Grading Every New Coaching Hire in College Football

UCLA's hiring of former NFL coach Jim L. Mora created some divisive opinions on the choice among college football pundits and fans.

More recently, Todd Graham's departure for Arizona State after just one season at Pittsburgh was ridiculed by many.

Currently, 18 of the 25 openings in the FBS have been filled. That means there are still seven openings remaining in college football, including one of the game's premier jobs (Penn State).

There are pros and cons to each hire, but which programs have done exceptionally well, and which ones could have done better?

Arizona: Rich Rodriguez

Rich Rodriguez has won everywhere he has coached—including Michigan.

If you believe everything you read in John Bacon's book Three and Out, Michigan never really gave Rodriguez a chance to succeed.

I personally watched what he did at West Virginia and appreciate his passion for the game and his players.

Arizona will be patient, as it will take some time to institute his spread offense. Everyone has talked about his need to get a top defensive coordinator, and he will.

Rodriguez will deliver Arizona to its first Rose Bowl in school history within five years.

Grade: A

Arizona State: Todd Graham

I'm not sure who to be more embarrassed for: Todd Graham or Arizona State.

After one 6-6 season at Pittsburgh, Graham bolted for ASU. Besides the better weather, Graham didn't really make an upgrade.

Graham has done this before, leaving Rice after one season.

I'll never understand why a program wants to hire someone who has zero loyalty.

Grade: D

Arkansas State: Gus Malzahn

Arkansas State landed one of the nation's top assistant coaches in Gus Malzahn, who played a key role in Auburn winning the 2011 BCS national championship.

Malzahn had a better offer last year from Vanderbilt but backed out.

Now Arkansas is home for Malzahn, so maybe it makes sense why he liked the option of coaching the Red Wolves.

He should do a nice job of recruiting in-state talent, and we know he can put an exciting offensive product on the field.

Grade: A+

Colorado State: Jim McElwain

While Jim McElwain is preparing the Alabama offense for the BCS national championship, he is also assuming his duties at Colorado State.

McElwain is recruiting for the Rams and getting around the state meeting with high school coaches.

He's a major upgrade when compared to the overmatched Steve Fairchild.

McElwain should return Colorado State to the elite of the Mountain West Conference.

It will be interesting to see if Nick Saban will have to replace both McElwain and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart before all is said and done during the hiring season.

Grade: B

Florida Atlantic: Carl Pelini

Howard Schnellenberger had been the only coach in FAU history, but the Owls did a nice job of replacing a legend.

Carl Pelini is a big name and one that has become synonymous with intensity and great defenses.

Getting to recruit Florida talent, even if it is leftovers of the Big Three, means FAU can be extremely talented very quickly.

Pelini may not be in this for the long haul, but if FAU can get three to five years out of him, it should be a positive.

Grade: B

Illinois: Tim Beckman

There may be many Illinois fans who would have preferred a bigger-name hire like Chris Petersen or Mike Leach, but Tim Beckman is a much better fit for the blue-collar program.

Beckman will bring his spread offense and his knack of healing an ailing program.

Yes, that's what Illinois is after Ron Zook's seven seasons in Champaign, Ill.

Beckman is also a strong recruiter who has been one of the best in the Mid-American Conference. However, he is now going up against the likes of Urban Meyer and Brady Hoke.

Grade: B

Kansas: Charlie Weis

While I think Kansas was a bit premature in pulling the plug on Turner Gill, you have to give the Jayhawks credit for taking a big risk with a big reward.

Charlie Weis wasn't a failure at Notre Dame, but the expectations were simply too high, and he was never going to live up to them unless he won three BCS national championships in three consecutive years.

Weis was able to recruit at Notre Dame, and he will do a great job of that with Kansas.

Grade: A-

Memphis: Justin Fuente

Justin Fuente has just inherited one of the toughest tasks in all of college football as the new coach at Memphis, a program that has fallen about as far down as a football team can get.

Fuente has a strong reputation among his peers after coaching Andy Dalton at TCU and helping develop Casey Pachall this year.

Fuente's grade isn't so much a reflection on him, but rather the unknown you get with him as a head coach.

He's a major upgrade over Larry Porter, who was fired after two seasons.

Grade: C

New Mexico: Bob Davie

Since Bob Davie was once the coach at Notre Dame, you have to trust that he wasn't a complete idiot when it comes to football.

However, New Mexico went more for headlines by going with Davie, who hasn't coached since 2001.

Maybe Davie does just fine and helps the Lobos become a respectable program that wins five or six games a year.

But the splash of Davie will wear off, and New Mexico will have an aging coach. The best-case scenario would be for Davie to have the next head coach on staff (but just don't tell anyone).

Grade: C

North Carolina: Larry Fedora

After one really good season, Larry Fedora became a hot property.

While he's considered a strong offensive coach, I'm not sure the job he did at Southern Miss was really that impressive.

He took over a top-notch Conference USA team and basically went 7-6 his first two seasons and then 8-5 before winning the conference championship.

Southern Miss was better than that, and it finally clicked this season. He still lost to 6-6 Marshall and 3-9 UAB.

Fortunately for Fedora, North Carolina plays in the weak ACC, so the job may not be that tough.

Grade: C+

Ohio State: Urban Meyer

It was Urban Meyer or bust for Ohio State, and the Buckeyes got their man.

When you can land a coach with two BCS national championships under his belt, you have to feel good about the hire.

Let's not forget that Meyer retired just a year ago because of health issues. Thus, the big question for Ohio State is will Meyer give it his normal, 100 percent effort?

Time will tell.

Grade: A+

Ole Miss: Hugh Freeze

Ole Miss fans have had mixed feelings about the hiring of Hugh Freeze, who was an assistant with the Rebels under Ed Orgeron.

Freeze has been a highly successful offensive coordinator and in one season with Arkansas State led the Red Wolves to the Sun Belt Conference championship.

But now he's competing against Alabama, LSU, Arkansas and Auburn in the SEC West.

Ole Miss is even behind rival Mississippi State at this point.

Freeze has embraced his new job and is hitting the recruiting trail hard. It will take at least four years to get this program back on track.

Grade: B

Texas A&M: Kevin Sumlin

It seems that for the better part of five seasons Kevin Sumlin has been on top or near the top of a number of coaching searches.

However, each time he either rebuffed the overture or wasn't the top choice.

After almost leading Houston to a BCS bowl, Sumlin finally found a new home with Texas A&M.

Look, this is a good hire. He's a proven winner and knows how to recruit the state of Texas.

But Sumlin's teams always seem to come up short of the ultimate goal.

While the Cougars had two 10-win seasons under Sumlin, they couldn't win the Conference USA crown.

It will be interesting to see how he does against SEC opponents.

Grade: B-

Toledo: Matt Campbell

Toledo is giving the 32-year-old Matt Campbell his first shot at being a head coach.

If the Rockets had not made this move, he would have likely joined Tim Beckman at Illinois as his offensive coordinator.

Campbell is the son of a football coach and played for one of the best Division III coaches in Mount Union's Larry Kehres.

Campbell could be interviewing for a big-time job in the near future, but for now he's still a first-time coach looking to run his own program.

Grade: B-

Tulane: Curtis Johnson

While Curtis Johnson was interested in the Tulane job from the moment it opened, the Green Wave decided to flirt with bigger names.

They went after Rich Rodriguez, Mike Leach and even former coach Tommy Bowden.

But in the end it was Johnson who landed the job.

The current New Orleans Saints assistant coach knows the New Orleans/Louisiana area well, and that should work to his advantage.

He's used that knowledge in the past to draw talented players to his other coaching stops.

Johnson's lack of head coaching experience could be a problem, but there is also some huge upside with this hire.

Grade: C

UAB: Garrick McGee

Garrick McGee has been around football all his life, and the 38-year-old Arkansas assistant has been waiting for an opportunity like this.

Rebuilding UAB's football program will make him a hot coaching prospect in the future.

Now doing that won't be easy, but he has a reputation of being one of the best young coaches in the game.

UAB has landed a winner, and that means a Conference USA championship could come in the near future.

Grade: B

UCLA: Jim L. Mora

Jim L. Mora hasn't coached in the college game since 1984, but he developed a reputation for being a top defensive mind in the NFL.

A lot of folks have made a comparison to when USC hired NFL reject Pete Carroll, but Mora has his work cut out for him to be successful with the Bruins.

Mora should benefit from a renewed financial commitment by UCLA to the football program, which should include an upgrade of the facilities.

Mora's run as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons started strong but came to a quick end after three season. He then coached the Seattle Seahawks for one season and went 5-11.

UCLA is taking a big gamble.

Grade: B-

Washington State: Mike Leach

While Urban Meyer was the signature hire this offseason, Washington State has the biggest upgrade of any program out there.

Going from Paul Wulff to Mike Leach is like hiring a organic chemistry professor to replace the sixth-grade science teacher.

Leach is a brilliant coach who has a habit of ruffling some feathers.

At least with him on board Washington State is relevant on a national level again.

Grade: A