Grading College Football's First Year Head Coaches For 2009

22 FBS teams started the 2009 season under a new head coach. Some will go on to lead their respected programs to championship-level competiveness while others will fail miserably.

But all begin the same, and that is standing behind a podium with the university's insignia all over the backdrop proclaiming a return to greatness and assuring all that the right decision was made when selecting a head coach.

Now that the regular season is over we have somewhat of an idea as to which coach is on the right track, which coach still has a lot of work to do and which coach is just running their program even further into the ground.

Listed are 11 programs out of 22 that started the 2009 season with a new head coach. Each coach has received a grade based upon a number of things but the three main factors are:
1. Wins/Improvement: Does this coach make the team better.
2. Character: How does this coach represent his university and team.
3. Recruiting: Can/is this coach bringing in talented players for the future.

Rich Ellerson, Army (D+)

Rich Ellerson lead Army to 5-7 his first year as head coach, which is two wins better than Stan Brock's 2008 Black Knight squad. Ellerson's biggest win in 09 was a 17-13 OT win at home against Vanderbilt but also struggled at home to get wins against Ball State and North Texas.

I really think this was probably the best hire Army could find, Ellerson did a very good job while at Cal Poly and if he can get this Army team bowl eligible within the next two seasons the guy deserves Coach of the Year awards.

Gene Chizik, Auburn (B)

Ok, here's a guy that was a questionable hire for head coach, but he comes in and brings a new offensive scheme, wins some games that most thought he would lose, and comes within a few points of leading his team to victory over their arch rival that just so happens to be on course to possibly win a national championship and everyone believes that he's on the right track.

That sounds just like Gene Chizik's first year as the University of Auburn's Head Coach, right? It also sounds a lot like Charlie Weis' first year at Notre Dame.

Do I think that Gene Chizik will suffer the same fate as Weis? Who can say for sure. I will say that I'm not sold at all on Chizik and his so-called "offensive guru" Gus Malzahn. I personally feel that Malzahn is a glorified high school coach and yes I am aware of the fact that Auburn had one of the more productive offense's against unranked opponents but once the gimmick's run out Malzahn doesn't seem to adjust too well.

But on a positive note Auburn did improve under Chizik's watch and they're off to a great start in recruiting. I think Chizik brings quite a few pros with him to the Plains. He seems to be a classy guy that runs a clean and tight ship but I just don't think he'll ever be able to compete with Saban in state and I would be very surprised to see Auburn win more than eight or nine games in a season while Chizik is there.

Remember Auburn blew three 14-0 leads, two of which were at home, and nearly blew multiple leads against Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. But Chizik came in his first year under heavy scrutiny and did a damn good job and for that I'll give him a B but I just don't think he'll be the guy that will put Auburn in the mix for the SEC title.

Frank Spaziani, Boston College (B)

Jan. 13, 2009, Boston College AD Gene DeFilippo announces that Frank Spaziani will be the new head football coach for the BC Eagles. DeFilippo went on to say that they [BC] wanted to find someone who really wanted to be at Boston College, more than anywhere else.

After the fiasco that took place between former head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, the university and an interview with the New York Jets, I'm really surprised that BC was able to find a coach outside of the high school ranks that "really wanted to be there more than anywhere else".

My hat's off to Coach Spaziani for even taking this job to begin with. In the Eagles first year under Spaziani they went 8-4 during the regular season but the games they did lose, they got hammered.

I see BC's defense improving over the next couple of years under Spaziani and so far he hasn't done a bad job in recruiting, bringing in the top recruit in the state of New Jersey WR Shakim Phillips and blue chip LB Kevin Pierre-Louis.

Dabo Swinney, Clemson (A-)

Clemson couldn't have made a better choice for their new head coach. Dabo Swinney finished his interim year with a record of 4-2 and his first complete year as Clemson's head coach at 9-6.

Swinney took the Tigers to their first ACC Championship game this year and was just a few plays away from winning it. The loss against Maryland was the only real low point to an otherwise productive first year for Swinney.

I think Clemson fans should expect big things to come in the future with Swinney at the helm. Clemson is loaded with talent and the only real threat they face over the next few years in the Atlantic Division is a resurgent FSU squad.

Overall, Swinney is one of the best X's and O's coach in the game, a great recruiter and has proven so far that he is the right man for the job.

Paul Rhoads, Iowa State (A)

Rhoads should be the Big 12 coach of the year. The Cyclones' first-year coach Paul Rhoads turned around a team that finished 2-10 in 2008 and was winless in eight Big 12 games to 6-6 during the regular season and 3-5 in conference play for 2009 which included ISU's first win over Nebraska in Lincoln since 1977.

Rhoads capped off his first season at ISU with a 14-13 win over Minnesota in the Insight Bowl finishing with a record of 7-6. I guess it's fair to say that both ISU and Auburn are better due to the coaching change...or switch.

Dan Mullen, Mississippi State (B)

Looking at MSU's 2009 record there isn't much difference between Mullen's first year and Croom's last year except one win but to the Bulldog faithful it was a BIG ONE: and that was a 41-27 thumping of arch rival Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.

Despite finshing 5-7 in his first year at the helm I think Dan Mullen will do great things in Starkville. Besides the loss at home to Alabama, MSU was within arms length of a victory heading into the fourth quarter of every game they lost.

With up and coming players like Chad Bumphis and Tyler Russell then add into the mix the wealth of talent that comes from the Southeast pipeline, I think within the next two or three years MSU could be one of the top three teams in the SEC West.

Chip Kelly, Oregon (A)

After starting the season off with a loss to Boise State the future didn't look so bright for Chip Kelly, but my oh my how things changed for the first year HC.

He went on to bring the Ducks their first Pac-10 title since 2001, including a huge 47-20 smackdown over Pac-10 rival USC.

Considering that this is Chip Kelly's first stint as head coach at any school and that only three years ago he was just an offensive coordinator at New Hampshire I'm gonna give the guy an A.

Despite a dismal performance in the Rose Bowl against OSU and a tough loss against Stanford during the regular season, Chip Kelly's first year as Oregon's skipper was a definite success.

Danny Hope, Purdue (D)

Danny Hope was the first of the four "head coaches to be" to actually take over as head coach in 2009 and I'd have to say that the jury is still out on Hope.

The Boilermakers only improved by one game under Hope from last season but he did manage to lead them to victory over Ohio St. and Michigan in the same season, something that's only happened twice before this year.

And that says that either Hope knows how to get his players ready for big games or he's just really lucky, the truth lies somewhere in between I'm sure.

Hope definitely has his work cut out for him. The state of Indiana isn't exactly a hot bed for recruiting and when the state does produce blue-chip recruits they usually go to Notre Dame, Ohio St., or Michigan. So far for the 2010 recruiting class, Purdue's top recruit is from the state of Florida.

If Purdue fans consider an 8-5 season and a middle-tier bowl game a success then I think Danny Hope will be a successful head coach. If they're looking for a coach to lead them into contention for the Big 10 title, they should probably lower their standards a bit.

Doug Marrone, Syracuse (D)

The fact that the New Orleans Saints got better offensively after Marrone left as OC is not a good sign. Doug Marrone is a former Syracuse offensive lineman that played for the Orange from 1983-1985 and on Dec.11, 2008 was chosen to replace Greg Robinson as head coach.

Marrone takes over a Syracuse team that went 10-37 under Robinson in Big East games, a record that will have to improve greatly if Marrone expects to continue as head coach. It is rumored that when Marrone was interviewed for the position that he already had a folder with a lot of the current high school football players in the Syracuse area to get a head start in recruiting.

On paper Doug Marrone looks like a smart hire and he actually has a decent enough resume but this just might be a little more than he's ready to handle.

Lane Kiffin, Tennessee (F-)

In my 25 years of playing, coaching and writing about sports I have never seen a coach at such a high level conduct themselves quite like that of Lane Kiffin.

Here's a guy that has made Al Davis look like Nostradamus for crying out loud! And what's worse is that he's fooled Vol fans into thinking that his grabasstic behavior is all part of some grand scheme to force the Tennessee football program into the consciousness of the American public and have recruits knocking down the doors to come play for such a rebel coach.

Since his first day as head coach for the Tennessee Volunteers he has been nothing but a gigantic black eye over the entire SEC. In just one season Kiffin has committed at least six secondary violations that we know of, falsely accused Urban Meyer of cheating, got banned from recruiting from a Florida high school, and recruited a convicted rapist and that was all before the season started.

If Mike Hamilton has any sense at all, he'd fire Kiffin today and start looking for a respectable coach that can represent the university and do it with class. The longer Kiffin stays the worse things will get for Tennessee.

Steve Sarkisian, Washington (A)

Last, but certainly not least, is Washington head coach and former USC OC Steve Sarkisian. A first year head coach that took over a Washington squad that was winless in 2008 to one win away from bowl eligibility in 2009.

With Jake Locker set to return for his senior season, year two under Sarkisian should be a good one. Sarkisian was the best hire out of all the first year head coaches and will lead Washington back to the top of the Pac 10 over the next few years. The 2010 recruiting class is already considered to be one of the top 10 in the country by some recruiting services and recruiting will only get better as the Huskies improve on the field.

Steve Sarkisian, I believe, will lead Washington back to the greatness they enjoyed under legendary coach Don James.