to a bowl game, plus a school-record margin of victory in an Apple Cup win over Washington, and was then promoted to the full-time job on November 27th. But this hire needs to work in order to take advantage of a young, improving team and unite a divided fanbase in Pullman. Like their rivals in Seattle, Wazzu will be dealing with their third head coach in the past four seasons. Dickert assembled a good staff, including an offensive coordinator, Eric Morris, with an Air Raid background. But Dickert himself has only been an FBS assistant since 2017, so he’s still the resident newbie.

25) Mike MacIntyre, Florida International

• Age: 56
• Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
• Alma Mater: Georgia Tech
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Memphis

Butch Davis was a surprising choice at FIU after being out of coaching for half a decade, but he got the Panthers to three bowl games before beginning a downhill skid in 2020. Citing burnout, Davis announced on November 15th that he would be leaving at the end of the year, while simultaneously slamming school administration for their lack of investment in football. FIU is also in the awkward position of being one of only three Conference USA schools (along with Louisiana Tech and UTEP) that were not offered invitations to join other conferences in the latest round of realignment. Davis claimed that FIU administation refused to upgrade facilities and uniforms and did not allow any recruiting trips, citing both COVID issues and budget issues. Athletic director Pete Garcia resigned a week before Davis did, and no one from the administration building offered any comment whatsoever. 

MacIntyre isn’t exactly a young up-and-comer at age 56. Like Davis, he’s a former Power Five head coach (Colorado), and he also helped lead San Jose State—also a historically challenging job—to unprecedented heights with their 10-win campaign in 2012. FIU is surrounded by a ton of local talent and it isn’t hard to win games there. But it’s become crystal clear that the program needs more investment. MacIntyre has a good reputation as a defensive mind and should be able to recruit well, but he still only has two winning seasons in nine total years as a head coach. Thankfully, Conference USA will be getting relatively weaker thanks to conference alignment. So maybe MacIntyre’s veteran hand can help this long-struggling FIU program succeed.

26) Don Brown, UMass

• Age: 66
• Hometown: Spencer, Massachusetts
• Alma Mater: Norwich University 
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Arizona

Make no mistake—the UMass job is one of the toughest in the country. The Minutemen moved up to the FBS in 2012, but were unceremoniously booted from the Mid-American Conference after only four seasons. Since then, they’ve been a lonely FBS independent, and offensive guru Walt Bell was predicted to be the program’s savior when he arrived in late 2018. Since then, UMass has lost 23 of their past 25 games under Bell, and the final straw was a bad home loss to FCS Rhode Island on November 6th. 

For the second time as an FBS school, UMass looked to a former FCS head coach, Don Brown, to return to Amherst for his second stint (Mark Whipple had previously done so from 2014-18). Brown, a New England native, coached the Minutemen from 2004-08, compiling a record of 43-19. Since then, he’s been a defensive coordinator at five different schools, most notably under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. At 66 years old, Brown is hardly a fresh young face, but he knows the territory as well as anyone and brings a wealth of defensive knowledge. UMass has yet to win more than four games in a season as an FBS member, so he’ll have his work cut out for him. 

27) Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana-Lafayette

• Age: 36
• Hometown: New Iberia, Louisiana
• Alma Mater: The University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• Previous Job: Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach, Louisiana-Lafayette

It was only a matter of time before Billy Napier left Lafayette, but the Cajuns are still in position to be one of the Sun Belt’s juggernauts even as the conference expands. There’s always talent in the state of Louisiana, and the Cajuns have one of the rowdiest fan bases of any Group of Five team. Desormeaux, who was promoted from within, is an alum and a popular assistant coach, but he’s never been a head coach at the Power Five level. With the amount of talent in their backyard, the Cajuns should be fine. But fans have every right to expect more.

28) Jon Sumrall, Troy

• Age: 39
• Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
• Alma Mater: The University of Kentucky 
• Previous Job: Co-Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach, Kentucky

Chip Lindsey had arrived at Troy as an acclaimed former Power Five coordinator (Auburn and Arizona State), but he left town with 15-19 record and no Sun Belt championships. Granted, former Troy head coach and current West Virginia boss Neal Brown had left a very high bar to clear—35-16 in four seasons—but Troy’s fans have expected more in the past, and with good reason. 

Jon Sumrall is a former Trojans assistant under Brown who spent this past year as co-DC and linebackers coach at Kentucky. He’s an Alabama native, has SEC experience and knows what the job will entail, but this past year is his only job yet as a coordinator. Troy is still one of the best jobs in the Sun Belt from a recruiting and facilities perspective. Will that be enough?

• College football