2023-24 FBS Coaching Carousel

It’s that time of year again — and this offseason, we’ve got plenty of other changes in the college football landscape, most notably the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

As reigning national champ Michigan turns the page on the Jim Harbaugh era, teams like Oregon and Ohio State remain lurking after big-name transfer portal and assistant coaching additions. Other powerhouses like Texas, LSU, Tennessee, Florida State, Oklahoma and Ole Miss are all worthy of top 10 consideration, while dark horses this fall could be names like Louisville, Penn State, Utah, and Notre Dame.

It’ll be fascinating as usual to watch it all unfold, and here’s my ranking of all the head coaching changes this winter.

1) Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

• Age: 49
• Hometown: Milbank, South Dakota
• Alma Mater: Sioux Falls
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Washington

If you can possibly believe it, DeBoer has a higher winning percentage than Nick Saban, the guy he’s replacing.

OK, Saban is an impossible act to follow (six national championships, stacked recruiting classes, countless NFL draft picks, etc.). And DeBoer went 67-3 at tiny University of Sioux Falls (his alma mater) in the late 2000s.

But make no mistake, DeBoer’s elite offenses and combined 37-9 record at Fresno State (2020-21) and Washington (2022-23) tell the tale. He can recruit and develop, he hires great assistant coaches and he has a reputation as a positive locker room presence who can make multiple moving parts work seamlessly, as evidenced by his outstanding usage of transfer portal players at Washington as they ascended back to the College Football Playoff in 2023. DeBoer has never coached in the SEC, but it hardly matters; he just wins. And Saban would certainly give his frown of approval for that. 

2) Willie Fritz, Houston

• Age: 63
• Hometown: Shawnee Mission, Kansas
• Alma Mater: Pittsburg State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Tulane

It was originally believed that the size of Dana Holgorsen’s buyout and the expectedly bumpy transition from the AAC to the Big 12 would grant him a mulligan, but nope. The Cougars finished 4-8 in their first Big 12 season and decided to bring in proven winner Willie Fritz to get them over the hump.

Fritz had been rumored for Power Five jobs for so long, as he was rumored to be a finalist at Georgia Tech last offseason. He got Tulane to back-to-back double-digit win seasons, going 23-4 during that span, and before that, he won 17 games in two seasons at Georgia Southern. And before that, he went 40-15 with three FCS playoff berths in four seasons at Sam Houston, giving him credibility in the Texas recruiting market. 

Houston is a fine job: it has plenty of recent success and a fairly young stadium surrounded by fertile recruiting grounds, but the administration needs to level up in terms of money and resources in order to win consistently in the Big 12. Fritz will help them develop a unique identity that they can sustain in recruiting, and he’ll have more flexibility with the portal than he did at Tulane, whose private school academics made that difficult. This is certainly a high-profile hire and Fritz will be expected to win quickly.

3) Sherrone Moore, Michigan

• Age: 37
• Hometown: Derby, Kansas
• Alma Mater: Oklahoma
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach, Michigan

No pressure here. None whatsoever. 

After Jim Harbaugh went back to the NFL following a national championship at his alma mater in 2023, Moore was the natural choice to take over. He already went 4-0 as the acting head coach last year while Harbaugh served an NCAA suspension related to the ongoing investigation into alleged sign-stealing committed by former Wolverines off-field staffer Connor Stalions.

Moore is luckier than most head coaches, as he’ll have all of the spring semester to keep his players focused before the summer transfer portal window opens, so there’s optimism that he can keep the Wolverines in national contention. He’ll have an impossible act to follow, but Moore has the respect of the players and represents continuity. 

4) Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State

• Age: 39
• Hometown: McGregor, Texas
• Alma Mater: Oklahoma 
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Oklahoma

Zac Arnett didn’t even last the full 2023 season after taking over in less than ideal circumstances in December 2022 following the tragic death of coach Mike Leach. Arnett made wholesale changes to the offensive staff in the offseason, so the new scheme changes (plus a rash of injuries) made the offense crater in 2023 as the Bulldogs missed out on a bowl.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby walks into Starkville with a reputation for explosive offenses, so Mississippi State should be able to compete more consistently again in the SEC, although it’s not getting any easier, with Lebby’s former Sooners and the Texas Longhorns joining the conference in 2024. Lebby’s assistant salary pool is larger than Arnett’s, proving that new athletic director Zac Selmon (another former Sooner) is willing to spend more to make sure the Bulldogs can return to their winning ways in the nation’s toughest conference.

5) Jedd Fisch, Washington

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Livingston, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: Florida
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Arizona

Fisch has all of a sudden become the hottest names in the coaching profession after his masterful three-year turnaround job at Arizona, where he went from 1-11 to 5-7 to 10-3. He earned massive kudos for his recruiting and his staff assembly, and his extensive NFL experience works in his favor – although Fisch did not play football himself as an undergrad, he has the distinction of working alongside some of the biggest names in the coaching business, including Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll.

Although there was arguably still more work to be done at Arizona as they entered the Big 12 in 2024, Washington gave Fisch a $7 million-plus offer to relocate to Seattle, and he couldn’t refuse. The Huskies will still need to maintain the same standard they had under ex-coach Kalen DeBoer in order to continue to be playoff contenders, however. There’s also still uncertainty about if UW can really recruit head-to-head with other Big Ten juggernauts. 

6) Curt Cignetti, Indiana

• Age: 62
• Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Alma Mater: West Virginia
• Previous Job: Head Coach, James Madison

Who doesn’t love this hire? If anyone can approach the Hoosiers’ challenges in the Big Ten (there’s many), it’s Cignetti, the guy who’s never had a losing season and who led James Madison from the FCS to the Sun Belt the past two seasons, winning 19 out of 23 games in the process. It was inevitable that he would move on to a bigger program eventually, but Indiana is a curious choice. 

You can win here – ESPN College GameDay legend Lee Corso once coached in Bloomington – but it’s challenging to win consistently and the Hoosiers have been snakebitten recently, both by the portal, a lack of internal development, and talented coordinators moving on to better opportunities elsewhere. The one downside is Cignetti’s age (62), but he should be able to transform the Hoosiers’ roster with time. 

7) Mike Elko, Texas A&M

• Age: 46
• Hometown: South Brunswick, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: Penn
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Duke

Former Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said it best – the Aggies weren’t paying Jimbo Fisher to go 8-4 every season, and the Aggie football program had become a car stuck in neutral. Despite insanely well-regarded recruiting classes, Fisher’s complex pro-style offense proved to be his undoing, and despite a great career as a quarterback whisperer, too many talented prospects at the position either transferred out of College Station or just didn’t develop.

Mike Elko returns to town after a very surprising two-year run at Duke (16-9), where he gave the program a jolt of energy, especially on defense. He also knows the terrain at A&M, having worked under Fisher as an assistant from 2018-21. He won’t be the flashy name that Aggie fans craved – apparently, they were close to luring Kentucky’s Mark Stoops – but Elko has the opportunity to finally get the Aggies over the hump in the SEC.

8) Jon Sumrall, Tulane

• Age: 41
• Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
• Alma Mater: Kentucky
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Troy

Sumrall’s name began surging, and rightfully so, after Troy came out of nowhere to win 23 combined games in the past two seasons, as well as back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships. Tulane poached Sumrall after Willie Fritz finally left for Houston, and Sumrall, a former Kentucky linebacker, will be able to imprint his defensive identity on the Green Wave. 

As easy as Fritz made it look on occasion, Tulane remains a tough job and winning consistently is hard here. But the on-field success has allowed Tulane to have more credibility with in-state recruiting, and Fritz left the roster in very good shape. Don’t bet against Sumrall continuing to crank out winning seasons, this time in New Orleans.

9) Manny Diaz, Duke

• Age: 49
• Hometown: Miami, Florida
• Alma Mater: Florida State 
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Penn State

Diaz was cut loose from his hometown Miami Hurricanes in 2021, but rehabbed his reputation after two outstanding years as Penn State’s defensive coordinator, producing a top 10 unit nationally this past fall. Now he’ll get another chance in the ACC at Duke, a program that saw Mike Elko pack his bags and return to Texas A&M after only two seasons.

Duke will always be a basketball school, but the administration has been willing to spend more on football in recent years, including the recent Wallace Wade Stadium renovation. Diaz can recruit well, but Duke is vulnerable to losing players via the portal. Can he keep the good times rolling for a Blue Devils squad that has little margin for error?

10) Fran Brown, Syracuse

• Age: 40
• Hometown: Camden, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: Western Carolina 
• Previous Job: Defensive Backs Coach, Georgia

After eight seasons, the Dino Babers regime had run out of gas, and the Orange’s lack of depth exposed their inability to close out close games or to take advantage of hot Septembers or Octobers, only to fall apart down the stretch in the past two Novembers. 

To Babers’ credit, he tried to change up schemes and adapt his recruiting–and he’ll always have that thrilling 2018 season–but he lost too many players to better transfer opportunities and finished with a 41-55 record in eight seasons. Syracuse is not an easy place to win – there’s a lack of local high school talent and the school is closer to Ottawa than it is to New York City. It’s the definition of a developmental program, and that’s increasingly hard to manage in modern college football. 

Fran Brown looms as a sneaky-good hire for the Orange; not only does he have a national championship pedigree as a former Georgia assistant under Kirby Smart, but he’s experienced in the Northeast, having coached multiple seasons at Temple under Matt Rhule and Rutgers under Greg Schiano. Still just 40, Brown can buy himself some time at Syracuse if he banks some early wins on the recruiting trail, and the early returns in the transfer portal have been promising.

11) Sean Lewis, San Diego State

• Age: 37
• Hometown: Oak Lawn, Illinois
• Alma Mater: Wisconsin
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Colorado

It was evident on October 21st that Brady Hoke was on the way out, as his San Diego State Aztecs dropped a game 6-0 at home against a Nevada team holding a nation-worst 16-game losing streak. That horrendous result epitomized what SDSU had become: anemic, inept offense, no clear identity on defense, and a lack of player development. The season wound up being the worst at Montezuma Mesa since 2009 and it was clear that Hoke was on the hot seat. 

Eventually, Hoke saved athletic director J.D. Wicker the trouble, and the 65-year-old coach announced his retirement on November 13th. 

Enter Colorado offensive coordinator Sean Lewis. He’s known for a fast-paced offense that can surely help put butts in seats at SDSU. He also turned Kent State into consistent contenders in the MAC (a historically impossible task) during his run there from 2018-22. 

Although he lost his playcalling duties midseason while he was the OC at Colorado in 2023, Lewis has lots of respect in coaching circles and runs a quarterback-friendly scheme. If he can adapt to the rigors of West Coast recruiting, Lewis can find a path to Mountain West success.

SDSU has a world-class basketball team that reached the Final Four in 2023, and they were rumored Pac-12 expansion candidates before the conference imploded this past year. Make no mistake: there will be pressure at SDSU to win immediately, but first things first: reboot the offense and re-energize a fanbase that’s grown apathetic about Aztec football. 

12) Brent Brennan, Arizona

• Age: 50
• Hometown: Redwood City, California
• Alma Mater: UCLA
• Previous Job: Head Coach, San José State

As the late Yogi Berra would say, “Deja vu all over again.” 

Brennan interviewed at Arizona during the 2021 coaching search that turned up Fisch, who bolted for Washington in January after leading the Wildcats to a remarkable turnaround in three years. The Arizona football program had become a complete afterthought on campus, the administration had fired a washed-up Kevin Sumlin, and now Fisch was tasked to lead the turnaround.

Known for being a high-energy, CEO-type coach, Fisch flexed his recruiting muscles, reeling in the Pac-12 Conference’s best class in 2022 despite coming off a pitiful 1-11 debut. The Wildcats jumped up to 5-7 and 2022 and then 10-3 in 2023, including a big Alamo Bowl win over Oklahoma and an invitation to move to the Big 12 after the Pac-12 died on the vine. Then Fisch moved even further west and set up shop at CFP runner-up Washington, who’s transitioning into the Big Ten in 2024.

Brennan had a nice turnaround job of his own at San José State from 2017-23, earning three bowl trips at a success-starved program still attempting to find its way in the Mountain West. Importantly, he hung into assistant coaches, including coordinators, when bigger opportunities reared their heads. He also has a proven track record as a recruiter in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. This wasn’t a sexy hire, but such hires rarely are. 

13) Major Applewhite, South Alabama

• Age: 45
• Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Alma Mater: Texas
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, South Alabama

Applewhite was promoted from within after previous South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack left for a position on Kalen DeBoer’s new staff at Alabama in January. Applewhite has previous head coaching experience (15-10 in two seasons at Houston) and he engineered an explosive offense for the Jaguars, as they went 22-16 under Wommack the past three seasons. 

Applewhite’s offensive mind and nearby recruiting connections should give him credibility with recruits, and the Jags have an (almost) brand-new stadium to show off. He was a member of Nick Saban’s inaugural staff at Alabama in 2007 and was also a Texas QB in the late 90s for Mack Brown.

There’s a proven path to success here now for this young program that’s only been in existence since 2009. The Sun Belt could also be in transition in 2024 as other powerhouse programs (Troy, James Madison, etc) have new coaches of their own, so the Jags could at least have the element of surprise on their hands.

14) Jeff Choate, Nevada

• Age: 53
• Hometown: St. Maries, Idaho
• Alma Mater: Montana Western 
• Previous Job: Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Texas

Choate is an interesting hire for a Wolf Pack program that rapidly lost its way in two woeful years under Ken Wilson, who went 4-20. Choate is starting from scratch, sure, but he’s been an acclaimed assistant under coaches like Chris Petersen (2006-11 at Boise State, 2014-15 at Washington) and, most recently, Steve Sarkisian at Texas (‘21-’23). 

In between that, Choate boasted a 28-22 record at Montana State from 2016-19, including two FCS playoff berths. So it’s not unrealistic to assume that he can get Nevada back to its winning ways given his familiarity in the region. He’s a solid recruiter and has developed a reputation as a special teams guru, holding that role at schools like Washington, Florida, Boise State and Utah State. Bottom line: Wolf Pack fans can expect another rough year, but Choate was a hot name in Mountain West circles for a reason. 

15) Trent Bray, Oregon State

• Age: 41
• Hometown: Flagstaff, Arizona
• Alma Mater: Oregon State 
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Oregon State

You’d be hard-pressed to find a program that finds itself in an unluckier position than Oregon State. Although the Beavers were ranked most of the year and finished 8-4, they were blown out by rival Oregon in Eugene as the Pac-12 crumbled around them thanks to conference realignment. The only two remaining Pac-12 schools – OSU and Washington State – are both in isolated locations and are historically difficult to win at due to recruiting issues. 

Loyal alum Jonathan Smith rebuilt the program from scratch, but it’s blatantly obvious that, with OSU’s conference future up in the air, Smith thought the wise decision would be to pack up and leave for greener pastures – in this case, another Power 5 rebuilding project at Michigan State.

There’s clearly talent in Corvallis, plus a newly-renovated Reser Stadium, but the athletic department is heavily in debt. Therefore, promoting defensive coordinator Trent Bray, another Beaver alum, from within was both a logical decision and a smart one as the Beavers venture into uncharted territory in 2024.

16) Tony Sanchez, New Mexico State

• Age: 50
• Hometown: Fairfield, California
• Alma Mater: New Mexico State 
• Previous Job: Wide Receivers Coach, New Mexico State

Long-suffering NMSU Aggie fans were delirious the past two seasons, as veteran head coach Jerry Kill, known as the “fix-it guy,” delivered 17 wins and back-to-back bowl berths for a rock-bottom Aggie program that had hadn’t won double-digit games since JFK was in the White House. Kill called it a career after a New Mexico Bowl loss to Fresno State in December, citing burnout, overall health and energy, disagreement with the current state of college football. With recruiting at stake, athletic director Mario Moccia promoted Sanchez from within. 

Sanchez has had a unique journey. He’s an NMSU alum who’s lived his entire career in the Southwest, and like Kill, has a reputation as a rebuilder of programs–high school programs. He also went an astonishing 85-5 at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, winning six Nevada state championships. 

Sanchez later went 20-40 as the head coach at UNLV from 2015-2019, but he helped build the Feritta Football Complex and was part of the negotiations that allowed Rebel football to have split access to Allegiant Stadium with the Las Vegas Raiders. He was part of Kill’s inaugural staff at NMSU in 2022 after they both worked under Gary Patterson at TCU the year prior, and Sanchez has admitted that he’s learned a lot from both coaches about building successful teams. 

Getting elite players poached by Power Five teams via the portal is a very real danger for NMSU, but the same reality exists for all Conference USA schools, and let’s not forget that the Aggies were a couple of quarters away from a conference title in their first year in the league last season. The margin for error is razor-thin, but continuity should work in NMSU’s favor here. New facilities promised to be built under Kill’s watch are still going through, and Sanchez has promised to be aggressive in recruiting. Las Cruces is suddenly home to one of the most interesting programs in the FBS – can Sanchez keep the good vibes going?

17) Ken Niumatalolo, San José State

• Age: 58
• Hometown: Lāʻie, Hawai’i
• Alma Mater: Hawai’i
• Previous Job: Director of Leadership/Interim Tight Ends Coach, UCLA

This one is intriguing. Niumatalolo is the winningest coach in Navy football history, assembling a record of 109-83 in 15 seasons and embracing a physical brand of football on both sides.

While he won’t be running the triple-option offense at SJSU like he did at the academy, Niumatalolo makes sense for a program that knows it’s among the have-nots in the FBS and needs to maintain a stronger brand heading forward. Niumatalolo is well-regarded as a player’s coach and he’s used to overachieving. He should be able to recruit well, but he’s hardly young (58) and will need to navigate the portal successfully in particular. The Spartans should remain competitive in the Mountain West, but the margin for error is slim. 

18) Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico

• Age: 57
• Hometown: Alpine, Utah
• Alma Mater: Oregon State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Virginia (2016-21)

After a two-year hiatus, Mendenhall is back in business at a new location. It’s ancient history now, but Mendenhall first rose to prominence from 1998-2001 when he was New Mexico’s defensive coordinator under Rocky Long, recruiting future legend Brian Urlacher and developing a then-unique 3-3-5 defensive scheme. From there, Mendenhall moved into BYU, where he became a national name, then he spearheaded another impressive turnaround at Virginia from 2016-21.

Altogether, Mendenhall boasts a 135-81 career record and is well-versed in the unique challenges of recruiting to Albuquerque, although it’s a hard job that’s gotten harder – UNM went 11-32 under Lobo alum Danny Gonzales from 2020-23, and they haven’t been bowling since Bob Davie was head coach in 2016.

19) Gerad Parker, Troy

• Age: 42
• Hometown: Huntington, West Virginia
• Alma Mater: Kentucky
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach, Notre Dame

Two out of three of Troy’s most recent head coaches, Neal Brown and Jon Sumrall, have since moved onto greener pastures, and after Sumrall led the Trojans to back-to-back Sun Belt championship game berths and 23 wins in two seasons, he moved west to the Big Easy to tackle the Tulane job.

Parker has a lengthy resume of quality gigs at Power Five schools: West Virginia, Duke, Purdue and Penn State, just to name a few, and was most recently the OC at Notre Dame under head coach Marcus Freeman. An ace recruiter and a well-known wide receiver whisperer, Parker has a solid reputation and Troy offers him a good job to cut his teeth on, although staying at the top of the Sun Belt is difficult historically. The one blemish on Parker’s record? A February 2017 DUI arrest that resulted in him losing a potential gig as the receivers coach at East Carolina.

20) Bob Chesney, James Madison

• Age: 46
• Hometown: Kulpmont, Pennsylvania
• Alma Mater: Dickinson College
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Holy Cross

After leading James Madison to a 20-4 record in the past two seasons, Curt Cignetti packed his bags for the Big Ten, taking over the Indiana job in early December. 

Chesney might not be a household name, but his four consecutive Patriot League titles and undefeated 2022 regular season at Holy Cross were enough to turn heads at the FCS level. With quality recruiting connections on the East Coast, he could definitely be a solid choice to keep JMU’s train rolling. 

The Dukes qualified for a bowl game in 2023 for the first time, but, at 11-1, they were ineligible for a College Football Playoff ranking or a New Year’s Six bowl since they were in their second year transitioning from the FCS to the FBS. This drew nationwide attention and even sparked a brief lawsuit against the NCAA. 

Chesney won’t need to worry about that, as the Dukes are through the transition phase now and are still hoping to dominate the Sun Belt in 2024, regardless of who’s behind the head coach’s desk. But in a league where 12 out of 14 football members were bowl eligible this year, who can say who will be champion in 2024?

21) Jay Sawvel, Wyoming

• Age: 52
• Hometown: Barnesville, Ohio
• Alma Mater: Mount Union
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach, Wyoming

It had been rumored for awhile that Craig Bohl would step down after an accomplished decade at Wyoming in which he got the Cowboys to six bowl games and recruited the program’s best-ever NFL product, quarterback Josh Allen. Bohl decided to make it as clean of a transition as possible, coaching through the 2023 Arizona Bowl before stepping down and promoting the 52-year-old Sawvel from within.

Sawvel’s D has been dominant in Laramie, consistently lifting Wyoming to success. Sawvel came from the D-III powerhouse Mount Union, cutting his teeth under veteran head coach Jerry Kill at Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and Minnesota. Before he moved onto Wyoming, he had a solid two-year stint in the Power Five as the defensive coordinator at Wake Forest.

Sawvel’s not a flashy hire, but a good developmental hire for Wyoming, a blue-collar program that has to fight to get recruits on campus. If he can maintain the standard that Bohl set, Sawvel will keep the defense-minded Cowboys relevant in the Mountain West.

22) Spencer Danielson, Boise State

• Age: 35
• Hometown: Solana Beach, California
• Alma Mater: Azusa Pacific
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach/Interim Head Coach, Boise State

It seemed like a genius idea at the time.

Andy Avalos was a Boise State alum and a former all-conference linebacker who worked as an assistant there before becoming a national name as Oregon’s defensive coordinator in 2019-20. After Bryan Harsin moved on, Avalos returned to the Treasure Valley, energizing a passionate Boise State fanbase that another one of their own was returning.

Despite solid recruiting, there was no consistency, and the Broncos started slow in non-conference play, dropping games to teams like Washington (2023), Oregon State (2022) and Oklahoma State (2021) that they would normally have a chance at upsetting. Avalos bought himself some time with a midseason dismissal of offensive coordinator Tim Plough after a 2-2 start in 2022, but that did little to help the Broncos develop an identity. 

Avalos’s dismissal after less than three seasons underscores the lack of patience that so many programs have developed in the College Football Playoff era – and speaking of which, the good news is that the Boise State job offers an outside shot to the CFP as an at-large bid now that the playoff has expanded in 2024. 

It made sense to elevate Danielson from within after the Broncos ran the table following Avalos’s firing, including a 44-20 win in the Mountain West Championship Game over an upstart UNLV program.

BSU has everything it needs to succeed: a great stadium, a rabid fanbase, a national profile and the ability to spend money in name, image & likeness (NIL) opportunities for student-athletes. They can still stake a claim as the best overall Group of Five team in America, with 25 straight winning seasons to boot. 

But can they dominate the Mountain West again? Danielson gets the first crack at it, and at only 35 years old, could grow into the role. The lone reason of concern is sheer inexperience – Danielson has been on staff at Boise State since 2017, but before that, his CV included only four seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, the Division II Azusa Pacific Cougars, who shut down their program in 2020.

23) Pete Lembo, Buffalo

• Age: 53
• Hometown: Staten Island, New York
• Alma Mater: Georgetown
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator, South Carolina

Lembo has had a unique journey back to head coaching, as he’ll return to the MAC after previously being a head coach at Ball State. In the 2000s, Lembo was a hot name in the FCS after going 44-14 at Lehigh (2001-05) 35-22 at Elon (2006-10), and that helped him land the Ball State gig in 2011. Lembo started off strong, earning back to back bowl bids in 2012-13, but a combined 8-16 record the next two seasons sealed his fate.

Then Lembo reinvented himself as a special teams wizard, holding that coordinator title for eight seasons with four different schools. At his most recent stop, South Carolina, Lembo’s special teams units were frequently among the nation’s best.

It might not be a flashy hire, but at Buffalo, Lembo won’t be under pressure to win immediately – the Bulls mostly treaded water under Maurice Linguist, who went 14-23 in three seasons before he moved onto the defensive coordinator gig at Alabama several weeks ago. 

24) Bryant Vincent, Louisiana-Monroe

• Age: 48
• Hometown: Glasgow, Kentucky
• Alma Mater: West Alabama
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, New Mexico

Vincent emerged as a head coaching contender in the past two seasons thanks to two different tasks in two different, challenging situations. In 2022, he unexpectedly found himself as the interim head coach at UAB after Bill Clark stepped down due to health issues. He went 7-6, got the Blazers to a bowl game, and running back Dewayne McBride was one of the nation’s best rushers. Despite players on the roster giving him a vote of confidence, UAB administration spurned Vincent, electing to hire ex-NFL QB Trent Dilfer as the Blazers’ next full-time coach in a surprise move.

Vincent landed in Albuquerque, where he helped jumpstart a stagnant New Mexico offense in 2023 using grad transfer Dylan Hopkins, his former quarterback at UAB. While the Lobos went 4-8 and head coach Danny Gonzales got fired regardless, Vincent’s offense jumped the national rankings by over 100 spots and earned him kudos from people in the know.

It’s obvious what the blueprint is here. Vincent runs a run-first offense mixed with play-action passing, and if he can recruit high schools better than his predecessor Terry Bowden (dismissed after three losing seasons), he might turn out as a solid hire, even in a very competitive conference. Despite being located in talent-rich Louisiana, ULM has only one bowl game (2012) and no Sun Belt titles to its credit since joining the FBS in 1994.

25) Scotty Walden, UTEP

• Age: 34
• Hometown: Cleburne, Texas
• Alma Mater: Sul Ross State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Austin Peay

Walden, at only 34 years old, won 26 games in four seasons in the FCS at Austin Peay, posting a winning record every year and developing a reputation as a high-energy coach with a productive offensive scheme. 

A graduate of Division II Sul Ross State – 220 remote miles away from equally remote El Paso – Walden can recruit in West Texas, but his lack of FBS experience works against him. Although he was an interim head coach at Southern Miss in 2020 following Jay Hopson’s resignation, Walden went only 1-3 down the stretch and has a grand total of only four seasons as an FBS assistant (all at Southern Miss). 

It’s a gamble, but UTEP athletic director Jim Senter wanted someone young and energetic after the Dana Dimel experiment failed. A veteran coach from the Bill Snyder coaching tree, Dimel rebuilt a program that was devoid of talent starting in 2018, but didn’t break through to the postseason until 2021 and never got there again, leaving El Paso with a record of 20-49.

2022-23 Coaching Carousel

1) Luke Fickell, Wisconsin

• Age: 49
• Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
• Alma Mater: Ohio State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Cincinnati

It’s been plainly obvious that the Badgers have underachieved in recent years, almost entirely due to offensive woes. Coach Paul Chryst won six out of seven bowl games and won 10-plus games four times, so firing him midseason was certainly a shock.

Equally surprising was the decision to hire Fickell, who had had turned Cincinnati into the ultimate Group of Five Cinderella. He went 63-25 in six years at the helm, winning three AAC championships and going 2-2 in bowl games, but had never left the state of Ohio. However, Fickell’s teams are physical without sacrificing athleticism, and he might bring the offensive jolt of energy that Wisconsin has been lacking in recent years.

Many Badgers fans were irritated that defensive coordinator/interim head coach Jim Leonhard wasn’t given a shot at the full-time gig, but he’s still early in his career and will get his chance again someday. Either way, Fickell got Cincy to the College Football Playoff in 2021, so he can certainly work his magic in Madison. Whether or not they’ll catch Michigan – or Fickell’s beloved Ohio State Buckeyes – in the Big Ten remains to be seen.

2) Matt Rhule, Nebraska

• Age: 47
• Hometown: New York, New York
• Alma Mater: Penn State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Carolina Panthers

Scott Frost’s tenure at his alma mater was head-scratchingly mediocre. Despite consistently solid recruiting, Frost could never get the Huskers over the hump and get the long-suffering program back to a bowl game.

The Big Ten isn’t getting any easier, but Rhule’s quick turnarounds at Temple (2013-16) and Baylor (2017-19) should give Husker fans hope. He has great nationwide recruiting moxie, and while Rhule flamed out in the NFL (11-27 with the Panthers), so did Nick Saban (15-17 with the Dolphins).

Bright spots? Well, the Huskers have one of the most loyal fanbases in the nation and they’ve been able to drum up support to become major players in the NIL market, so they might not be as far off as people think. Administration gave Rhule a seven-year deal, so he’ll have more than enough time to turn things around.

3) Tom Herman, FAU

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Simi Valley, California
• Alma Mater: Cal Lutheran
• Previous Job: Offensive Analyst, Chicago Bears (2021)

The perennial FBS head coach Willie Taggart (FAU was his fifth stop) was fired after missing out on bowl games in three straight seasons since he took over the Owls in 2019. There’s certainly potential here, as former coach Lane Kiffin proved, and the promotion to the American Athletic Conference will help in recruiting, but the margin for error is also slim. 

Tom Herman may have flamed out badly on the big stage at Texas, but he’s no stranger to the AAC, having directed Houston to New Year’s Six bowl games and national rankings while dominating that conference from 2015-16. 

One positive for Herman’s new staff: with its scenic location and improved facilities, FAU could become a high profile transfer portal destination, and access to the Florida high schools is nothing but a positive as well. There’s no reason to believe they can’t compete right away, but the conference change makes the Owls a bit of an unknown heading into Year One.

4) Deion Sanders, Colorado

• Age: 55
• Hometown: Fort Myers, Florida
• Alma Mater: Florida State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Jackson State

After a dismal 0-5 start in 2022, Karl Dorrell was dismissed. Was his tenure doomed from the start?

It’s worth asking. After all, Dorrell had a late start when Mel Tucker abruptly left Boulder after only one season, landing at Michigan State and handing the keys to a coach who had to assemble a coaching staff and recruiting class while the COVID pandemic hit the nation. While the Buffs finished with a winning record in the pandemic-altered 2020 season, it was all downhill from there, especially on offense. In the past two seasons, CU has gone an ugly 5-19.

Then came the bombshell: CU hired Deion Sanders, the NFL Hall of Famer and Jackson State head coach, in the first week of December..

While there’s still unknowns regarding the Pac-12’s future following UCLA and USC’s pending defection for the Big Ten, the Buffaloes have shown the ability to recruit talent and have sporadic success in recent years. They just haven’t had stability, with Sanders making it four coaches in the past six years.

With that said, if Buff fans are taking the glass-half-full approach, they’ve shown the ability to surprise people in the past and they’ve had former standouts catch on the NFL, like Packers’ All-Pro offensive lineman David Bakhtiari. Sanders also led Jackson State to unprecedented heights for an FCS program and an HBCU, earning kudos nationally and winning 26 games in three seasons.

In the transfer portal era, the potential for winning seasons and bowl games is certainly there, especially with the energy and recruiting prowess of the so-called “Coach Prime.” After inheriting a 1-11 team, Sanders will have his work cut out for him. The first order of business is breathing life into one of the nation’s worst offenses, and Sanders made headlines by hiring Kent State boss Sean Lewis, a fast-paced spread offense guru, to Boulder.

5) Jeff Brohm, Louisville

• Age: 51
• Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
• Alma Mater: Louisville
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Purdue

Scott Satterfield never seemed like he was on the same page as university leadership at Louisville, and although he got the Cardinals back to the postseason with a 7-5 record in 2022, overall consistency was lacking. He also expressed interest in the South Carolina job that eventually went to Shane Beamer, leaving Louisville fans and administration annoyed. 

Brohm, on the other hand, is a Louisville alum and former QB, a Louisville native, and a terrific offensive mind who got Purdue to consistently compete and win in the Big Ten. He’s got a fun offense and a good track record with QBs, and he should improve the Cardinals’ chances to contend in the ACC, and at age 51, he could afford to stick around awhile if it all goes well. 

6) Eric Morris, North Texas

• Age: 37
• Hometown: Littlefield, Texas
• Alma Mater: Texas Tech
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Washington State

This was a super smart hire for brand-new North Texas athletic director Jared Mosley. Morris has been a hot name in the coaching community for years as an Air Raid offense disciple who played receiver at Texas Tech for the late Mike Leach in the early 2000s. 

Morris returned to TTU and mentored Patrick Mahomes for several years, then went 24-18 at the University of the Incarnate Word, with two FCS playoff berths in four seasons before moving to Pullman last fall to call plays for Washington State’s Jake Dickert. That’s a fantastic resumé for someone on the right side of 40.

UNT parted ways with Seth Littrell, who got them to the Conference USA championship game last fall, but still went only 44-44 in seven seasons. The Mean Green have excellent facilities and a fantastic recruiting footprint, although they’re leveling up in competition as they join the American Athletic Conference in 2023. 

7) Ryan Walters, Purdue

• Age: 36
• Hometown: Los Angeles, California
• Alma Mater: Colorado
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Illinois

Walters worked his magic on defense for Illinois in 2022, helping them get back to a bowl game for only the second time in the past decade. Still just 36, he’s also worked six years at Missouri, and now he takes over a Boilermaker squad that’s loved playing spoiler in the Big Ten the past few seasons.

However easy Jeff Brohm made it look, Purdue is far from an easy job, and actually might be one of the Big Ten’s hardest. Now they’re undergoing a polar opposite philosophy shift, from Brohm’s high-powered offenses to Walters’s stingy defenses. Year One of the new regime might produce some growing pains, but Walters has some talent and experience to work with in West Lafayette. And since he was just at Illinois, he knows the conference well.

8) Zach Arnett, Mississippi State

• Age: 36
• Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Alma Mater: New Mexico
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach/Interim Head Coach, Mississippi State

Sometimes, a coach gets fired and you have to search for another one. Sometimes, a veteran coach steps down due to underachieving, or for personal reasons.

And then sometimes there are complete tragedies, such as when Mike Leach, the legendary Bulldogs head coach, passed away suddenly on December 12th, two days after suffering a massive heart attack in his home. 

Emotional gut-punch aside, school administration absolutely did the right thing in elevating Arnett to the full-time coaching gig. He learned his 3-3-5 defense under Rocky Long at both New Mexico and San Diego State, and Leach’s hiring of Arnett when he took over Mississippi State in 2020 was seen as a major coup at the time. True enough, the 3-3-5 scheme has confounded SEC offenses and contributed to the Bulldogs becoming major factors in the ultra-competitive SEC West. 

More importantly, this promotion is what Leach would have wanted, as Arnett was widely considered a head coaching candidate for other jobs and yet chose to stay loyal to a defense that has numerous returning starters coming back in 2023. He’ll be looking to honor his late mentor in the most emotional Year One in school history.

9) Kevin Wilson, Tulsa

• Age: 61
• Hometown: Maiden, North Carolina
• Alma Mater: North Carolina
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach, Ohio State

Philip Montgomery had basically done all he could in eight years on the job here, but he was let down by a lack of year-to-year consistency and constant coaching staff turnover. There’s certainly potential to contend at Tulsa thanks to a good recruiting base and the ability to strategically use the portal to address immediate depth needs.

Kevin Wilson was forced out under controversial circumstances at Indiana in 2016 following allegations of player abuse, but he rebuilt his reputation under Ryan Day as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, becoming one of the nation’s best recruiters in the process. At 61, he’s got enough time to give it another shot behind the head coach’s desk, but Tulsa needs someone in it for the long haul.

The Hurricane could rebound quickly, but they need new energy. Wilson provides that, and Tulsa should at least be fun to watch under his leadership.

10) Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

• Age: 32
• Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
• Alma Mater: Arizona State
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Oregon

Although plenty of observers ridiculed the hire at the time, Herm Edwards had some early success in Tempe before a combination of inconsistencies, an NCAA investigation, and massive transfer portal defections derailed a program that can’t seem to ditch the underachiever label. After a home loss to Eastern Michigan last September, Edwards was dismissed.

Given the current state of the Pac-12, it’s unforgivable that ASU couldn’t rise up and challenge Utah while USC and UCLA were rebuilding. Now, they’re at the bottom staring up—the Sun Devils haven’t made the Rose Bowl since 1997. 

Dillingham is 32, making him the youngest head coach in the FBS, but he’s got a very solid resumé. He served as Oregon’s offensive coordinator last year, mentoring QB Bo Nix into a Heisman contender. He’s a Phoenix native and an ASU alum. And he’s shown the ability to be a top-notch recruiter.

The good news is that there’s never been a lack of talent in Tempe, Dillingham’s offenses can typically pile up yardage and points, and there’s the ability to engineer a quick rebound. A lot hinges on what Dillingham can do to engineer immediate results after a 3-9 season. Fan apathy is high, and boosters are keeping their distance due to the threat of sanctions. ASU will have to weather the storm while Dillingham restocks the roster with youth.

11) Hugh Freeze, Auburn

• Age: 53
• Hometown: Senatobia, Mississippi
• Alma Mater: Southern Mississippi
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Liberty

Only two years after firing the underachieving Gus Malzahn, the Tigers made a move yet again. On the same day that John Cohen took the vacant athletic director job at Auburn, Bryan Harsin was fired after a 9-12 record in only a year and a half on the job.

Yes, Harsin was an odd fit in the SEC—a Boise State lifer who grew up there, played QB there and served as an assistant and later head coach, racking up a 69-19 record in seven total seasons on the Smurf Turf. 

He drew criticism for his recruiting misses and his turnover with assistant coaches, but there’s certainly a case to be made that Auburn administration sabotaged Harsin from the get-go. After a wave of transfers, Harsin was subjected to an offseason investigation amidst allegations of player abuse. That negatively affected recruiting, and combined with competing in the meat grinder that is the SEC West, the situation became untenable.

After his tumultuous tenure at Ole Miss, Freeze won 34 games in four seasons at Liberty, steering them towards better facilities and a permanent conference home in C-USA, but he remains a polarizing name across the SEC thanks to the off-field misconduct and recruiting violations at Ole Miss. Given the way the Harsin situation unfolded, Freeze needs to win right out of the gate, handle the demanding Auburn fans and boosters, and avoid controversy. 

12) Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina

• Age: 56
• Hometown: Youngstown, Ohio
• Alma Mater: UCF
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, NC State

The Chanticleers moved swiftly after Jamey Chadwell moved north to Liberty, bringing in former NC State offensive coordinator Tim Beck. This looks like a sneaky good hire, even if there’s little margin for error in the ultra-competitive Sun Belt. 

Beck has an excellent résumé: he won a national championship as an assistant at Urban Meyer’s Ohio State juggernaut in 2014. He’s coached at Texas, Nebraska and Kansas, and  he’s also been a high school coach in the talent rich Dallas and Phoenix areas. 

The offense will need some retooling as it moves away from Chadwell’s hybrid pistol-option scheme to Beck’s new scheme, but the Chanticleers shouldn’t fall too far thanks to a solid recruiting base and a loyal batch of fans. 

13) Alex Golesh, USF

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Brooklyn, Ohio
• Alma Mater: Ohio State
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach, Tennessee

This long-underachieving program desperately needs a shot in the arm, especially with the American Athletic Conference reshaping itself. The Bulls haven’t been to a bowl game since 2018, and ballyhoed ex-Clemson assistant Jeff Scott was supposed to the be the savior. He did what he could, helping raise funds for a much-needed indoor practice facility as well as a new on-campus stadium. But he also went 4-26 overall and USF was bled dry by the transfer portal. 

While the Bulls won’t have to deal with the likes of rival UCF, Cincinnati or Houston once they jump to the Big 12, this still won’t be a quick fix. USF still has yet to win a conference championship since moving from the former Big East in 2013.

New head coach Alex Golesh is another former OC, this time under Josh Heupel at both UCF and Tennessee. The 38-year-old was a Broyles Award finalist last season and has apprenticed under the likes of Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. He’s been considered a high-riser in the business and has shown the ability to crank out high-scoring, fast-paced offenses. Fun fact: Golesh was born in the former Soviet Union in 1984, and immigrated to Ohio as a child with his family. 

14) Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati

• Age: 49
• Hometown: Hillsborough, North Carolina
• Alma Mater: Appalachian State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Louisville

It was inevitable that Luke Fickell would move on, and he was an absolute home-run hire for this program as it rose up to be a Group of Five juggernaut. Satterfield already has Power Five experience as the Bearcats rise up to join the Big 12 this year, and although he was in a tough situation at Louisville, he still got them back to the postseason in 2022—where they faced Cincinnati. 

Satterfield’s bringing most of his staff with him, so they’ll know what to expect, and Fickell consistently reeled in high-quality recruiting classes, so there’s a good base of talent. But the Big 12 is competitive, and they’ll need to adjust quickly. 

15) Barry Odom, UNLV

• Age: 46
• Hometown: Ada, Oklahoma
• Alma Mater: Missouri
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach, Arkansas

How can a Vegas team have such bad luck?

No, not the Raiders, although they’ve certainly tried. 

Marcus Arroyo did his best at the long downtrodden UNLV Rebels program—they’ve only made four bowl games in 30 years and can never seem to play quality defense. Arroyo, a former Oregon and Oklahoma State assistant, made some strides in recruiting and the transfer portal, as well as in the classroom. The Rebels improved every year under his watch, with a winless pandemic campaign in 2020 followed by a 2-10 record in 2021 and then 5-7 in 2022. But athletic director Erick Harper didn’t hire Arroyo originally and decided to move in a different direction only two days after the Rebels beat rival Nevada for the first time in three seasons.

Hiring someone like Odom should help. Yes, he went .500 in the SEC at Missouri, but that’s the SEC. He’s a reliable recruiter and has a solid pedigree as a defensive mind. And yes, UNLV is historically a basketball school, but they play football at sparkling new Allegiant Stadium and their on-campus facilities have improved dramatically in recent years. Can the Rebels finally get over the hump and become relevant in the Mountain West?

16) Jamey Chadwell, Liberty

• Age: 45
• Hometown: Caryville, Tennessee
• Alma Mater: East Tennessee State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Coastal Carolina

What a difference a month makes.

Sure, it may have been unrealistic to expect Hugh Freeze to stay in Lynchburg forever, and three straight bowl wins was huge for this program. 

But who are the Flames? Are they the hotshot underdogs who jumped off to 7-1 start, upsetting BYU and Arkansas along the way? Or are they the sloppy team that limped to the finish line amidst QB issues and speculation about Freeze leaving for the SEC again?

Freeze did, in fact, leave for the SEC—specifically Auburn—only a month after he was given an extension and raise through 2030. It also came only days after a shocking home loss to New Mexico State. Then a lame-duck coaching staff struggled to get things going in a bowl loss to MAC champion Toledo.

Jamey Chadwell, meanwhile, won 39 games in five seasons at Coastal Carolina, and his unique offense—a mishmash of pistol, spread and triple option concepts—proved to be both effective and entertaining. With that said, Chadwell never scheduled any Power Five programs during his tenure, and the Flames want to be a program that can upset those types of programs.

LU certainly has the talent and overall program investment to be highly competitive in Conference USA, but they’ll be looking for Chadwell to view it as more than a stepping stone job. This fast-rising program will be tested as it enters a new era in more ways than one, and the Flames will be hoping for more consistency against a non-independent schedule.

17) Brent Key, Georgia Tech

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
• Alma Mater: Georgia Tech
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line Coach/Interim Head Coach, Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets knew what they were in for as they transitioned away from Paul Johnson’s triple-option. And Collins seemed like a good fit on paper when he was hired in 2018—a defensive guru with deep roots in the South who proved his head coaching credentials at Temple and was committed to bringing Georgia Tech into the 21st century. Now, three-plus years and a 10-28 record later, he’s gone. 

Either way, after initially making a run at Tulane’s Willie Fritz, Georgia Tech made a smart decision by promoting offensive line coach/interim coach Brent Key after he went .500 down the stretch. He’s a GT alum who’s worked under Nick Saban and had a lengthy run at UCF as well, and he’s still fairly young (44).

There’s no reason that a Power Five program in Atlanta should be this bad. Can the Yellow Jackets finally become a threat again in the increasingly mediocre ACC? Perhaps the removal of the conference’s divisions will help them become more competitive. Duke’s instant turnaround in 2022 under first-year coach Mike Elko could be an ideal blueprint as the Jackets rebuild again.

18) Lance Taylor, Western Michigan

• Age: 41 
• Hometown: Mount Vernon, Alabama
• Alma Mater: Alabama
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator, Louisville

Taylor just became the highest-paid coach in WMU history after the school dismissed Tim Lester, an alum, a year after extending him. Taylor has coached at winning programs like Notre Dame, Appalachian State and, most recently, Louisville. He’s a quality recruiter and should be able to give a stagnant Broncos program a jolt. WMU hasn’t played in a conference title game since 2016, when P.J. Fleck was head coach.

19) Troy Taylor, Stanford

• Age: 54
• Hometown: Rancho Cordova, California
• Alma Mater: Cal
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Sacramento State

Call this one a high-risk, high-reward hire. Taylor, 54, has long been rumored for several Pac-12 vacancies in recent seasons, and his resume is Northern California through-and-through, giving him strong regional ties as Stanford rebuilds in an increasingly top-heavy conference.

David Shaw resigned after four straight bowl-less seasons, and the transfer portal has arguably impacted Stanford more than any other program. It’s already tough to recruit there due to the academics, they can’t bring in transfers as well as other schools can, and the program’s talent pipeline to the NFL has dropped considerably in recent years. 

With that said, Taylor was born in LA and raised in Sacramento. He played and coached as an assistant at rival UC-Berkeley, giving their rivalry even more spice. He coached in the Sacramento high school ranks for nine years before becoming offensive coordinator at FCS power Eastern Washington and then two years at Utah before heading to Sac State. While there, he led the Hornets to 30 wins in three seasons – including an undefeated 12-0 regular season mark in 2022 that ended in a 66-63 thriller of a loss to Incarnate Word in the FCS playoffs. 

Taylor is experienced, both in the high schools that Stanford must re-establish strong recruiting links with, and with the Pac-12 schools like Utah that they’re trying to chase. Stanford will eventually regain relevance under Taylor’s watch, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint, so Cardinal fans hoping to buy bowl game tickets in year one might be let down.

20) Kenni Burns, Kent State

• Age: 39
• Hometown: Springfield, Illinois
• Alma Mater: Indiana
• Previous Job: Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach, Minnesota

Despite never even being a coordinator at the college level, Burns has a pretty solid pedigree. He grew up in the Midwest and played at Indiana in the early 2000s, but his coaching career didn’t truly take off until he was snatched up by Craig Bohl in 2010 to be the receivers coach at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State. 

When Bohl left for Wyoming in 2014, Burns followed, and he later did the same for P.J. Fleck at Western Michigan, following him to Big Ten country – the Minnesota Golden Gophers – in 2017. All he’s done since is mentor Mohamed Ibrahim to become the Gophers’ all-time leading rusher. Kent State is a historically tough job, but Burns could be an underrated hire. 

21) Biff Poggi, Charlotte

• Age: 63
• Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
• Alma Mater: Duke
• Previous Job: Associate Head Coach, Michigan

Will Healy was hired to be a young, energetic coach at a young, energetic program (their first FBS season was 2013). And he had captured a lot of attention with his hot start at Charlotte, leading to the program’s first bowl game in 2019, but the results got steadily worse and the recruiting misses and bad defenses didn’t help. 

Poggi is a polarizing choice, since he’s never even been a coordinator at the FBS level, but he’s got solid credentials as a former Jim Harbaugh assistant at Michigan and helped turn St. Frances Academy and the Gilman School into Maryland prep powerhouses.

With the Charlotte program moving to the American Athletic Conference in 2023, there’s no time to mope around, and they’ll need to make further investments to make the 49ers relevant again. A good place to start is the assistant coaches salary pool, which will be over $2 million for Poggi, and the administration also needs to get higher-level facilities for a program that has the smallest stadium in the FBS (capacity 15,000). 

22) G.J. Kinne, Texas State

• Age: 34
• Hometown: Gilmer, Texas
• Alma Mater: Tulsa
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Incarnate Word

Why is Texas State football so bad? 

It’s a genuinely mystifying question. They’re located in prime real estate: San Marcos, Texas, a stone’s throw away from Austin and one of the fastest-growing cities in the country—in Texas football heartland no less. And yet, the Bobcats have a mere 40-91 record and have never gone bowling since joining the FBS in 2014. What gives? 

Jake Spavital, a young hotshot at Power Five programs like Texas A&M, Cal and West Virginia, took over the struggling Bobcats and managed only 13 wins in four seasons. Their status as a perennial doormat is reinforced by the fact that the Bobcats own a 20-59 record against current Sun Belt schools. Spavital was dismissed after the season finale, later landing back at Cal as the offensive coordinator.

Enter G.J. Kinne, a high-riser in the business and former Tulsa quarterback who is now the youngest head coach in the country, with experience at UCF, Hawai’i and Arkansas under his belt. Last year, he took over an Incarnate Word team and went 12-2 in his first year, reaching the FCS playoff semifinals. Teaching a team how to reject moral victories in favor of actual ones is a big priority for Kinne and his new staff, as is injecting energy into a skeptical Bobcat fan base. 

23) Trent Dilfer, UAB

• Age: 50
• Hometown: Aptos, California
• Alma Mater: Fresno State
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Lipscomb Academy (Nashville, TN) 

And now for something completely different.

A full eight years after killing and then resurrecting one of the worst football programs in the FBS, UAB is suddenly in the driver’s seat. 

They have a brand-new off-campus stadium that replaced the decrepit Legion Field. 

They’ve won and competed for multiple bowl games and conference championships. 

And they have a new conference home as they move from C-USA to the American in 2023. 

What they don’t have is Bill Clark, the architect of the UAB renaissance who went 49-26 in six seasons before stepping down last summer due to chronic back issues that required surgery. Players lobbied for interim head coach Bryant Vincent to take the full-time gig after he went 7-6 in a challenging year, but school administration went outside the box with the hire of Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer. The 50-year-old has never lived in Alabama and has only coached high school football, going 42-10 at Nashville’s Lipscomb Academy from 2018-22. 

But Dilfer does have national name-brand recognition, he’s been regularly featured as a co-host and analyst on ESPN, and he could make a big splash in recruiting. And you can’t take that Super Bowl from him, no matter how mediocre his NFL stats were. 

The Blazers have proved the world wrong before. Can they do it again with a much less experienced coach?

24) Brian Newberry, Navy

• Age: 46
• Alma Mater: Baylor
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Navy

After three straight losing seasons, plus a double-overtime loss to rival Army, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo finally called it quits. However mediocre the Midshipmen have been in the past few years, it certainly won’t be easy to replace the winningest coach in academy history. 

Knowing how challenging it is to win consistently in Annapolis – especially now with the transfer portal – athletic director Chet Gladnuck took the conservative route and promoted from within, letting defensive coordinator Brian Newberry take over the full-time head coaching gig, while retaining a commitment to the triple-option offense on the other side of the ball.

Navy has been in the American Athletic Conference since 2015 and has won or shared three divisional titles. However, they’re only 11-23 in the past three seasons and have faced struggles to retain talent. The COVID waivers that allowed athletes at other schools to get an extra year of eligibility thanks to the virus’s impact in 2020 don’t apply to the service academies. At the end of the day, Newberry did just fine as a DC, and Navy was never going to make a splashy hire. 

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?

2020-21 coaching carousel

1) Bryan Harsin, Auburn

• AGE: 44
• HOMETOWN: Boise, Idaho
• ALMA MATER: Boise State
• PREVIOUS JOB: Head Coach, Boise State

Routine top 25 finishes and New Year’s Six bowl berths would normally be more than enough at most schools. But Auburn isn’t most schools, and both fans and school administrators alike were sick of playing second fiddle in the SEC West. Seeing both rival Alabama and LSU surpass them meant that Gus Malzahn was inevitably shown the door with a 68-35 record after eight seasons at the helm.

It’s hard to bet against a Boise guy, and Harsin has the ingredients to make a successful jump to the SEC. After years of trying (and failing) to get the Broncos out of the Mountain West and into a better conference, the timing might be right for him. Harsin’s recruiting prowess isn’t as sharp as Malzahn’s was, but Auburn fans care more about winning on-field, which Harsin needs to do immediately. Harsin is well-equipped to be an SEC coach, but can he embrace SEC-level expectations?

2) Shane Beamer, South Carolina

• AGE: 43
• HOMETOWN: Charleston, South Carolina
• ALMA MATER: Virginia Tech
• PREVIOUS JOB: Assistant Head Coach for Offense/Tight Ends Coach, Oklahoma

Just like at Florida, Will Muschamp’s time ran out at South Carolina because of a lack of offensive firepower. He finished his tenure in Columbia with a record of 28-30 (1-2 in the postseason) despite some highly-touted recruiting classes. Beamer has a track record of SEC experience and was most recently on Lincoln Riley’s staff at Oklahoma.

In addition to being the son of Hall of Famer/former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, Shane also brings credibility as an ace recruiter and an assistant under Steve Spurrier at South Carolina from 2007-11. While in Columbia the first time, Beamer had a hand in recruiting future program superstars like Marcus Lattimore, Stephon Gilmore and Alshon Jeffery. And just like his dad did in Blacksburg, Shane will be bringing his own version of Beamer Ball to South Carolina. The Gamecocks should definitely get a shot in the arm from this hire, although results may not be immediate. 

3) Steve Sarkisian, Texas

• AGE: 46
• HOMETOWN: Torrance, California
• ALMA MATER: BYU
• PREVIOUS JOB: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Alabama

Sarkisian is officially back. Just like Lane Kiffin, he successfully rehabilitated his image under Saban after being embarrassingly dismissed at USC. And like Kiffin, Sark is known as a terrific playcaller and recruiter. However, he seems like an odd fit at first for Texas, who tried and failed under Charlie Strong and Tom Herman to regain its national standing. 

Herman won a Sugar Bowl in 2018 and was undefeated in bowl games overall, but he was also 1-4 to rival Oklahoma and had to watch Lincoln Riley’s Sooners surpass the Longhorns as a Big 12 juggernaut. Texas desperately needs to be nationally relevant again and is willing to pay big money to do it — both by buying out Herman’s contract to the tune of $15 million and by paying similarly big bucks to lure Sarkisian away from Tuscaloosa. Sarkisian could fail, but there’s no harm in giving the man a deserved second chance.

4) Andy Avalos, Boise State

• AGE: 39
• HOMETOWN: Corona, California
• ALMA MATER: Boise State
• PREVIOUS JOB: Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach, Oregon

After Bryan Harsin won 69 games in seven seasons before bolting for Auburn last month, BSU elected to bring in another alum in Avalos. The Southern California native played linebacker for the Broncos in the early 2000s and later returned as an assistant under the legendary Chris Petersen from 2012-18, including three seasons as defensive coordinator before he moved on to the same gig at Oregon. Known as a relentless recruiter and an innovative coordinator, Avalos should fit in perfectly at his alma mater.

5) Butch Jones, Arkansas State

• AGE: 52
• HOMETOWN: Saugatuck, Michigan
• ALMA MATER: Ferris State
• PREVIOUS JOB: Offensive Analyst, Alabama

Jones has been an offensive analyst under Nick Saban at Alabama ever since his dismissal at Tennessee in 2016. It was inevitable that he would try to make a comeback eventually, and Arkansas State is as good a place as any for him to give it a go again. After all, Jones finished his tenures at both Cincinnati and Central Michigan with winning records, and while he’s never coached in the Sun Belt Conference, he has quality ties in Deep South recruiting. 

Arkansas State is coming off a highly successful seven-year run under Blake Anderson, who won or shared two Sun Belt championships and made six bowl games. Jones should keep the Red Wolves relevant in an increasingly competitive Sun Belt.

6) Blake Anderson, Utah State

• AGE: 51
• HOMETOWN: Hubbard, Texas
• ALMA MATER: Sam Houston State 
• PREVIOUS JOB: Head Coach, Arkansas State

Anderson was the stabilizing force that Arkansas State desperately needed—after all, when he arrived in Jonesboro in 2013, the Red Wolves had gone through four coaches in four seasons. Anderson took them to six bowl games in seven years and consistently fielded explosive spread offenses. He also inspired many while coaching even during his wife Wendy’s cancer battle, which she sadly lost in August 2019. 

Utah State’s high-water mark was a 2012 shared championship before the WAC closed its doors and sent the Aggies to the Mountain West. Despite several bowl games within recent memory, USU remains a historically difficult job; the program has never had eye-popping facilities (by Mountain West Conference standards) and most of the in-state talent tends to go to rivals Utah and BYU. Gary Andersen had hoped for a splashy return to Logan in 2019 after originally leaving USU on a high note in 2012, but crashed and burned after only 17 games. 

Meanwhile, Blake Anderson has had his pick of many jobs in recent years, but he chose to move to Logan and revitalize an Aggie program that’s fallen on hard times. The transition will be fascinating.

7) Bret Bielema, Illinois

• AGE: 50
• HOMETOWN: Prophetstown, Illinois
• ALMA MATER: Iowa
• PREVIOUS JOB: Outside Linebackers Coach, New York Giants

Bielema, an old-school, tough-as-nails type of coach, is back home in the Big Ten. He had been itching to get back into the college game while coaching linebackers in the NFL, first with the Patriots, then with the Giants. He had interviewed for several vacant head coaching spots in the past two offseasons.

While he never quite reached the heights he had hoped at Arkansas, Bielema proved he could win and win big at Wisconsin from 2006-2012, earning three Rose Bowl berths. Illinois doesn’t have the ready-made talent that Wisconsin has, but Bielema’s pedigree, recruiting chops and culture of discipline should serve him well in a job that never seems to get any easier. Lovie Smith did his best, but never quite got the Illini over the hump, finishing with only one bowl game in five seasons and a 17-39 overall record.

8) Will Hall, Southern Miss

• AGE: 40
• HOMETOWN: Amory, Mississippi
• ALMA MATER: North Alabama
• PREVIOUS JOB: Offensive Coordinator, Tulane

Hopson, a defensive guru and former FCS coach at Alcorn State, was an interesting choice at a Southern Miss program that’s not short on talent. While Hopson’s teams fielded aggressive defenses, they never contended for a Conference USA title during his tenure. Fans grew bored of middling bowl games and Hopson eventually resigned at the beginning of the 2020 season. 

Hall is a respected offensive coordinator who coached two different Division 2 programs—West Alabama and West Georgia—going a combined 56-20 from 2011-16. More recently, he’s coached at high-level Group of Five teams like Louisiana-Lafayette, Memphis, and most recently Tulane. A Mississippi native, Hall has worked in both pass-heavy and run-heavy schemes and is highly-regarded as a recruiter. The problem for Southern Miss is that the conference surrounding them isn’t getting any weaker. Hall needs to win early and often. 

9) Jedd Fisch, Arizona

• AGE: 44
• HOMETOWN: Livingston, New Jersey
• ALMA MATER: Florida
• PREVIOUS JOB: Quarterbacks Coach, New England Patriots

Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke reportedly flirted with more established names to replace Kevin Sumlin, whose underachieving tenure in Tucson ended after only two and a half seasons and a 9-20 record. Ever since their 2014 Pac-12 South title under Rich Rodriguez, the Wildcats have been mired in mediocrity. 

Enter Fisch, a long-time NFL assistant who’s also spent time with big-name college programs like UCLA, Michigan and Minnesota. While he might seem like an outside-the-box hire, Fisch has assembled a very solid staff. His arrival also means that the state of Arizona’s two FBS schools now both boast former NFL guys as head coaches—Fisch at UA and Herm Edwards at rival Arizona State. Speaking of which, Fisch’s true barometer should be the Territorial Cup rivalry game; Sumlin finished 0-3 against the Sun Devils, bottoming out with a 70-7 embarrassment in 2020 that led directly to his firing the following week.

10) Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

• AGE: 38
• HOMETOWN: Nashville, Tennessee
• ALMA MATER: Vanderbilt
• PREVIOUS JOB: Defensive Coordinator, Notre Dame

Lea, a Vandy alum, could be just the right guy to give the Commodores a shot in the arm. Vandy football has been spinning its wheels ever since James Franklin left for Penn State, but Lea is one of the nation’s most respected defensive minds and is relentless on the recruiting trail. He’s still young, too (38), and has assembled a solid staff. Vanderbilt will always be a tough job, but Lea is a guy who can help get the fans on their feet again.

11) Terry Bowden, Louisiana-Monroe

• AGE: 64
• HOMETOWN: Douglas, Georgia
• ALMA MATER: West Virginia
• PREVIOUS JOB: Graduate Assistant, Clemson

The Warhawks have never had any sustained success since they joined the FBS in 1994. Their only bowl game was back in 2012 and they just came off an 0-10 season that got Matt Viator fired. While Viator’s teams piled up yardage and points frequently, they never got to a bowl game or finished above .500. 

This struggling program needed a big boost—not unlike the boost that Billy Napier has given the rival program down the highway in Lafayette. Enter Bowden, who was able to turn around an atrocious Akron program and get them to two bowls before resigning after the 2018 season. While he may seem like an odd choice at first, Bowden still has solid recruiting connections in the south and brings a big name to arguably the toughest job in the Sun Belt. 

12) Kane Wommack, South Alabama

• AGE: 33
• HOMETOWN: Fayetteville, Arkansas
• ALMA MATER: Southern Miss
• PREVIOUS JOB: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Indiana

Wommack, a former South Alabama defensive coordinator, is going to have his work cut out for him at one of the most perplexing jobs in the Group of Five. South Alabama is located in one of the most talent-rich states in America, and yet they have never had a winning season since joining the FBS in 2012. They also boast a sparkling new home (Hancock Whitney Stadium) and top-notch facilities for a Sun Belt program. Steve Campbell was a successful FCS head coach at Central Arkansas, but he only got three years, going 9-26 before getting axed at the end of 2020. 

Wommack, son of longtime college defensive coordinator Dave Wommack, will be one of the nation’s youngest coaches at 33. But he knows the territory as a former assistant and his Indiana defense was as turnover-happy as any in the country last season. Jaguar fans are hoping that he’ll bring the same type of opportunism to a program that desperately needs to show some signs of life.

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT: P.J. Fleck

 

P.J. Fleck might be one of the best personalities in college football. Whether it’s his football IQ, his relentless optimism or his ingenious methods, Fleck has developed a coaching philosophy that works.

Fleck grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended Kaneland High School in Maple Park, Illinois. An undersized but hard-working receiver, Fleck actually set a state high school record with 95 catches as a senior and helped the Knights win back-to-back state titles. He set another school record with at least one catch in 40 straight games. After graduating in 1999, Fleck got a scholarship at Northern Illinois University, only a 20 minute drive away. He was also a two-time team captain and an academic All-American, receiving a Bachelor’s in elementary education.

Considered too small for the NFL, Fleck did get a chance as an undrafted rookie for the San Francisco 49ers, where he played two seasons before going into coaching. Then-49ers head coach Mike Nolan thought highly of Fleck’s work ethic: “If coaching is something he wants to do, I think he’d be very good at it,” he said.

And that’s exactly what Fleck did. He started off as a graduate assistant under acclaimed coach Jim Tressel at Ohio State in 2006. Fleck was recommended for the job by two of his former Northern Illinois teammates, Mike Sabock and Thomas Hammock. While in Columbus, Fleck mostly worked with the tight ends.

As it turned out, Sabock was vouching for Fleck even when Fleck was still a student.

“I remember Sabock getting a hold of me when P.J. was a junior and saying, ‘Hey, this kid is going to be a great coach some day. You’ve gotta keep an eye on him for a graduate assistant position,’” Tressel later said.

Fleck shakes hands with Minnesota defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. before a home game in 2019.

While working at Ohio State was rewarding for Fleck, his alma mater soon came calling. His former coach, Joe Novak, hired him as the Northern Illinois wide receivers coach in 2007. Unfortunately, Novak retired the following season, but Fleck was one of only a handful of coaches who were retained by new head coach Jerry Kill. In fact, Kill was impressed enough with the young coach that he promoted Fleck to recruiting coordinator.

“P.J. had tremendous energy. He was always willing to do and wanted to do extra to improve as a coach. As a young guy that was coming up in the profession, he had that drive,” said former Ohio State assistant Darrell Hazell, who later became a head coach at both Kent State and Purdue. “We sat down many times and had discussions about many things in the receiver world, and he was always willing to learn. He was a sponge and continued to improve.”

After three seasons at NIU, Fleck moved onto bigger things, landing the receivers coach job at Rutgers in 2010 under acclaimed head coach Greg Schiano, who had completed a major turnaround at Rutgers, long considered a cellar-dweller. But things were about to change for Fleck.

On October 16, 2010, one of Fleck’s players, defensive lineman Eric LeGrand, was paralyzed during a game; he fractured the C3 and C4 vertebrae in his back while attempting to make a tackle during a kick return in a game against Army. LeGrand attacked his rehab admirably and, despite an initially grave prognosis, is now able to stand up and perform certain tasks with minimal wheelchair assistance. He became an inspiration to many, but Fleck took the whole situation very hard.

On the field, Rutgers kept winning, finishing 9-4 and winning the Pinstripe Bowl over the Iowa State Cyclones. One of Fleck’s star pupils was wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who has gone on to have a decorated NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Off the field, Fleck was about to endure another tragedy.

Only six weeks after Rutgers’s bowl victory, Fleck and his then-wife welcomed a son, Colt. Fleck had been warned by doctors that Colt’s lungs had not fully formed and he was not expected to live long. On February 9, 2011, only a few days after his birth, Colt died.

Understandably, Fleck and his wife were devastated. She was not familiar with the constant moving and job relocations inherent to college coaching, and after Colt’s death, the two drifted apart. They eventually divorced.

“When you lose a child, it changes you forever. It tests your faith and it also makes you reflect on your purpose in life,” Fleck confessed in a 2016 interview. “After a lot of prayer, what I realized was that my life wasn’t about me. It was about honoring my son. And what I came to understand was that when I was able to touch another person’s life, it made me feel closer to him. And that was the greatest feeling of all.”

Fleck continued to hustle and move his way up the coaching ladder in spite of his personal losses. He thrived on positivity and transforming the lives of young kids on and off the field. Fleck was offered a chance to go back to Northern Illinois again, this time as an offensive coordinator. He initially accepted the offer, but when Schiano left for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he offered Fleck to join him, again as receivers coach. By the time the 2012 season rolled around, Fleck was officially an NFL assistant for the first time.

At 32 years old, Fleck was the youngest head coach in college football history when he was hired by Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard.

On December 17, 2012, Fleck was hired as the head coach at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Broncos had a history of sporadic success, but played in a weak mid-major conference (the Mid-American Conference or MAC). Previous head coach Bill Cubit’s teams were inconsistent and frequently choked in big games, so school administration decided to go with Fleck.

Many fans in Kalamazoo didn’t know what to make of Fleck at first. Only 32, he was the youngest head coach in major college football history, and he had never been a head coach at any level. Fleck was known for energetic press conferences, oozing positivity and charisma. Many of his assistant coaches were older than he was.

As cliché as it may sound, Fleck knew that a winning culture precedes a winning program. To that end, he came up with a slogan, or what he himself referred to as a “never give up mantra.”

Three words: Row the Boat.

Again, fans were confused. What did rowing the boat have to do with Broncos? Or winning football games? Or even coaching, for that matter?

It actually became Fleck’s personal philosophy after his son died. He explained it better than me:

Rowing the boat means doing things the right way, and accepting the results that come. It’s about being dedicated to the process of winning — winning every single day by being the very best version of you. It’s about not ignoring the past, but instead always trying to learn from it in order to get better. And more than anything, it’s about creating a community that has a positive aura, with each individual contributing. Together, through love and trust, you all push forward together.

The process of rowing the boat is broken down into three parts.

First there’s the oar. That’s the energy you bring to your life — what propels you forward. It’s the only thing that can move a boat. Positive energy breeds love. Love breeds success.

Secondly, there’s the boat. The boat is made from sacrifice. It’s the thing you’re willing to give up in order to achieve something you’ve never had. The more that each individual sacrifices — the more of themselves they’re willing to give to others — the bigger the boat gets. When you have a big boat full of people willing to sacrifice for each other, you can brave any storm that comes your way.

Finally, there’s the compass, which symbolizes the positive direction you choose to follow. Ultimately, your compass is determined by who you surround yourself with. If you surround yourself with the wrong people, you’re going to do the wrong things. If you surround yourself with elite people, you’re probably going to do elite things. Simple as that.

Year One of the Fleck era was an unmitigated disaster. WMU finished 1-11 and winless in the MAC as he rebuilt the roster, began a youth movement and started recruiting new players to fit his schemes — and the Row The Boat culture.

When on the recruiting trail, Fleck claimed that he didn’t want players who just wanted to play, or players who just wanted to play and go to school. Fleck’s desire was for all of his players to emphasize four areas of their life: socially, athletically, academically and spiritually. A spiritual guy himself, Fleck required his players to do at least one thing per semester that “refreshes and enriches your soul.” Many coaches emphasize that a football team is a family unit, but Fleck went one step further, defining family as “Forget About Me, I Love You.”

Fleck also started using social media to get attention for his program, doing polar bear plunges for charity or providing an in-house DJ to get fans fired up at Waldo Stadium. Some critics thought of Fleck as gimmicky or insincere, but players loved it.

Results started coming quickly. Even after going 1-11 in 2013, Fleck signed the highest-rated recruiting class in the MAC that winter. The next year, the Broncos were one of the most improved teams in the country, going 8-5 overall. In 2015, they went 8-5 again. And in 2016, WMU hosted ESPN College GameDay for the first time ever. Their star receiver, Corey Davis, broke the all-time NCAA receiving yardage record. They won the MAC Championship. And they finished 13-1, with the only loss coming to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

Understandably, Fleck began getting national attention for his remarkable turnaround in Kalamazoo; it’s definitely not an everyday occurrence when a program goes from 1-11 to 13-1 in four years. And big-time programs came calling. Fleck carefully considered numerous options before deciding on the head coaching vacancy at the University of Minnesota. He was officially announced as the head coach there on January 6, 2017.

The official press release announcing Fleck’s hiring at Minnesota. 

Once upon a time, the Minnesota Golden Gophers were very successful in football. They won seven national titles from 1904 to 1960, but their last Big Ten Conference championship came in 1967. Many Gopher hearts have been broken over the years, and many teams have come excruciatingly close to being consistent winners. From 2011 to 2015, the Gophers went to three bowl games under Fleck’s former boss, Jerry Kill, before he had to retire due to ongoing health issues. Kill’s successor for the 2016 season was his former defensive coordinator, Tracy Claeys.

Claeys’s team won nine games in ’16, but an alarming shadow was cast over the postseason. Only a few weeks before the team’s bowl game against Washington State, 10 Gopher players were suspended indefinitely after they were implicated in a gang rape that had occurred earlier that year. The accused players asserted their innocence and claimed their due process rights were being violated. The players that were not accused threatened to boycott the bowl game unless the process was expedited, citing a lack of communication from both the legal system and university administration. In a tweet, Claeys expressed his support of and admiration for the accused players, whom he claimed were simply fighting for their rights.

No criminal charges were ever filed, but several of the players were found guilty of violating the school’s code of conduct for student-athletes. The boycott eventually ended and the Gophers won the bowl game, but the damage was done. The program was widely criticized nationally and Claeys was fired on January 3, 2017.

Fleck arrived in Minneapolis three days later. He inherited a winning team on paper, but a divided locker room as well. Many of the accused players chose to quietly transfer and it took many months to heal the division while Fleck tried to install the Row the Boat culture. (By this point, Fleck had trademarked Row the Boat and negotiated a deal with Western Michigan administration to avoid any legal snafus. In exchange for taking the slogan with him, Fleck agreed to donate $10,000 of his annual salary to WMU’s general scholarship fund and also allowed the school to freely use the Row the Boat slogan when referring to the Fleck era in Kalamazoo.)

Privately, Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle was alarmed at the fiasco that happened under Claeys’s watch; he later admitted that he wanted a high-character coach like Fleck to lead his program.

Fleck immediately got to work repairing relationships in the locker room and recruiting like mad on the road. Soon enough, players and coaches alike were buying in, but Fleck knew that there were many challenges ahead.

“It’s very easy to row the boat in times of triumph and success in calm seas, but when you’re in the middle of the night, there are really big storms and there are really big waves,” Fleck said. “It’s cold, it’s dark, and you can’t see, so you have to continue to keep your oar in the water. That’s what it’s for. It’s not for the really amazing times. It’s for when you get really tough times and you’re tested.”

Fleck has a number of framed photos in his office at Minnesota, many of which are of historical figures. One particularly powerful one is a famous photo of President John F. Kennedy. It was taken shortly after the Bay of Pigs invasion that marred Kennedy’s presidency in 1961. In the photo, the normally unflappable JFK looks somber and discouraged.

“As a leader, there are choices you have, and you make them every day,” Fleck said. “There are times when things go really well and others when they don’t. But you can’t stop. And every choice you make, you learn from it.”

Fleck admits that his ultra-motivational style isn’t for everyone. He doesn’t expect everyone to match his energy level or to be exactly like him. But what he is looking for is for players to be actively interested in those four important areas of life: academic life, social life, spiritual life and athletic life.

It’s working: Fleck’s 2019 team posted a school-record cumulative GPA and nearly half the roster received academic all-conference honors.

But back in 2017, the Gophers were struggling. A team that had gone 9-4 the previous year fell to 5-7 and missed out on a bowl game. While it wasn’t as challenging a rebuild as the kind that Fleck undertook at WMU, it was still difficult.

“Enacting change is really, really hard work because it requires what my staff calls ‘truthful listening,'” Fleck stated. “You have to look inward and challenge yourself to change your best — to truly go beyond the limits of what you think you’re capable of — every day, and not just when it comes to football, but also academics, your social life and your spiritual life. That’s a big load for anybody, but it’s an especially heavy burden for an 18- or 19-year-old.”

Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan strikes a pose during football media days. A native of Kentucky, Morgan never thought he would end up playing for the Gophers, but he had faith in Fleck’s vision for the program.

Tanner Morgan is the Gophers’ starting quarterback. A rising junior, Morgan hails from small-town Kentucky and had never even visited Minnesota before committing to play football there.

“I was just blown away with how real and passionate Coach Fleck is about life and football,” Morgan says. “It was a no-brainer to me. There was no other coach I’d rather play for.”

Morgan initially committed to Fleck at WMU and followed him to Minnesota the day that he called and said he was leaving.

Minnesota went 8-5 in Fleck’s second season. In 2019, his third season, they started with a 9-0 record for the first time in over a century. While they lost a tough game to rival Wisconsin down the stretch, they upset Auburn in the bowl game and are continuing that same momentum today. The results have come and there’s still more work to do. Gopher fans couldn’t be happier.

Fleck is not without his critics, however. His former mentor, Jerry Kill, called him out during a radio interview in early 2019. Kill, who was clearly upset over how the Tracy Claeys situation was handled, slammed Fleck, calling him arrogant and self-centered.

“They can’t attack P.J.’s energy, and they can’t attack his messages,” says former Minnesota offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. “So they attack him. The number one thing we’ve learned is to get the people around him as much as possible, so they can make their own judgment.”

While many coaches would be possessive of their successful assistants, Fleck encourages his assistants to leave if they’ve found a better opportunity. He also goes out of his way to hire coaches who might not have been great fits elsewhere, firmly believing that you learn more from failure than from success.

Minnesota wide receivers coach Matt Simon admits that he got into coaching because of Fleck’s influence. A fellow Northern Illinois alum, Simon first met Fleck in 2007.

“At the time, I was a business major, and coaching wasn’t even anything I thought I would ever do. But I watched him change us. I always said when I was done playing, I want to be able to do that for other people.”

Like many coaches, Fleck adheres to the “one game at a time” approach; you just have to go 1-0 every week, and if you don’t, you learn from it and you improve further.

“You can’t ignore those things with young people,” Fleck said in a 2019 interview with Bleacher Report. “You can’t ignore it when you’re on the way to success, because you’ll always feel that it’s not good enough. You’ve got to celebrate where you’ve come from to get to where you really want to be.”

Those celebrations are frequently entertaining. After a stunning upset of Penn State last fall, Fleck went viral after an epic crowd-surf in the locker room.

“No matter what happens, it will look different. It will sound different. Not because Fleck wants it to be, but because it’s who he is and how he leads,” said Bleacher Report‘s Adam Kramer. “It might not be for you; it’s certainly not for everyone. But given where it’s brought him, there’s no reason to change now.”

Fleck and his family: wife Heather, son Carter, daughters Paisley and Harper, and step-son Gavin.

 

 

 

 

2019-20 coaching carousel (part 2)

There were a handful of unexpected coaching changes in the last month or so in the FBS. Some were expected and some weren’t. Here’s my analysis:

1) Mike Leach, Mississippi State

• Age: 58
• Hometown: Susanville, California (born); Cody, Wyoming (raised)
• Alma Mater: Brigham Young University (1985)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Washington State

There’s no doubt about it: Leach makes college football fun. Whether it’s his insanely prolific passing offenses or his colorful press conferences, the man is just a dynamic personality. People had long considered whether or not Leach would ever take his Air Raid offense to the SEC, and he was rumored to have interviewed for the Tennessee vacancy in December 2017. While the move was somewhat sudden, Leach had basically taken Washington State as far as he could take them, earning six bowl games in eight seasons in one of the Pac-12’s toughest jobs. In Starkville, he’ll inherit a nice base of talent from ex-coach Joe Moorhead, but he’ll need some time to get them where they need to be in the rugged SEC West.

2) Dave Aranda, Baylor

• Age: 43
• Hometown: Redlands, California
• Alma Mater: California Lutheran University (1994)
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, LSU

At last, Aranda finally gets his shot as a head coach after being one of the nation’s best assistants for years. Aranda spent the entire 2010s as a defensive coordinator, first at Hawai’i, then at Utah State, Wisconsin and LSU. Most recently, he helped lead LSU to a national title.

Baylor was in a tight spot after Matt Rhule departed for the Carolina Panthers in January. While Rhule was bound to move up after his remarkable turnaround in Waco, the timing wasn’t exactly ideal. Still, as a private school, Baylor had the money to lure a big-time name like Aranda, and he inherits a healthy team culture on and off the field. Aranda earned brownie points with the fanbase immediately by retaining defensive ends coach Joey McGuire. McGuire, a long-time Texas high school coach, was one of Rhule’s best recruiters; he was named interim head coach after his former boss left for the NFL.

3) Nick Rolovich, Washington State

• Age: 40
• Hometown: Novato, California
• Alma Mater: The University of Hawai’i (2004)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Hawai’i

It’s not easy to win at Hawai’i — or win consistently for that matter. But that’s exactly what Rolovich did. The former UH quarterback led the Warriors to three straight bowl games from 2017-19 and brought back the entertaining run-and-shoot offense that Hawai’i was known for back in the early 2000s under head coach June Jones.

Rolovich is still just 40 years old and should be right at home in Pullman; WSU just enjoyed an amazing eight-year run under Mike Leach running the Air Raid, which is very similar to the run-and-shoot. And just like Leach, Rolovich is known for his goofy charisma and relentless recruiting. This should be an excellent fit.

4) Todd Graham, Hawai’i

• Age: 55
• Hometown: Mesquite, Texas
• Alma Mater: East Central University (1987)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Arizona State

This one was interesting. Graham has won everywhere that he’s been — all told, in stints at Rice, Tulsa, Pitt, and Arizona State, he has a career record of 95-61. As a defensive guru, Graham was known for his aggressive, blitz-at-all-times mentality and turned in some pretty good units during his time at ASU. With that being said, Graham has a polarizing personality and was heavily criticized both for his quick exit at Pitt after one season and for his numerous misses on the recruiting trail at ASU. After two seasons out of coaching, Graham, now 55, made an unlikely comeback.

Graham has never been an assistant at Hawai’i previously, and this job is known to be very challenging for newcomers. At Hawai’i, you have to rely on a thin budget, despite having to make numerous trips to the mainland for recruiting purposes. Similarly, there are plenty of talented players on the islands who slip through the cracks and need to be evaluated as potential walk-ons. Aloha Stadium desperately needs renovations and the on-campus facilities aren’t particularly good, at least not compared to their Mountain West brethren. On the field, however, the Warriors were always competitive under Nick Rolovich and they’re coming off their first 10-win season since 2010. If Graham can keep the positive vibes going, he might just have a chance to win big again.

5) Brady Hoke, San Diego State

• Age: 61
• Hometown: Dayton, Ohio
• Alma Mater: Ball State University (1981)
• Previous Job: Defensive Line Coach, San Diego State

Who is Brady Hoke? It depends on who you ask, really. If you’re a Ball State fan, Hoke is the loyal alum who came back and, after years of rebuilding, took the Cardinals to a school-record 12 wins in the 2008 season. If you ask Michigan fans, Hoke is a complete hack who took a successful program and ran it into the ground with consistently mediocre results during his tenure (2011-14). And if you’re a San Diego State fan, Hoke was a blip on the radar, who was previously head coach in 2009-10 and bolted for Ann Arbor after a 9-4 season in 2010.

With all that said, this process was extremely quick. Longtime Aztec coach Rocky Long led SDSU to nine bowl games in nine seasons with an old school approach. SDSU was ultra-conservative on offense — sometimes running the ball 75% of the time — and aggressive on defense with a unique 3-3-5 scheme. The Aztecs weren’t flashy, but they still won games — lots of them. Long unexpectedly retired in January at the age of 69 and immediately promoted Hoke from within after only one season as the Aztecs’ D-line coach. Will he prove to be better than his previous stints? Time will tell.

2019-20 coaching carousel

1) Mike Norvell, Florida State

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Irving, Texas
• Alma Mater: The University of Central Arkansas (2005)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Memphis

In hindsight, FSU hiring Willie Taggart was a poor choice. Not that Taggart wasn’t a successful head coach with ties to Florida recruiting hotspots, but he was also known as someone who took a few years to build a program into a juggernaut, specifically at Western Kentucky (2010-12) and USF (2013-16). And to put it bluntly, slow rebuilds aren’t treated kindly in Tallahassee, where the expectation for the Seminoles is nothing less than ACC and national titles annually.

Considering Clemson has dominated the ACC landscape in a way that few modern teams have, the Noles needed to make a big splash. Enter Norvell, one of the nation’s hottest coaching names, who won 38 games and three straight AAC West Division titles at Memphis. Prior to that, he worked under Todd Graham at Tulsa, Pitt and Arizona State, including five seasons as an offensive coordinator. Known for developing talent and for his quick-strike offenses, Norvell is confident, smart and a great recruiter — exactly what FSU needs after falling on unusually hard times.

2) Jeff Scott, USF

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Arcadia, Florida (born); Columbia, South Carolina (raised)
• Alma Mater: Clemson University (2003)
• Previous Job: Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach, Clemson

Scott did this about as smoothly as possible, biding his time while coaching under Dabo Swinney and winning national titles at Clemson. A Florida native, Scott has spent his entire coaching career in South Carolina and should give a long-underachieving USF program a shot in the arm. USF has only fielded a football team since 1997, and while they’ve had sporadic success, they’ve never won a conference title — and it sure doesn’t help that their biggest rival, UCF, has exploded into a juggernaut. USF’s facilities are average and their fanbase isn’t nearly as large as other Florida schools, but there’s still tons of potential here. In Scott, they may have found a long-term solution that can help transform a sleeping giant into a Godzilla.

3) Jimmy Lake, Washington

• Age: 43
• Hometown: Walnut Creek, California (born); Spokane, Washington (raised)
• Alma Mater: Eastern Washington University (1999)
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Washington

Chris Petersen’s sudden resignation after six seasons at UW was unexpected, but the smoothness of the transition to Lake recalls memories of last year at Ohio State, when Urban Meyer retired and immediately passed the torch to Ryan Day, who then went undefeated in the regular season and launched the Buckeyes back into the College Football Playoff. Will Lake be that successful straight away? Probably not, but he’s become one of the nation’s most decorated assistants and has been by Petersen’s side ever since 2012, when the two were at Boise State. He’s still just 43, he’s a great recruiter and has developed significant NFL talent on the defensive side of the ball. Will he be the next great branch of the Petersen coaching tree? Everyone in Seattle sure hopes so.

4) Greg Schiano, Rutgers

• Age: 53
• Hometown: Wyckoff, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: Bucknell University (1988)
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Ohio State

Schiano is identifiable as the only coach who has ever achieved significant success at Rutgers in the modern era. Despite his mediocre tenure in the NFL with Tampa Bay and the bad PR surrounding his almost-hiring at Tennessee a couple of seasons ago, there’s no doubt that the man can coach. And Rutgers is in a similar spot as to where they were when Schiano originally took this job back in 2001. The Big Ten has not been kind to the Scarlet Knights since they joined in 2014, but the fanbase is confident that Schiano can right the ship once more.

5) Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
• Alma Mater: Fresno State (1998)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Florida Atlantic

At this point, talking about Kiffin is old hat. He flamed out at Tennessee and USC, and flopped in the NFL as well. After years as a national punchline thanks to his immature antics, recruiting wars and overall program mismanagement, Kiffin finally got a chance to redeem himself, winning national titles at Alabama as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator, and then spending the past three years at Florida Atlantic, a long-underachieving Conference USA program that he took to new heights. Kiffin won two conference titles in three seasons, finishing with an overall record of 26-13. Kiffin’s teams will always score points, and the man himself will always be entertaining. The question remains if he can stabilize a turbulent Ole Miss program and continue winning when the spotlight is shining much brighter.

6) Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri

• Age: 36
• Hometown: Norman, Oklahoma
• Alma Mater: Arkansas Tech University (2004)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Appalachian State

Drinkwitz has only been an FBS head coach for one season — but what a season it was. Appalachian State just completed a 12-1 Sun Belt championship season in which they were ranked in the Top 25 and got College Football Playoff votes for the first time in school history. Now, Drinkwitz takes his talents to the midwest, where Missouri is coming off four years of Barry Odom, a defensive guru who went 26-26 and dealt with the fallout from recent NCAA sanctions. Mizzou has its challenges, but Drinkwitz is one of the nation’s brightest offensive minds. A former apprentice of Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Drinkwitz supervised explosive offenses at Boise State and NC State before landing at App State last winter. At Mizzou, he’ll have a good pool of talent to work with and some newly-improved facilities to boot.

7) Jeff Hafley, Boston College

• Age: 40
• Hometown: Montvale, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: Siena College (2001)
• Previous Job: Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach, Ohio State

It’s hard to go wrong with hiring an ex-Ohio State assistant, and Boston College is hoping that Hafley is the next one to make it big as a head coach. BC has struggled to stay relevant in a weak ACC, as evidenced by the fact that they just fired Steve Addazio after a 44-44 mark in seven seasons. Hafley is known as one of the nation’s best recruiters, and his 2019 defense at OSU was one of the top units in the FBS. Additionally, he has seven years of coaching NFL secondaries under his belt, which should give him an added boost in recruiting. Hafley could have the Eagles ready to compete at a higher level immediately; the current state of the roster is promising, so it’s definitely a restructuring job, not a rebuilding job.

8) Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic

• Age: 43
• Hometown: Bradenton, Florida
• Alma Mater: Western Kentucky University (1998)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Florida State

Taggart got only a year and a half at FSU before he was shown the door, but he’s had success everywhere else he’s been — and at Group of Five schools like Western Kentucky and USF, he engineered major rebuilds. FAU is a program that’s coming off two Conference USA titles in three years under former coach Lane Kiffin, so Taggart doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel here. All he needs to do is to get the Owls to win consistently and keep the pace within a conference known for its parity. The transition should be relatively smooth.

9) Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion

• Age: 39
• Hometown: Morrison, Colorado
• Alma Mater: Cornell University (2001)
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Penn State

When the Monarchs restarted their program in 2009 after a 68-year hiatus, they had almost immediate success as an FCS independent, moving up the ladder to the FBS (and Conference USA) in 2014. The Monarchs’ high-water mark was a 10-win season and a Bahamas Bowl victory in 2016, but since then, ODU hasn’t gotten back to the postseason. In the past three seasons, former head coach Bobby Wilder went 10-26 with a 5-19 mark in C-USA. Make no mistake, though — this program has tons of potential, as exemplified by a recently renovated stadium, a growing fanbase and a fantastic recruiting region.

Rahne has an intriguing background: he’s a Colorado native and an Ivy League grad who’s coached under guys like Bill Snyder and James Franklin. He followed Franklin from Vanderbilt to Penn State in 2014 and has supervised a number of high-flying offenses. At only 39, Rahne has a youthful energy that a program like ODU needs. Given C-USA’s parity level, the Monarchs could potentially rebound quickly.

10) Ryan Silverfield, Memphis

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida
• Alma Mater: Hampden-Sydney College (2003)
• Previous Job: Offensive Line Coach, Memphis

Promoting a head coach from within is never a hugely inspiring choice, but when you’ve won 57 games in the past six years, as Memphis has, there’s no need to mess with a good thing. Silverfield was named interim head coach after Mike Norvell headed for FSU, and after only one week, Silverfield got the full-time job for the upcoming Cotton Bowl Classic and beyond. Silverfield has coached in the NFL twice (with the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings) and has also worked at places as diverse as UCF and Arizona State. He should do just fine.

11) Marcus Arroyo, UNLV

• Age: 39
• Hometown: Sacramento, California
• Alma Mater: San Jose State University (2003)
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Oregon

Arroyo has been a hot name among FBS assistants for awhile now. In addition to Oregon, Arroyo has worked at Oklahoma State, Cal, Southern Miss, San Jose State and Wyoming. At Oregon, he was responsible for molding QB Justin Herbert into one of the nation’s best passers. UNLV is not a historically successful program and has only made two bowl games since 1995, but they have a brand-new football operations building and will be moving into the $2 billion Las Vegas Raiders stadium in 2020. The infrastructure is in place, and thanks to Arroyo’s California high school connections, the Rebels should be able to punch above their weight in recruiting. Bottom line: despite recent gridiron history, there’s reason to be optimistic, and Arroyo seems ready for his time to shine.

12) Kalen DeBoer, Fresno State

• Age: 45
• Hometown: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• Alma Mater: The University of Sioux Falls (1997)
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Indiana

DeBoer has been a fast-riser in coaching if there ever was one. He was a coach at his alma mater, the University of Sioux Falls, in the mid-2000s, racking up three NAIA national titles and a jaw-dropping 67-3 record in five seasons. Earlier this decade, he jumped to the FBS level, engineering offensive turnarounds at Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and most recently Indiana.

Fresno State has long been a program with incredible stability — they’ve had only five head coaches in the past 40 years. They’re just coming off Jeff Tedford, who was head coach for only three seasons before resigning in December due to ongoing health problems. While their facilities aren’t on par with their Mountain West Conference peers, the Bulldogs do have a history of winning and are located in a prime recruiting ground. DeBoer only left Fresno a year ago, too, so he’s still familiar with the roster.

13) Steve Addazio, Colorado State

• Age: 60
• Hometown: Farmington, Connecticut
• Alma Mater: Central Connecticut State University (1981)
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Boston College

BC moved on from Addazio after six bowl games in seven seasons…but he had never won more than seven games in a season either. The Eagles didn’t go enough damage in the ACC Atlantic and ultimately, Addazio was shown the door. At CSU, he’ll have fantastic facilities to sell — including a three-year-old, on-campus stadium — as well as a passionate fanbase.

A couple causes of concern will be whether or not he’ll bring the same style of offense with him. BC was known for a rare blend of an extremely fast tempo and an extremely run-dominant offense. Granted, a lot of that was presumably centered around Boston College’s relative talent disadvantage compared to the rest of the ACC (as a private school with higher admissions standards, the Eagles couldn’t recruit nearly as well as their neighbors). Addazio has also never coached out west before. The man has energy and enthusiasm and he should be able to win in the Mountain West, but on paper, this seems like a strange fit.

14) Sam Pittman, Arkansas

• Age: 58
• Hometown: Grove, Oklahoma
• Alma Mater: Pittsburg State University (1984)
• Previous Job: Offensive Line Coach, Georgia

Pittman was a bit of an unknown, as many other more-established coaches took a look at the Arkansas job, like Tulane’s Willie Fritz and Memphis’s Mike Norvell. Pittman will have his work cut out for him, as the roster is a currently a mess. Former coach Chad Morris only got one and a half seasons — winning zero SEC games during that time period — and his fast-paced spread offense was in complete contrast with his predecessor Bret Bielema, who favored a run-heavy, bruising, physical attack.

Pittman worked under Bielema from 2013-15 before getting hired by Kirby Smart as Georgia’s offensive line coach, where he’s been the last four seasons. Additionally, he has extensive experience as an assistant at other Power Five programs, including North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kansas. He’ll need a few seasons to turn things around, but there’s no doubt that Pittman wants to be in Fayetteville.

15) Danny Gonzales, New Mexico

• Age: 43
• Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Alma Mater: The University of New Mexico (1999)
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Arizona State

Gonzales is New Mexico to his core: he grew up in Albuquerque, walked on at UNM and later coached for ex-UNM coach Rocky Long at San Diego State. A defensive specialist, Gonzales is more than aware of the challenges facing the Lobos: an apathetic fanbase, recruiting disadvantages and average facilities. But at the very least, an emotional homecoming should be enough for Gonzales to give this program a much-needed jolt. While they went to back-to-back bowl games under Bob Davie in 2015-16, UNM has won a mere eight games in the past three seasons. The current roster situation isn’t good, so Gonzales will need time to get the program where he wants it.

16) Jeff Traylor, UTSA

• Age: 51
• Hometown: Gilmer, Texas
• Alma Mater: Stephen F. Austin State University (1990)
• Previous Job: Running Backs Coach, Arkansas

Like ODU, UTSA is a young program that has had relatively little success, despite geographic advantages. Traylor spent 15 years as a head coach in the Texas high school ranks, winning three state titles and 175 career games at his alma mater, Gilmer High. Charlie Strong brought Traylor to the FBS ranks in 2015, where he was tight ends coach and special teams coordinator at Texas. Chad Morris, in turn, hired Traylor at SMU and then Arkansas. Traylor has much to prove as a relative newcomer to the highest level of college football, but he has good recruiting chops and enough credibility to recruit Texas high schools from day one. In a few years, UTSA should be on more solid footing.

17) Shawn Clark, Appalachian State

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Charleston, West Virginia
• Alma Mater: Appalachian State University (1998)
• Previous Job: Offensive Line Coach, Appalachian State

It’s never easy (or fun) when you have to replace a young head coach after only one season, but that’s exactly what Appalachian State is dealing with. After a 12-1 record and a Sun Belt championship, Eli Drinkwitz moved onto greener pastures at Missouri. To enforce continuity, athletic director Doug Gillin tagged Clark as the interim coach and later promoted him before the early signing period in December.

Clark is an alum, which will win him brownie points with the fans, but outside of App State, he doesn’t have a ton of experience. He’s worked at Purdue and Kent State and was retained by Drinkwitz after Scott Satterfield left for Louisville last year, but there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding Clark. Given that the Mountaineers have reached new heights in the past few seasons, he needs to be the right choice in order to keep App State atop the Sun Belt.

2018-19 coaching carousel (part 2)

There were seven unexpected head coaching vacancies in FBS college football from December to January. Here’s my recap.

#7 – Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois Huskies

• Age: 37
• Hometown: Jersey City, New Jersey
• Alma Mater: Northern Illinois University
• Previous Job: Running Backs Coach, Baltimore Ravens

When Rod Carey left NIU after six-plus seasons to become the head coach at Temple, NIU athletic director Sean Frazier had to scramble to find a suitable replacement in the final two weeks before National Signing Day in February.

Hammock is an NIU alum and former assistant, but he’s far from a known quantity. Still, the 37-year-old has Big Ten and NFL experience and he inherits a roster loaded with talent. First order of business? Win a bowl game. The Huskies went to six of them in seven years under Carey and lost all six.

#6 – Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

• Age: 41
• Hometown: 
• Alma Mater: East Tennessee State University
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Coastal Carolina

This one wasn’t too much of a shock. Former head coach Joe Moglia temporarily stepped down during the 2017 season — the Chanticleers’ FBS debut — due to health problems and resigned for good on January 17th of this year. During Moglia’s leave of absence, the Chadwell-coached squad went 3-9, but were competitive in almost every game. This past season, CCU went 5-7.

The overall transition should be seemless; Chadwell is well-liked by his players and has had three previous head coaching stints: D-II North Greenville, D-II Delta State and FCS Charleston Southern.

However, fans might be worried about Chadwell’s ethical standards: at Charleston Southern, he had 18 wins and a Big South Conference championship vacated due to a variety of NCAA violations, including using academically ineligible players and allowing athletes to buy electronics and jewelry items from the campus bookstore.

#5 – Chip Lindsey, Troy Trojans

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Madison, Alabama
• Alma Mater: The University of North Alabama
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Auburn

About time, am I right? Lindsey’s name had been buzzing around the head coaching ranks for years since he’s the classic hot-shot high-riser in the profession.

Lindsey is a former high school coach just like his longtime mentor, Gus Malzahn. He landed his first coordinator job running the spread offense at Southern Miss in 2014. After two wildly successful seasons there, he moved on to Arizona State and then Auburn, before replacing yet another young superstar, Neal Brown, at Troy.

There’s a reason that Troy is one of the most consistent mid-major programs in the country. They’ve got fantastic facilities, a history of winning, and a very passionate fanbase. Kudos to Brown for staying for awhile and not jumping at the earliest opportunity. Will Lindsey do the same?

#4 – Rod Carey, Temple Owls

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
• Alma Mater: Indiana University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Northern Illinois

Carey is a lifelong Midwesterner, so he might seem like an odd fit in South Philly, but this is actually a very smart hire. Carey’s NIU teams went to six bowl games in seven seasons, winning 52 games over that span. Before he took over as head coach, he was the offensive line coach at NIU for a year for ex-coach Dave Doeren (now at NC State). Carey’s Huskies were known for their tough, physical play and he developed a number of future NFL Draft picks, including Detroit Lions receiver Kenny Golladay.

Carey inherits an excellent roster at Temple, a program that just graduated the winningest class in school history (four straight bowl games). The days of this program being a laughing-stock are over, but with UCF, Memphis and Houston, the American Athletic Conference isn’t getting any easier. Can Carey keep the Owls near the top?

#3 – Neal Brown, West Virginia Mountaineers

• Age: 38
• Hometown: Danville, Kentucky
• Alma Mater: The University of Massachusetts – Amherst
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Troy

Brown is an Air Raid disciple who took the Trojans to new heights during his tenure, winning 35 games in four years and earning back-to-back Sun Belt championships in 2017-18. Known as a straight-shooter and a person of integrity, Brown has notable recruiting chops and should be able to compete in the Big 12. Problem is, with Oklahoma’s dominance and Texas’s recent resurgence, the conference has become more competitive than ever. Brown should turn out just fine as a long-term hire, but he has to embrace the expectation to win immediately in 2019.

#2 – Dana Holgorsen, Houston Cougars

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Mount Pleasant, Iowa
• Alma Mater: Iowa Wesleyan University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, West Virginia

Holgorsen’s track record speaks for itself: a protégé of Mike Leach who had a ton of success with both Leach and Mike Gundy in Air Raid offensive schemes, and as a guy who won 61 games in seven seasons at WVU. However, Holgorsen never seemed to have a great relationship with the fanbase or the school administration, as highlighted by a protracted struggle with a new contract that went on throughout this past summer and into the season. It’s clear that he was ready to move on.

Houston, meanwhile, is not a program known for its patience. They’ve won a lot lately on the gridiron, but they’ve also been labeled as the epitome of the “stepping-stone job.” (What do Kevin Sumlin, Art Briles and Tom Herman all have in common? They’re all ex-Cougar coaches who eventually jumped ship and became successful at other programs.) Most recently, Major Applewhite got only two seasons behind the head coach’s desk following Herman’s departure in 2016.

The point is, Holgorsen is a good coach who understands high expectations more so than most. But recent history suggests that he and his family should rent, not buy.

#1 – Manny Diaz, Miami Hurricanes

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Miami, Florida
• Alma Mater: Florida State University
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Miami

On December 13th, Diaz was hired to replace Geoff Collins at Temple. Barely two weeks later, he decided to stay in Miami after Mark Richt’s unexpected retirement on December 30th. Diaz was apologetic to Temple’s fanbase, but there’s a number of good reasons why he chose to stay. He orchestrated some truly nasty defenses for The U over the past two seasons and was the obvious heir apparent if anything should happen.

Richt seemed to lack the magic touch with quarterbacks that he was praised for at Georgia, and that has been the perennial issue for the Canes: inconsistent offense and a lack of scoring. If Diaz can inject just a little bit of offensive prowess into his roster, Miami could be back in business. No one is more passionate or more dedicated, and Diaz might have what it takes to finish the job that Richt left for him.

2018-19 coaching carousel

#20 – Tom Arth, Akron Zips

• Age: 37
• Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
• Alma Mater: John Carroll University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Chattanooga

Terry Bowden overachieved for several years at Akron, securing a MAC East Division title as recently as 2017, but the program never took advantage of their fertile recruiting region and the Zips’ offensive struggles were well-documented.

Arth is far from a known commodity — he played at D-III powerhouse John Carroll before embarking upon a whirlwind pro career that included brief stints in the NFL, CFL and now-defunct NFL Europe. He got his first head coaching gig at his alma mater in 2013, leading the Blue Streaks to a 40-8 record and three D-III playoff berths before departing for FCS Chattanooga for the 2017 season. As a Cleveland native, he knows the area well and is considered a quarterback guru, but this hire came out of nowhere. 

#19 – Will Healy, Charlotte 49ers

• Age: 33
• Hometown: Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Alma Mater: The University of Richmond
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Austin Peay

Brad Lambert, the founding coach of the 49ers, managed a mere 11 wins in four years after transitioning from the FCS level and never finished higher than fifth in C-USA’s East Division. While it looked like Lambert had the Niners on the verge of a breakthrough on more than one occasion, there was never much chance for sustained success under his watch apart from the occasional upset.

Healy, meanwhile, took over a long-downtrodden program at FCS Austin Peay at the age of 30 and improved them significantly in his three seasons at the helm. Charlotte has nice facilities and is located in a terrific recruiting region, so there’s potential here to give a sleeping giant of a program a shot in the arm, but Healy still has much to prove as a first-time FBS head coach.

#18 – Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

• Age: 41
• Hometown: Gainesville, Florida
• Alma Mater: The University of Houston
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Tennessee

WKU’s decade and a half of FBS football has been a rollercoaster: no coach has stayed in Bowling Green for more than three seasons. While the ‘Toppers experienced major success in the Willie Taggart era (2009-12) and the Jeff Brohm era (2014-16), they fell flat on their faces under Mike Sanford’s watch, going 6-7 in 2017 and 3-9 in ’18.

Helton, the younger brother of USC coach Clay Helton, worked under Brohm for two seasons and was most recently offensive coordinator at Tennessee. Known as an ace recruiter, Helton also has a solid pedigree as a quarterback developer, including first-round NFL Draft pick Sam Darnold. On the surface, this seems like a decent hire, but can WKU get back to the top in an increasingly competitive Conference USA? 

#17 – Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green Falcons

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Barberton, Ohio
• Alma Mater: The University of Michigan
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Boston College

Loeffler has an eye-catching resume as an assistant coach, beginning his career at his alma mater when Brian Griese and Tom Brady were lighting up scoreboards in the late 90s. More recently, Loeffler was Tim Tebow’s quarterbacks coach at Florida in 2009, while also working as an offensive coordinator at Temple, Auburn, Virginia Tech and Boston College, where he reunited with Steve Addazio, another former Florida assistant.

Former coach Mike Jinks was an odd fit at BGSU from the get-go, as a Texas native with no prior connections to the MAC or even previous FBS coordinator experience. While the Falcons recruited well under his watch, the results were extremely disappointing after the wildly successful Dino Babers era (2014-15) and the Dave Clawson era before that (2009-13). Porous defenses didn’t help, either.

Loeffler lacks head coaching experience and has been criticized for his conservative play-calling at VT and BC. Bowling Green traditionally doesn’t stay down for long, however, so Loeffler’s staff just might have the pieces to make a move in a relatively weak MAC East division.

#16 – Mike Locksley, Maryland Terrapins

• Age: 48
• Hometown: Washington, D.C.
• Alma Mater: Towson University
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator, Alabama

The writing had been on the wall for sometime in College Park, after the tragic heatstroke-related death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair during the summer, followed by multiple allegations of player abuse and a toxic culture under coach D.J. Durkin. Interim coach/offensive coordinator Matt Canada did an admirable job keeping the locker room united and the Terps competitive on the field in 2018, but school administration decided it was best to clean house. Enter Locksley, a former Terps offensive coordinator (2012-15) who was most recently at Alabama, where he won the Broyles Award in 2018 (given to the nation’s top assistant coach).

The elephant in the room: Locksley’s only prior head coaching experience was at New Mexico (2009-11), where he went a horrendous 2-26 before getting fired halfway through his third season. Among the lowlights in Albuquerque included Locksley punching an assistant coach and serving a one-week suspension, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his former administrative assistant (the case was later dropped) and a stolen vehicle driven by a Lobo player that was registered in Locksley’s name.

If you want to play devil’s advocate, you could argue in favor of Locksley’s exceptional recruiting chops and his time spent in Tuscaloosa. If Lane Kiffin can rehabilitate his image after working under Nick Saban & Co., why can’t Locksley? On the other hand, Locksley’s tumultuous tenure at New Mexico will be an issue until he proves otherwise.

As for the job itself, things could be worse. The Terps have no shortage of athleticism, in addition to outstanding facilities and a passionate fanbase, but they’ve frequently battled the injury bug and have found it difficult to be consistently competitive in the rugged Big Ten East.

#15 – Walt Bell, UMass Minutemen

• Age: 34
• Hometown: Dickson, Tennessee
• Alma Mater: Middle Tennessee State University
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Florida State

Bell has been regarded as one of the nation’s up-and-coming coordinators after developing up-tempo, pass-happy attacks at Arkansas State, Maryland and Florida State. Bell cut his teeth under spread offense gurus like Blake Anderson and Larry Fedora and his palpable enthusiasm should translate at UMass, one of the toughest jobs in the country.

Even Mark Whipple, the winningest coach in school history, couldn’t get the Minutemen over the hump during his second tenure in Amherst, winning only 16 games in the past five seasons. Granted, three of those seasons were as an FBS independent playing brutal schedules, but the Minutemen still need consistency across the board, plus a better defense.

#14 – Mike Houston, East Carolina Pirates

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Franklin, North Carolina
• Alma Mater: Mars Hill University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, James Madison

Houston might be one of the nation’s best coaches that you haven’t heard of yet. Not only did he win 37 games and an FCS national championship in three seasons at James Madison (2016-18), he also enjoyed a three-year run of success at D-II Lenoir-Rhyne College and at The Citadel.

The Pirates have one of the more demanding and passionate fanbases in the Group of Five, and they certainly need someone who understands the dynamics and expectations. Houston has the personality and coaching acumen to turn things around in Greenville.

#13 – Mack Brown, North Carolina Tar Heels

• Age: 67
• Hometown: Cookeville, Tennessee
• Alma Mater: Florida State University
• Previous Job: ESPN analyst

Brown is hardly a young, fresh face, but he’s still the winningest coach in UNC history a full two decades after leaving Chapel Hill. The current issues with this roster are plentiful, but the Heels have proven resilient in the past, and Brown has not been shy about expecting to win immediately. After five years in the ESPN broadcast booth following his dismissal at Texas, Brown claims that he’s ready to get back into coaching, and he managed to haul in a nice recruiting class during the December early signing period.

#12 – Hugh Freeze, Liberty Flames

• Age: 49
• Hometown: Senatobia, Mississippi
• Alma Mater: The University of Southern Mississippi
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Ole Miss

Ex-head coach Turner Gill did an admirable job prepping Liberty for its FBS transition in 2018, but he never won more than eight games in a season. It seemed that the program had stagnated under his watch despite solid recruiting classes and significantly upgraded facilities, and Gill chose to step down in November to spend more time with his wife, who suffers from a chronic illness.

No one doubts Freeze’s coaching chops, but his personal indiscretions have been well-documented and Ole Miss is still suffering from scholarship reductions and postseason bans from his tenure. Can Freeze redeem himself a la Bobby Petrino and Lane Kiffin? Or will the Flames slip through the cracks as they try to keep their heads above water in the FBS?

#11 – Jim McElwain, Central Michigan Chippewas

• Age: 56
• Hometown: Missoula, Montana
• Alma Mater: Eastern Washington University
• Previous Job: Wide Receivers Coach, Michigan

McElwain stumbled at Florida under the albatross of high expectations, but his three-year stint at Colorado State (2012-14) was excellent. Following his unceremonious mid-season dumping at Florida in 2017, McElwain was thrown a lifeline by another Coach Jim — Harbaugh — and landed at Michigan last season, where he coached the wide receivers in a revitalized offensive attack.

CMU is in an interesting spot. The recently fired John Bonamego was an alum and an all-around likable guy, but no one saw the disastrous 2018 season coming, where the Chippewas finished 1-11 after reaching bowl games in each of Bonamego’s first three years. The Chips needed to make a smart hire considering historic rivals WMU and EMU are on the rise in the MAC West. In McElwain, they think they’ve found someone they can believe in.

#10 – Jake Spavital, Texas State Bobcats

• Age: 33
• Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Alma Mater: Missouri State University
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, West Virginia

Spavital is a coaching wunderkind, having already compiled a sterling resumé at age 33. He coached Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M, he worked the Air Raid under Sonny Dykes for two seasons at Cal, and was most recently calling plays at West Virginia while mentoring future NFL starter Will Grier.

It may not seem like it, but the Texas State job is one of the more difficult in the country right now. No-nonsense Everett Withers was a highly-regarded defensive guru when he arrived in San Marcos, fresh off back-to-back nine-win seasons at FCS powerhouse JMU. Inheriting an undisciplined team, Withers burned the program to the ground and began a youth movement. The result? Seven wins in almost three seasons — including a 2-20 mark in the Sun Belt. Withers was fired shortly before the 2018 season finale.

Spavital is facing an uphill battle, with little proven talent, dwindling attendance rates, lackluster facilities and little local media coverage in a market dominated by the neighboring Longhorns. At 33, he will be the second-youngest coach in the nation behind Kent State’s Sean Lewis. However, as a high-risk, high-reward hire, this could actually work out swimmingly.

#9 – Eliah Drinkwitz, Appalachian State Mountaineers

• Age: 35
• Hometown: Norman, Oklahoma
• Alma Mater: Arkansas Tech University
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, NC State

Like Spavital, Drinkwitz is a highly-regarded young offensive mind who worked under acclaimed coaches for many years, in this case Auburn’s Gus Malzahn and Boise State’s Bryan Harsin. Following his tenure in Boise, Drinkwitz moved to NC State, taking quarterback Ryan Finley with him and eventually developing him into an NFL prospect.

As for App State, they’ve handled the FCS-to-FBS transition as well as anyone, winning 47 games in the past six seasons under Scott Satterfield. They have the winning traditions and the rowdy fanbase to make up for geographic disadvantages, and Drinkwitz should feel right at home.

#8 – Gary Andersen, Utah State Aggies

• Age: 54
• Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
• Alma Mater: The University of Utah
• Previous Job: Defensive Line Coach, Utah

Matt Wells did what very few have done over the years — he made Utah State into a consistent contender. In his six-year tenure, he won 44 games and took the Aggies to five bowl games. Replacing him will be a guy who also won at USU: Andersen, who hired Wells as his offensive coordinator/QB coach in 2011 before eventually departing for Wisconsin and, later, Oregon State. Andersen landed at Utah last season, where he coached the defensive line.

Andersen has a proven winning formula and he should have something to prove after his tumultuous exit in Corvallis, in which he resigned in September 2017, bad-mouthed his assistant coaches to the press, and refused his $12 million buyout.

#7 – Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

• Age: 47
• Hometown: Conyers, Georgia
• Alma Mater: Western Carolina University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Temple

While many assumed that longtime coach Paul Johnson would retire on his own terms several years down the line, he surprised many by stepping down shortly before the Jackets’ bowl game destination was announced. Georgia Tech had taken a step back in the past few seasons, so this was understandable.

Collins, a Peach State native and former Georgia Tech assistant, kept Temple relevant in the American Athletic Conference during his two-year tenure and was known for his charismatic, fun-loving persona, which rubbed off on his players. He also has a well-deserved reputation for stingy defenses from his time at Mississippi State and Florida.

The immediate problem will be the tricky scheme transition on offense. While Johnson’s triple-option offense was a big equalizer in the ACC, fans have been complaining for years about the limiting factor it has on the athletes the Yellow Jackets can recruit. Granted, Georgia Tech is very selective academically, but they’ve shown that they can find elite athletes (Calvin Johnson, anyone?). It’ll be a bumpy transition in Year One, but there’s plenty of reasons for fans to be excited about Collins.

#6 – Scott Satterfield, Louisville Cardinals

• Age: 45
• Hometown: Hillsborough, North Carolina
• Alma Mater: Appalachian State University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Appalachian State

It seemed like just yesterday that analysts and experts were pegging Satterfield as a coaching lifer at his alma mater, where he won 51 games in six seasons. But things don’t always work out that way.

Bobby Petrino’s second stint as Louisville coach was a remarkable underachievement considering he had a once-in-a-generation QB to work with. But even with Lamar Jackson, the Cardinals could never overtake Clemson in the ACC Atlantic, and without him, their larger issues were exposed. A porous offensive line, an equally porous defense, and a lack of depth all contributed to a disastrous 2-10 season and Petrino’s November dismissal.

Meanwhile, Satterfield won (or shared) three straight Sun Belt titles at Appalachian State and also won three bowl games. The Cards never seem to lack for talent at the skill positions and typically punch above their weight in recruiting. With Satterfield at the helm, this could be a relatively quick fix.

#5 – Chris Klieman, Kansas State Wildcats

• Age: 51
• Hometown: Waterloo, Iowa
• Alma Mater: The University of Northern Iowa
• Previous Job: Head Coach, North Dakota State

It’s a daunting task to take over for Hall of Famer Bill Snyder, whoever you are. But Klieman isn’t most coaches. The man inherited a well-oiled machine at FCS North Dakota State and kept the juggernaut going the past five seasons after Craig Bohl’s departure for Wyoming. A 68-6 record in football, regardless of level, is eyebrow-raising, and Klieman’s relationship with K-State athletic director Gene Taylor certainly didn’t hurt, either.

Snyder has a well-deserved reputation as an overachiever, but the program seemed to lack excitement in recent seasons, and misses on the recruiting trail didn’t help. It’ll be quite a step up from Fargo to Manhattan, but Klieman has all the tools at his disposal to make it a smooth transition.

#4 – Mel Tucker, Colorado Buffaloes

• Age: 46
• Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
• Alma Mater: The University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs, Georgia

After a six-game losing streak in the latter half of the 2018 season, Colorado AD Rick George decided that it was time to move on. Outside of the 2016 Pac-12 South championship season, CU never made a bowl game under Mike MacIntyre and finished last place in the South Division four out of five times. Tucker, meanwhile, has an outstanding reputation: he worked in the NFL for a decade as well as powerhouse college programs like Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and (most recently) Georgia. The Buffs have a nice nucleus of talent, experience and athleticism, but their margin for error remains as slim as ever.

#3 – Matt Wells, Texas Tech Red Raiders

• Age: 45
• Hometown: Columbia, South Carolina
• Alma Mater: Utah State University
• Previous Job: Head Coach, Utah State

Texas Tech is a program that will always hang its hat on offense — particularly the Air Raid — and in that sense, Kliff Kingsbury was the perfect fit as a Mike Leach disciple and a TTU alum. Despite promising gains on defense late in his tenure, the Raiders were never able to hang with the elites in the Big 12 and frequently choked in big games. Wells, on the other hand, is a proven program builder who helped take Utah State (his alma mater) to unforeseen heights, winning 44 games and going to five bowls in six seasons. He has the pieces in place to win immediately in Lubbock.

#2 – Les Miles, Kansas Jayhawks

• Age: 65
• Hometown: Elyria, Ohio
• Alma Mater: The University of Michigan
• Previous Job: Head Coach, LSU

You couldn’t have predicted a more interesting hire, as Miles is essentially the polar opposite of David Beaty. Beaty was a little-known Texas A&M wide receivers coach who jumped into a train wreck of a program in Lawrence after the spectacular failures of Charlie Weis and Turner Gill. Meanwhile, Miles won over 100 games at LSU — not to mention a national championship — and has prior Big 12 experience at Oklahoma State (2001-04). Naysayers will point to his age, his conservative offensive style and his lack of success with quarterbacks at LSU, but Miles is undoubtedly a home-run hire for a KU program that has been the Big 12’s laughingstock for the past decade.

#1 – Ryan Day, Ohio State Buckeyes

• Age: 39
• Hometown: Manchester, New Hampshire
• Alma Mater: The University of New Hampshire
• Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Ohio State

After a trying season both on and off the field, Urban Meyer finally elected to call it quits (again), citing health reasons (again). Day, who served as interim coach during Meyer’s September suspension and went 3-0 during that time, has done an excellent job as offensive coordinator and is a proven recruiter. The question remains if Day can continue keeping Ohio State as a perennial national title contender or if there’s a chance the Buckeyes can slip behind the Big Ten elite.

Coaches on the rise (2018)

Rhett Lashlee — Offensive Coordinator, SMU

Lashlee goes way back with Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn — he quarterbacked a record-setting offense for Malzahn at Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Arkansas before following his mentor into the college game, first at Arkansas State (2012) followed by Auburn (2013-16). He transformed a previously stagnant offense at UConn last season before joining forces with Air Raid guru Sonny Dykes at SMU. Lashlee is still only 35 and has an infectious energy that pays dividends in recruiting. Look for him to get a head coaching shot sooner rather than later, most likely at a mid-major school in the south.

Neal Brown — Head Coach, Troy

Amazingly, Brown is still at Troy after a fantastic 2017 season that saw the Trojans stun LSU on the road and claim a share of a Sun Belt championship. Brown’s exciting Air Raid offenses have lit up the scoreboard frequently, while his defenses have been marked by speedy playmakers who create turnovers at just the right time. Brown has won two bowl games in two years and has a combined 13-3 record in conference play. While he has no shortage of big-time offers, don’t be surprised if Brown waits for the perfect opportunity to become a head coach at a higher-profile program.

Beau Baldwin — Offensive Coordinator, Cal

Born in Santa Barbara, California and raised in Spokane, Washington, Baldwin has a sterling resumé: he’s a former quarterback with plenty of experience in innovative offensive systems, and he’s also experienced at the lower levels of Division 1. Baldwin coached at Eastern Washington from 2008-2016, posting an overall 85-32 mark, six FCS playoff appearances, and one FCS national title (2010). Baldwin was rumored to be a finalist for the Oregon State job this past offseason until it went to Jonathan Smith, so look out for his name when the 2018-19 coaching carousel starts spinning.

Ryan Day — Co-Offensive Coordinator, Ohio State

At this point, I’m basically contractually obligated to put at least one Urban Meyer assistant on these lists. What can I say? The Ohio State boss can flat-out coach. So can all of his assistants from top to bottom, and Day is no exception. In addition to Meyer, the 39-year-old Day coached under Chip Kelly at New Hampshire, Steve Addazio at Temple and Boston College, and even got some NFL experience under his belt (with the 49ers and Eagles). Day could be an ideal fit at a lower-level Group of Five program that needs a shot in the arm offensively.

Mike Elko — Defensive Coordinator, Texas A&M

Elko has been a high-riser in the coaching ranks in recent seasons, and for good reason. His defenses have been among the most statistically impressive in the FBS. He worked under Dave Clawson at Bowling Green (2009-2013) and Wake Forest (2014-2016) before engineering an eye-opening turnaround at Notre Dame last season. Seeing Elko’s lasting success, Jimbo Fisher immediately hired him when he took over at Texas A&M this past offseason. The jury’s still out on whether Fisher is the long-term right choice for the Aggies, but Elko is likely to get plenty of calls coming his way this coming winter for coaching vacancies.

Walt Bell — Offensive Coordinator, Florida State

There’s a lot to like about Bell, who cut his teeth under spread offense wizards like Larry Fedora (Southern Miss, North Carolina) and Blake Anderson (Arkansas State). In 2016, he was scooped up by D.J. Durkin at Maryland, where he made an offense hum for two seasons despite dealing with tons of injuries at quarterback. Seeing his potential, Willie Taggart tabbed him as his new coordinator this past winter in Tallahassee. If Florida State’s offense gets back to its lethal standard, watch out…

Alex Grinch — Co-Defensive Coordinator, Ohio State

The 37-year-old Ohio native is back in his home state after earning rave reviews for his revamping of the Washington State defense for the past three seasons. Grinch earned nominations for the Broyles Award all three years (given to the nation’s top assistant coach) and helped the Cougars improve dramatically in forced turnovers and yards allowed.

Chip Lindsey — Offensive Coordinator, Auburn

Another Gus Malzahn disciple, Lindsey first got into the college game in 2010. Since then, he’s been a coordinator for high-powered spread offenses at Southern Miss, Arizona State, and now Auburn. Given Malzahn’s coaching tree and their track record, Lindsey will certainly be another name to watch in the near future.

Manny Diaz — Defensive Coordinator, Miami

Remember Miami’s supersized turnover chain last year? You can thank Diaz for that. The well-traveled Florida native has managed to make an impact at every stop he’s been, starting with his first DC position at Middle Tennessee in 2006, followed by Mississippi State (twice), Louisiana Tech and Texas. He could be in high demand if the right job opens.

Seth Littrell — Head Coach, North Texas

A former Oklahoma Sooner running back, Littrell has already gotten Mean Green fans as excited as they’ve ever been in the modern era. While a 14-13 record in two seasons might not sound earth-shattering, Littrell’s teams have featured explosive offenses, gone 10-6 in conference play and been to back-to-back bowl games. With another big season in Denton, the 40-year-old Littrell might be on Power Five teams’ radars.