College Football: The Top 5 "New" Head Coaches To Have The Biggest Impact

The coaching carousel continues to go 'round and 'round entering the 2011 season, with a lot of familiar FBS faces either gaining their first head coaching job, or getting a big jump from mid-major to FBS gold.

So far there are 21 coaches that will be new to their prospective sidelines this fall. Of these 21, many will probably struggle to find .500 or a conference win at all.

However there is a strong list of "first-year" guys that should bring a spark to their program and here are the 5 to keep your eye on in 2011.

Jerry Kill, University Of Minnesota

The Golden Gophers were a major let-down under Tim Brewster and that may have been Brewster's fault altogether. The fact that interim coach Jeff Horton led them to a 2-3 record down the stretch, including a Floyd of Rosedale win over Iowa should be enough evidence alone.

The rivalry win was the first since before Brewster took over.

Now Jerry Kill steps in, who has had success with both Southern and Northern Illinois.

Kill has a record of 127-73 throughout his division I coaching career and that does not include Northern Illinois' bowl win, a game in which he did not coach after taking the Minnesota job.

So why will Kill be successful?

It is simple. He has taken mediocre-at-best teams in both the FCS and FBS, both of which were in the Midwest and made them into top-tier conference teams.

Kill knows how to recruit, coach and more importantly, win. He may be the missing ingredient that the University and state of the art stadium needs, especially heading into the "new" Big Ten that includes Nebraska in their division.

Look for Minny to get back to a bowl game in Kill's first season.

Kevin Wilson, Indiana University

If you haven't heard Kevin Wilson's name, then you obviously aren't a Sooner fan, or a Northwestern geek from the 2000 season.

Wilson gained national recognition as the Northwestern OC that helped the Cats spread their way to a share of the 2000 Big Ten title. Since then all he has done is lead potent offense after potent offense at Oklahoma.

So why will Wilson be successful?

This guy knows offense and though granted Indiana's problem has been more on defense, he will be the guy to adjust to that with what the Hoosiers do on the offensive side of the ball.

Wilson has been a guy that has been mentioned for years now and is finally getting his big break. Look for him to bring a great offense and high energy to Bloomington as they look to stun their Big Ten foes and head to their second bowl game in four years.

Dan McCarney, University Of North Texas

The Mean Green went 3-9 under Todd Dodge in 2010. The remedy, hire a guy with a reputation for turning a program around in Dan McCarney.

McCarney took an Iowa State program in the dumps and turned it around into a consistent bowl contender until his firing in 2006. McCarney led the Cyclones to 5 bowl appearances in 6 years from 2000-2006.

So why is McCarney a lock to turn around the guys in Denton?

This one is simple. The guy worked under Hayden Fry at Iowa, Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, turned around an ISU program that frankly stunk and most recently served under Urban Meyer.

Simply put, this guy knows how to win.

It should be a little easier for McCarney in the Sun Belt, just as long as he can get a few solid recruits to come to the Green and help get the program back up and running again.

So far it looks pretty good on the recruiting angle....

Todd Graham, University Of Pittsburgh

The Pitt football program is not in need of much re-tooling. However with the departure of Dave Wannstedt, the program was in need of a new coach. This is where Todd Graham steps in.

Graham has 4 winning season in 5 years, including a 7-5 campaign at Rice in 2006 which gave the school its first bowl appearance since 1960.

Then, from 2007-2010 Graham led Tulsa to 3 C-USA West division titles in 3 years and 3 bowl wins.

Now he comes to Pitt, a considerable step up in class, both in competition and in recruiting.

So why will Todd Graham be successful despite being choice number three, four or five?

Graham knows how to win and knows how to select coordinators who can make a difference. In 2006 it was Major Applewhite as his OC at Rice. At Tulsa it was Gus Malzahn—who in case you didn't know—was the OC for the 2010 national champs from Auburn.

Bottom line is Graham knows how to coach and who to pick as his coaches. The Steel City could be the owner of several Big East titles before Graham is done with the program.

Pete Lembo, Ball State University

Pete Lembo?

You may ask yourself, "Who the hell is this guy?!" 

Well if you don't know, let me give you a quick background. Lembo is 79-36 as a head coach at the FCS level. Most recently he was the head man at Elon University, a private liberal arts school. There he lead the Phoenix to a playoff appearance in 2009.

Prior to that he was at Lehigh where he went 44-14 and won the 2001 Patriot League.

So what in tarnation am I thinking you may ask?

Well, if you remember, Ball State is still not that far removed from their improbable run at a BCS at-large spot in 2008. This means that they "should" still be able to recruit a little off of the momentum that Brady Hoke and that squad built.

They do have talent. Talent that former head coach Stan Parrish could never channel for whatever reason. Look for Lembo and the fighting Letterman's to come back to some sort of respectability in 2011.

Lembo may be the dark horse of the entire freshman class of coaches in 2011.