New College Football Hires: Top 10 List

How many of us knew that college football would still be one of the lead stories in sports after almost three weeks after the BCS National Championship game?

That's exactly what has happened especially after there have been twenty one coaching changes in college football.

From Brian Kelly jumping ship from Cincinnati and ending up at Notre Dame to Pete Carroll heading back to the NFL to Lane Kiffin turning tail and running back to Southern California to become the head man at USC. There's been no shortage of drama so far this off season.

Here are the Top 10 new coaching hires around college football.

No. 10 - Tommy Tuberville (Texas Tech)

Most thought that Texas Tech was going to go out and find someone that would be able to continue what former head coach Mike Leach had started.

When the announcement was made that the new hire was former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville, there was more of a question mark than when the search began.

The hire of Tuberville comes as somewhat of a surprise after Athletic Director Gerald Myers showed a great deal of interest in Baylor coach Art Briles this week before being rebuffed. Myers said he expected to expand his search, but in the end settled on the first outside coach to publicly express interest in replacing Mike Leach last weekend. - Fanhouse.com

Although Tech fans may not be sure about him, there's something to be said for a guy who finished with an 85-40 record at Auburn, eight bowl appearances in 10 seasons (5-3 record) and finished ranked in the Top 25 in six of those 10 seasons including a No. 2 ranking in 2004.

No. 9 - Doc Holliday (Marshall)

Not your A-typical No. 9 selection but Doc Holliday could be one of the more underrated coaching hires.

The former West Virginia assistant coach takes his recruiting prowess to Marshall and will attempt to rebuild a program to it's former grandeur since the days of Byron Leftwich.

Holliday coached big time Big East receivers like Reggie Rembert (third team All-American), Rahsaan Vanterpool (three time All-Big East receiver), David Saunders (All-Big East receiver), Shawn Foreman (All-Big East receiver) and Khori Ivy (All-Big East receiver).

He was also credited for recruiting All-American linebacker Steve Grant who spent six seasons with the Indianapolis Colts after his days with West Virginia.

No. 8 - Mike London (Virginia)

London is no stranger to the University of Virginia, having been the team's defensive coordinator back in 2006.

During his tenure, the Cavalier defense gave up just 289.5 yards per game, the lowest in twenty seven years.

Two years later, London was named the head coach of the Richmond Spiders. That same year, Richmond would start the season with four wins in its first seven games and then won nine straight on the way to an FCS National Championship.

During that nine game stretch, the Spiders averaged over 31 points per game while giving up just 12.5 points per game.

No. 7 - Joker Phillips (Kentucky)

It seemed like everybody in Lexington knew this was coming, it was just a matter of time.

Now the time has come for Joker Phillips to take the reins of the alma mater and lead them to new heights.

Former head coach, Rich Brooks, names Phillips the successor two years ago. Now that Brooks has retired it's Phillips' turn to pick up where Brooks left off which includes a streak of four straight bowl appearances.

The Kentucky football program is on it's way up and they may have the right guy to continue the ascension.

No. 6 - Butch Jones (Cincinnati)

Jones was named the head coach at the University of Cincinnati on December 16, 2009 after former head coach Brian Kelly left for the head coaching job at Notre Dame.

After his two seasons with West Virginia Jones comes off working for current Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia in 2006 and 2007. Jones took the head coaching position at Central Michigan where he finished 27-13 over three seasons including two firsts for the program.

In September of 2007, Central Michigan beat Northern Illinois University for the first time since 1998. Almost two months later, they knocked off rival Western Michigan on the road for the first time since 1993.

No. 5 - Skip Holtz (South Florida)

Holtz will begin his third head coaching stint as the new head man at the University of South Florida.

His first head coaching job, from 1994 to 1998 was at the University of Connecticut and spent the six seasons as an assistant at South Carolina from 1998-2004.

After that stint, Holtz took over the head coaching job at Eastern Michigan, finishing with a 38-27 record over five seasons but won just one of the team's four bowl appearances.

Holtz inherits a South Florida team that finished the 2009 season with an 8-5 record and a 27-3 win over Northern Illinois in the International Bowl.

No. 4 - Mike MacIntyre (San Jose State)

This isn't going to be a popular pick among the masses, but MacIntyre is the right man at the right time for a struggling San Jose State program.

MacIntyre spent the last two seasons as an assistant at Duke University under current head coach David Cutcliffe and he went so far as to call Cutcliffe a second father to him.

Since his hire, the Spartans have landed one of the top junior college defensive recruits in Ja'Rodd Watson from Grossmont College as well as three-star running back Forrest Hightower from Concord High School.

While it may take the Spartans to start climbing the ladder again in the Western Athletic Conference, they have the right guy to lead the way.

No. 3 - Brian Kelly (Notre Dame)

Kelly takes over a Notre Dame program that won just one bowl game through former head coach Charlie Weis' five seasons at the helm.

Now that Notre Dame has ushered in a new era, they welcome in a head coach that went 34-6 at the University of Cincinnati including two straight BCS bowl appearances.

During Cincinnati's undefeated 2009 season, the team was in the Top 10 in the nation in three offensive categories— points per game (39.8), total yards per game (464.3) and passing yards per game (320.3)—the highest in Kelly's three seasons at the helm.

The Irish are wanting their winning ways back and they may have the right man for the job.

No. 2 - Charlie Strong (Louisville)

Charlie Strong brings almost thirty years of coaching experience to his first head coaching job as he was named as the new head coach at Louisville on December 9, 2009.

Strong got a lot of great experience as an assistant coach at the University of Florida from 1983-1984 as a graduate assistant, 1988-1989 as a linebackers coach, 1991-1994 and 2002-2009 as the defensive coordinator.

He began his tenure there in 2003 under then head coach Ron Zook and when Zook was fired in 2004, Strong was the only one retained under new head coach Urban Meyer.

Under Strong's tenure (2005-2008), the Florida defense gave up an average of 17.2 points per game and an average of 296.5 total yards per game.

It would be hard to top the kind of endorsement Charlie Strong received.

"When they see what he [Strong] can do, you're probably going to have a lot of people disappointed they didn't hire him sooner," former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy told ESPN's Pat Forde.

No. 1 - Turner Gill (Kansas)

Before taking over at the University of Buffalo, Turner Gill was the quarterbacks coach at the University of Nebraska, coaching Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch as well as Tommie Frazier.

Not only was Gill a coach at Nebraska, he was also courted heavily by the school out of Arlington Heights High School in Forth Worth, TX. Nebraska beat out Texas as well as Oklahoma because Nebraska allowed Gill to not only play football but baseball as well.

During Gill's coaching tenure, the Cornhuskers won three national championships.

Gill interviewed for the head coaching job at the University of Auburn— losing out to Gene Chizik—in a move that was highly criticized by ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach. "More than anything else, the Tigers needed to do something to sway some of the momentum away from Tuscaloosa," Schlabach noted.

Instead, Auburn hired a coach who seemed to be a dead man walking at Iowa State. In recent weeks, Chizik demoted both his coordinators and fired two assistant coaches. "That's not a sign of stability." - Mark Schlabach

Gill looks to bring the Jayhawks back into the thick of things in the Big XII conference, especially after they won five straight to open the 2009 season, then dropped their final seven to finish the season 5-7.