New Faces in New Places: First-Year Head Coaches for 2009, Part Two

There are 22 new Head Coaches in FBS College football this season. Going alphabetically by school name we hit the first 11 last time out.

This time we finish things off with plenty of time before college football to go through a thorough month and a half of previews, all the while never having anything resembling a preseason poll.

Over at my site, The Sports Chat Place, we have a ton of construction going on behind the scenes which should all be done by the first week of August.

I'll be sure to fill everyone in on the how and when of all of the details are complete, including of our annual weekly picking contests against the spread. I can say that this year that instead of gift cards from our sponsors, we'll be giving out boring, old fashioned cash to our winners.

In any event, there will be plenty more site news in the upcoming weeks, in the mean time let's talk about the rest of the new Head Coaches in 2009.

Mike Locksley, New Mexico, Replaces Rocky Long

Rocky Long did a nice job at New Mexico, winning often and suffering very few losing seasons. Last year was one of the few seasons this decade UNM didn't go bowling.

Most were caught off guard when Long stepped down but they found a young coach with a ton of quality experience in Mike Locksley.

The 39-year-old Locksley was most recently the offensive coordinator at Illinois after a career as a RB coach and recruiting coordinator at Maryland and then Florida. Although young in age, Locksley has 17 years of college coaching experience.

DeWayne Walker, New Mexico State, Replaces Hal Mumme

Hal Mumme didn't have a lot of success at New Mexico State but neither had any of his numerous predecessors. I think it is just going to take a special coach to win there.

Walker comes in with a real nice resume including a stint as an interim head coach at UCLA. While I think Walker has all of the makings of a successful head coach, it is going to take every bit of his NFL experience to make a winner out of this perennial loser.

Chip Kelly, Oregon, Replaces Mike Belotti

While we all knew Kelly was going to be the replacement for Mike Belotti someday, I didn't think it would be so soon.

Belotti ran a winning program at Oregon and was always well respected by players and opposing teams. Belotti always seemed to have the Ducks on the brink of greatness but they never got over the hump.

Kelly runs one of the most exciting offenses in football today and it will be interesting to see if he can get the Ducks over the hump and into a National Title game.

Danny Hope, Purdue, Replaces Joe Tiller

No surprises here. Hope was hired last year as an assistant head coach as Joe Tiller told the world that last season would be the last of his coaching career.

Hope came over from Eastern Kentucky where he was for five years after serving as a offensive line coach at Louisville, Wyoming, Purdue, and Oklahoma. Tiller didn't leave behind his best team but the Boilermakers have a strong tradition and have had a ton of offense for quite some time.

Brady Hoke, San Diego State, Replaces Chuck Long

Chuck Long went 9-27 as the head coach of San Diego State. In FBS College Football, a record like that will get you shown the door every time.

Brady Hoke heads west after a stellar stay at Ball State where his Cardinals were always competitive and even looked like they had a chance to run the table last season.

Long left this program in serious dissarray but Hoke gets a shot at Mountain West competition and with his resume he should be able to recruit and coach this team back to respectability pretty quickly.

Doug Marrone, Syracuse, Replaces Greg Robinson

It's hard to believe just how hard and fast the Syracuse football program fell. Orange fans hope to quickly put the Greg Robinson era behind them.

I would imagine it would be tough to not get too overly excited about Doug Marrone's return to his Alma Mater. Marrone was an All American at the 'Cuse.

As a coach, Marrone has been prolific as well. After assistant jobs at Georgia Tech and Tennessee, Marrone has been the offensive coordinator for the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

Marrone's Saints offense has been one of the best in the NFL including the NFL's leading passer last season. Orange faithful hope he'll bring the same excitement to Upstate New York.

Lane Kiffin, Tennessee, Replaces Phil Fulmer

After a career spent almost entirely in the hot seat, though it included numerous SEC Division tiles and a National Championship, Phil Fulmer couldn't dodge the bullet any longer and was fired by Tennessee.

In comes Lane Kiffin who has been all the news this offseason. Kiffin was last seen on the sidelines coaching the Oakland Raiders to some of the worst losses in franchise history after being seen as one of the great young minds in the game.

While Kiffin seems to make the news every day with his not-so-witty mouth or his minor recruiting violations, Kiffin will ultimately be judged by what happens on the field over the next few years.

Kiffin is already bringing in top recruits and making enemies at other SEC schools, neither of which he probably minds too much.

Tim Beckman, Toledo, Replaces Tom Amstutz

Tom Amstutz's teams performances the past few seasons took it's toll on him and while it was painful for him, even Amstutz knew it was time for him to go at Toledo.

Tim Beckman comes in from Oklahoma State, a team who was much better known for its offense than its defense last season, but the defense was very good.

Beckman has a ton of Ohio connections which make him the fit here. Beckman was a defensive backs coach under Jim Tressel at Ohio State and was a defensive coordinator and assistant head coach under Urban Meyer at Bowling Green.

Gary Anderson, Utah State, Replaces Brent Guy

When teams have a year like Utah had last year, it's not long until other teams come knocking to steal away assistant coaches. Utah's defense was stellar last year and Anderson deservedly gets most of the credit.

While he doesn't have to travel far for his new job, Anderson takes over a team that was 3-9 last year. Anderson should be able to get things moving in the right direction in a hurry, but it will be tough for him to rival what took place with the Utes.

Steve Sarkisian, Washington, Replaces Ty Willingham

Washington couldn't have been any worse last year as they never got into the win column. The writing was on the wall fairly early that the Willingham era was going to come to a close.

Steve Sarkisian was one of the most sought after assistant's in the game as he was the Offensive Coordinator at USC and had been part of the highly successful Trojan program since 2001.

Sarkisian is a "West Coast guy" and he played his college ball at BYU.

Dave Christensen, Wyoming, Replaces Joe Glenn

Aside from having some of the ugliest uniforms in FBS College Football, Wyoming has been one of the worst programs as well.

Dave Christensen comes in from Missouri where he was the offensive coordinator. The Tigers made the Big 12 Title game the past two seasons and Christensen's offense was a big part of it. Cowboy fans can only hope to someday see the kind of excitement Mizzou has had on the field the past few seasons.

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