Ranking New College Football Head Coaching Hires
The college football coaching carousel was up and running rather early this season after LSU fired Les Miles after only four games. But despite that premature start to what's usually a crazy amount of movement, with one hiring or firing often leading to several head coaching changes at other schools, the 2016 edition was on the quiet side.
As of Monday, 17 of the 129 FBS programs will have a coach running things in 2017 that was not in that same position at the start of this season. That's down from the 26 coaching changes that occurred during or after the 2015 season.
There could be more changes, depending on if any college coaches get lured into the pros, but for now the dust has settled. Which means it's the perfect time to assess how schools did in filling their openings.
We've ranked all 17 hires, using a combination of the new coach's name recognition and how likely he is to make a difference at the school as the ranking criteria. Check out how we ranked them, then tell us what order you'd come up with in the comments section.
17. Jeff Tedford, Fresno State
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Before he was the winningest coach in program history at California, Jeff Tedford played quarterback at Fresno State and his 4,872 passing yards are 10th in school history. He was also an assistant with the Bulldogs from 1992-97 before working at Oregon for four years and then winning 82 games from 2002-12 at Cal.
Tedford didn't return to the college ranks until this year when he was an offensive consultant for Washington. He's replacing Tim DeRuyter, fired after going 30-30 in four-plus seasons that included an 11-2 record in 2013 but only four wins in his last 20 games.
16. Jay Norvell, Nevada
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While all of the other first-time head coaches hired during this cycle are in their 30s and 40s, Jay Norvell will be 54 when he runs onto the field for the first time with Nevada in September. That will make him the Wolf Pack's oldest coach at the time of his debut and 13 years older than the man he's replacing, Brian Polian.
Norvell spent 2016 as an assistant at Arizona State and before that was at Texas for a season. His most notable coaching experience came as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2008-14.
15. Shawn Elliott, Georgia State
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Shawn Elliott was handed a sinking ship in 2015 when Steve Spurrier quit midway through the season at South Carolina, so he should be well-prepared for taking on a similar situation at Georgia State.
The Gamecocks went 1-5 under Elliott and now inherits a Panthers team that was 3-9 this past season, its seventh at the FBS level. It's not all bad, though, as Georgia State is set to move from the Georgia Dome to Turner Field, which the school bought from the Atlanta Braves and is transforming it into a 23,000-seat football stadium.
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14. Geoff Collins, Temple
4 of 17If you're wondering how Florida managed to win the last two SEC East Division titles despite having teams that averaged 23 points per game each year, look no further than Geoff Collins. His work as the Gators' defensive coordinator made those division crowns possible and helped land him his first head coaching gig.
Temple prided itself on defense under Matt Rhule, who is now at Baylor. The Owls were tied for seventh nationally in scoring defense this season in going 10-3 and winning the American Athletic Conference, so Collins should fit right in.
13. Brent Brennan, San Jose State
5 of 17San Jose State hasn't had a coach finish his tenure at the school with a winning record since Ron Turner went 7-4 in his lone season there in 1992. Since then the Spartans have had three years with seven or more wins, most recently in 2012 when Mike MacIntyre went 11-2 before bolting to Colorado.
Ron Caragher followed with a 19-30 mark in four years, none better than 6-7 in 2015. Brent Brennan gets a mostly clean slate for his first head coaching gig after spending the last six seasons coaching wide receivers at Oregon State.
Before that Brennan was an assistant at San Jose from 2005-10 and thus "knows the challenges here," USA Today's Dan Wolken wrote.
12. Major Applewhite, Houston
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Three of Houston's last four coaches ended up getting hired away by in-state power conference teams, the school sending Art Briles to Baylor and Kevin Sumlin to Texas A&M before Tom Herman left last month for Texas. Wedged in there was Tony Levine, who had been on Sumlin's staff and who was promoted in hopes he would help keep things going.
Instead, Levine was fired after three seasons and replaced by Herman...who then jumped ship two years later.
Major Applewhite was Herman's offensive coordinator the last two seasons after having similar roles with Texas, Alabama and Rice. The former Texas quarterback was far from the Cougars' first choice, as many other names were attached to the job before the school ended up hiring from within. And in doing so, it put some heavy expectations on a first-time coach.
"I think you can look forward to Major being here for many years," Houston board of regents chairman Tilman Fertitta said, per Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle. "But he better win 9, 10, 11 games a year, too, from our standpoint."
11. Butch Davis, Florida International
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Who says you can't go home again? After being out of coaching for the past six seasons, Butch Jones is returning to the place where he had his most success.
Well, sort of. Instead of Miami, where Davis went 51-20 from 1995-2000 before leaving for an NFL gig, he's taking over a Florida International program that has two winning seasons in program history that has gone 13-35 the last four years.
This is Davis' third college stint, as he was 28-23 with North Carolina from 2007-10 but was fired prior to the 2011 season amid an NCAA investigation into academic fraud during his tenure. FIU isn't so concerned with that. It's more interested in hoping Davis can tap into his old contacts in South Florida to help make this mid-major program at least somewhat competitive.
10. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
8 of 17Cincinnati hasn't had much in the form of coaching stability this century, none of its last four lasting more than four seasons. But unlike Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly and Butch Jones, who treated the Bearcats like a steppingstone, Tommy Tuberville resigned due to a lack of success as he was 4-8 in 2016 for the program's first losing season since 2010.
Luke Fickell provides Cincinnati with a fresh start and one where defense will be the focus initially. The longtime Ohio State assistant (and its interim coach in 2011, bridging the gap between Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer) has spent his entire career on the defensive side of the ball and this season oversaw a unit that allowed 14.2 points per game and forced 25 turnovers.
The Bearcats allowed 26.9 points per game, 30.4 during a season-ending five-game losing streak.
9. Mike Sanford Jr., Western Kentucky
9 of 17Western Kentucky will have its fourth coach in the past six years when the 2017 season opens under Mike Sanford Jr.'s leadership. The Hilltoppers will also be led by the youngest coach in FBS, with Sanford only 34.
But Sanford isn't lacking for experience or accomplishments despite his age. The former Boise State quarterback worked under both Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw at Stanford and was an offensive coordinator at Boise (2014) and the past two seasons with Notre Dame. He also spent one year as quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky in 2010 under Willie Taggart.
With Notre Dame, Sanford helped develop DeShone Kizer into a potential first-round NFL draft pick. He'll inherit a productive veteran quarterback in Mike White, who has thrown for 4,027 yards and 34 touchdowns this season, but the majority of the Hilltoppers offense will have to be replaced.
8. Tom Allen, Indiana
10 of 17When news first broke on Nov. 30 that Indiana had fired coach Kevin Wilson, confusion reigned. Why would the Hoosiers part ways with a coach who led them to consecutive bowl appearances for the first time since 1990-91?
But then the school announced it and Wilson had parted ways for “philosophical differences” and reports began to surface about investigations into Wilson's treatment of injured players.
Amid the turmoil the school promoted defensive coordinator Tom Allen to replace Wilson on a permanent basis, starting with the Foster Farms Bowl on Dec. 28 against Utah. That move works in two ways, first as a way of providing stability since Allen had already been on staff and a sign Indiana was pleased with the work he did in one season at the school.
7. Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic
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Do a quick Twitter search and you'll find pictures of Lane Kiffin posted in reaction to nearly every college football job opening that's happened in the last few seasons. It was inevitable he'd parlay his wildly successful run as Alabama's offensive coordinator the last three years into another head coaching gig, with Steven Godfrey and Jason Kirk of SB Nation citing sources that he was the top candidate to replace Willie Taggart at South Florida, while USA Today had Houston "closing in" on Kiffin as its next coach.
Instead, Kiffin ended up at one of the least likely spots but also a place that can serve as a springboard to somewhere better.
Florida Atlantic is a low-risk, high-reward job where any success will get magnified. The program joined FBS in 2005 and has had three non-losing seasons, just one (6-6 in 2013) since 2008. The Owls are 1-29 against power-conference schools, their only win coming against Minnesota in 2007.
This is Kiffin's fourth go-around as a head coach, none of which have ended well. He was 5-15 in a little more than one season with the NFL's Oakland Raiders, then after going 7-6 in his first year at Tennessee in 2009 he bolted for USC, where he started 18-7 but went 10-8 after that, getting fired five games into the 2013 season.
6. Willie Taggart, Oregon
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The Pac-12's only opening this offseason was a big one, as Mark Helfrich was let go just over two years after having Oregon in the national title game. A 4-8 record in 2016 was the Ducks' worst since 1991 and their season-ending loss to Oregon State was their first since 2007.
The 4-8 record is the best of any team Willie Taggart has inherited, as Western Kentucky was 0-12 the year before he arrived in 2010 (and the next season it was 7-5) and South Florida went 3-9 prior to his arrival in 2013 and the Bulls went 10-2 this fall. That doesn't guarantee Taggart can make lightning strike a third time, but at least it shows he's capable of turning things around.
Taggart has some West Coast experience, spending three years (2007-09) as running backs coach at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh. He helped develop Heisman Trophy finalist Toby Gerhart during that time.
At South Florida, Taggart had an explosive offense that averaged 43.6 points per game in 2016, but Oregon's biggest issues in the immediate future are on the defensive end. To help with that, Taggart hired Colorado defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt to help shore things up.
5. Matt Rhule, Baylor
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There's always at least one unexpected hire each offseason, and Matt Rhule going from Temple to Baylor qualifies as this for 2016. It's not that Rhule wasn't deserving of a promotion after the work he'd done with the Owls, where he won 20 games the past two seasons (with an American Athletic Conference title this year) after starting 2-10 in 2013, as much as his name didn't really pop up during Baylor's search process.
Which is saying something, because it felt like almost every other current FBS coach got mentioned for the job since the school fired Art Briles in May.
Going with Rhule is part of a process of Baylor completely separating itself from the previous regime. Briles was fired for his role in an ongoing sexual assault scandal at the school—he recently sued three Baylor regents and a vice president for libel and slander—and Rhule isn't likely to retain many, if any, coaches that worked there this season under interim coach Jim Grobe.
It will be an uphill battle at first for Rhule, who has no ties to Texas and inherits a 2017 recruiting class that features one commitment. To help bridge the gap he's added a few top-tier high school coaches from the state, which should help connect with prospects, but it will take a little while.
4. Jeff Brohm, Purdue
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Western Kentucky and Purdue are only separated by about 300 miles yet the differences in those programs—in terms of both perception and performance—would make it seem like they're light-years apart. But it wasn't always that way at each school, particularly Purdue, which used to be one of the top offensive programs in the Big Ten when Joe Tiller was coach from 1997-2008.
Since then the Boilermakers have had one winning season, and under Darrell Hazell they were 9-33 in three-plus seasons with a 3-24 league record.
Enter Jeff Brohm, who after taking over at Western Kentucky for Bobby Petrino went 30-10 with a pair of Conference USA titles. More importantly, his Hilltoppers teams were offensive juggernauts, averaging at least 44 points per game each season and this fall led FBS in yards per play at 7.64.
Sure, the competition will be tougher across the board and Brohm still has to find a defensive coordinator who can improve on Purdue's 38.3 points per game allowed in 2016. But with a better offensive scheme at least the Boilermakers will be more competitive at the outset.
3. Charlie Strong, South Florida
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The old adage that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" applies to many areas, including coaching. Texas gave up on Charlie Strong after just three seasons, but when South Florida found itself with an opening it couldn't watch to pick him up off the trash heap.
Strong may not have been the best fit with the Longhorns but his Florida ties make him perfect for this next gig. Prior to becoming a head coach he spent seven seasons as an assistant at Florida under both Ron Zook and Urban Meyer and was also on the Gators' staff from 1991-94. Many of his best players at Louisville were from the Sunshine State, including quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and when he went to Texas in 2014 he continued to mine that territory for prospects.
South Florida made a major turnaround under previous coach Willie Taggart, going from 2-10 in 2013 to 10-2 this season. Strong may lose quarterback Quinton Flowers and running back Marlon Mack, both juniors, to the NFL draft but he'll return a much better nucleus than what he inherited at Texas. And judging by how the Bulls stayed patient as Taggart went 6-18 his first two seasons, there will be far less pressure to win right away.
2. Tom Herman, Texas
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From the moment Tom Herman was hired by Houston two years ago, it was a foregone conclusion he wouldn't be there long. The fact he stuck around beyond that first season, in which he went 13-1 and beat three power-conference teams, was surprising in its own right. But once Texas decided to dump Charlie Strong after only three years it didn't have to look far to find his successor.
A former graduate assistant with the Longhorns, Herman has been on an extremely fast track during his coaching career. Stints as offensive coordinator at Texas State, Rice and Iowa State led him to Ohio State, where in 2014 he overcame the loss of two starting quarterbacks to injury to help the Buckeyes roll to a national championship.
From there he went to Houston, where in two seasons he was 22-4 with wins over Florida State, Louisville (twice), Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. In that same time span, Texas was 10-14 and had eight wins over power schools in 22 tries.
Herman inherited some talent in Houston and will have even more of it in Austin, but also much higher expectations.
1. Ed Orgeron, LSU
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Our pick for the best hire of this offseason was one that could have been made months ago. Ever since LSU fired Les Miles following a disappointing 2-2 start and installed Ed Orgeron as the interim coach, the opportunity was there for the well-regarded Orgeron to get that second chance to run a program. Though the Tigers' 5-2 finish wasn't as extraordinary as many might have hoped, there was no doubt he had the backing of his players.
And most importantly, the incoming recruits were thrilled at the move since Orgeron has been one of LSU's top recruiters since joining the staff as defensive line coach in 2015.
This is Orgeron's second time as a permanent coach, having gone 10-25 at Ole Miss from 2005-07, but this doesn't have the feel of a typical "coaching retread" hire. Since that time Orgeron has established himself as a master recruiter and has experience lifting two programs as interim coach, going 6-2 with USC in 2013 after Lane Kiffin was fired, and his actions since getting the full-time gig indicate he knows what it will take to win in Baton Rouge.
Hiring North Carolina State's Matt Canada as offensive coordinator, getting defensive coordinator Dave Aranda a sizable raise and adding veteran special teams coach Bobby April is all indicative of Orgeron knowing the best way to be successful is to surround yourself with accomplished play-callers who can handle the X's and O's while Orgeron and his disarming Cajun drawl can be the public face.
All recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com, unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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