It’s time to set up the coaching carousel! P4 head coaching jobs will probably be very sparse this year, as athletic departments will be on the hook to pay players and are apparently no longer willing to pay the monstrous buyouts that many of their coaches have. But there may still be plenty of action in the Group of 5 (and among coordinators). Here’s the current list of FBS HC moves (I’ll update it as it spins along):
- App State:
Shawn Clarkreplaced by Dowell Loggains (South Carolina OC) - Ball State:
Mike Neureplaced by Mike Uremovich (Butler HC) - Central Michigan:
Jim McElwain(retired) replaced by Matt Drinkall (Army OC, Kansas Wesleyan HC) - Charlotte:
Biff Poggireplaced by Tim Albin (Ohio HC) - East Carolina:
Mike Houstonreplaced by Blake Harrell (ECU DC & interim HC) - FAU:
Tom Hermanreplaced by Zach Kittley (Texas Tech OC) - FIU:
Mike MacIntyrereplaced by Willie Simmons (Duke RBs, FAMU HC, PVAMU HC) - Fresno State:
Jeff Tedford(resigned in off-season) replaced by Matt Entz (USC LBs, North Dakota State HC) - Jacksonville State:
Rich Rodriguezreplaced by OPEN - Kennesaw State:
Brian Bohannonreplaced by Jerry Mack (Jaguars RBs, Tennessee RBs, NC Central HC) - Marshall:
Charles Huffreplaced by Tony Gibson (NC State DC, West Virginia DC) - New Mexico:
Bronco Mendenhallreplaced by Jason Eck (Idaho HC) - North Carolina:
Mack Brownreplaced by Bill Belichick (Patriots HC) - Ohio:
Tim Albinreplaced by Brian Smith (Ohio OC) - Purdue:
Ryan Waltersreplaced by Barry Odom (UNLV HC, Missouri HC) - Rice:
Mike Bloomgrenreplaced by Scott Abell (Davidson HC) - Sam Houston:
K.C. Keelerreplaced by Phil Longo (Wisconsin OC) - Southern Miss:
Will Hallreplaced by Charles Huff (Marshall HC, Alabama AHC) - Temple:
Stan Draytonreplaced by K.C. Keeler (Sam Houston HC, Delaware HC) - Tulsa:
Kevin Wilsonreplaced by Tre Lamb (East Tennessee State HC, Gardner-Webb HC) - UCF:
Gus Malzahnreplaced by Scott Frost (Nebraska HC, UCF HC) - UMass:
Don Brownreplaced by Joe Harasymiak (Rutgers DC) - UNLV:
Barry Odomreplaced by Dan Mullen (Florida HC, Mississippi State HC) - Utah State:
Blake Andersonreplaced by Bronco Mendenhall (New Mexico HC, UVA HC, BYU HC) - Wake Forest:
Dave Clawsonreplaced by Jake Dickert (Washington State HC) - Washington State:
Jake Dickertreplaced by OPEN - West Virginia:
Neal Brownreplaced by Rich Rodriguez (Jacksonville State HC, Arizona HC, Michigan HC, WVU HC)
Other notes: A lot of “hot seats” (e.g. Arkansas, Baylor, Florida, West Virginia) probably cooled off by winning enough games. Mack Brown at UNC claims he’s not retiring. Deion Sanders at CU claims he does not intend to go to the NFL.
Want to pawn off your disappointing coach/assistants on an unsuspecting team? Try to sell me on them in the comments!
Scott Frost and UCF are getting back together
Hoping off the gus bus to get back into the scott pott? Interesting choice
Is Lincoln Riley sitting on a heating pad? I feel like he should be, but at the same time I just feel so much indifference from west coast schools these days. Like even Oregon seems to be j chillin. But the original point stands, Lincoln Riley has been underperforming since his arrival and USC seems deflated.
They looked good yesterday and have lost most of their games by close scores. I think he has next year to prove something and if not he’s gone.
I assume that chilling or not, Oregon is pretty happy with Lanning right now.
For USC, I think there’s some truth (though potentially more clear-eyed than Sooner fans would like to admit) to the idea that Riley didn’t want to deal with the SEC from Norman. In a normal human world, that makes sense, but CFB head coaches are nutjobs in a constant pressure cooker, and decision making that comes off as normal is probably a competitive disadvantage. Dude is on the Kingsbury track, just after a higher level of CFB success.
I think the Kingsbury path has closed. At the time Kliff made the jump, the NFL had yet to fully adopt air raid concepts. I don’t watch much of the league, but it seems like now they’ve mastered it so I don’t really know what he has to offer. I’d be kind of surprised if he landed an OC job in the NFL, let alone a HC position.
This thread actually tipped me off to this, but I’ll comment here for discussion. WVU decides to bring back Rich Rod to replace Neal Brown!
https://www.wdtv.com/2024/12/11/west-virginia-hires-rich-rodriguez-36th-head-football-coach/
I don’t know how I feel about this. I’m one of the fans that are still bitter about the way he left. Regardless, I worry his moment has passed and we can’t get that lightning back into the bottle.
That caught me by surprise. I thought they’d let him retire on his own terms, but I guess they were hoping it would be this year and his statement otherwise forced their hand. I’ll always be grateful for what Mack did for Texas, but I also resent how poor the culture became at the end of his tenure here. UNC seemed to be heading down a similar path.
The Pokes flirted with the carousel, but decided to keep Mike Gundy
Hes a man!
Utah State brings Bronco Mendenhall home
