Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of coaching changes this offseason.
Six former Power 5 programs made coaching changes in the 2024-25 hiring cycle, down from 14 a year ago, but they involved some big names (most notably: a six-time Super Bowl champion). Group of 5 schools, however, had a staggering 21 coaching changes.
One trend this year: Twelve of the new FBS coaches were recently FCS (or lower) head coaches. I call it the Curt Cignetti Effect.
Here are my grades for the 2024-25 coaching hires.
Power conference grades
West Virginia (A): Jacksonville State head coach Rich Rodriguez
I’m not always a fan of school-coach reunions (see below), but this one is a no-brainer. Rich Rod led the Mountaineers to three consecutive double-digit seasons from 2005-07, a level the program has not achieved since. Yes, he ignited a bitter divorce when he left for Michigan, but that was 17 years ago. More recently, he led Arizona to a Pac-12 title game and FBS newbie Jacksonville State to a Conference USA championship last season.
Purdue (A-): UNLV head coach Barry Odom
After whiffing badly on first-time head coach Ryan Walters, Purdue was smart to bring in a coach with six years’ experience. And while his Missouri tenure was mixed (25-25, with a peak of 8-5), he just engineered a remarkable turnaround at longtime doormat UNLV, which went to back-to-back Mountain West title games and finished ranked for the first time in school history. That will come in handy at rebuilding Purdue.
Wake Forest (B+): Washington State head coach Jake Dickert
Wake is a tough job for many reasons, but not more so than the one Dickert left behind. After taking over in mid-2021 following Nick Rolovich’s ouster, he led Wazzu to three bowls in four seasons and weathered the Pac-12 bomb that went off two years into his tenure. At Wake, he has the unenviable challenge of succeeding the retired Dave Clawson, who went to seven consecutive bowls. Dickert will need to stamp his own identity on the program.
Washington State (B): South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers
I’m a big believer that proven FCS coaches are better prepared for an FBS head-coaching job than a hot coordinator or position coach. Rogers, 37, spent the past 12 seasons helping build SDSU into a powerhouse, first as an assistant and then as head coach, winning the 2023 national championship in his first year at the helm. He takes over at a crossroads moment for Wazzu, which is still figuring out its place post-Pac-12 breakup.
North Carolina (C): Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick
I’ve been emphatic that the splashiest hire of the year was a bad idea. Rarely has an NFL hire found success in college, and six rings or not, Belichick is the most extreme example yet. “We consider ourselves the 33rd (NFL) team because everybody involved with our program has had some form or aspect in pro football,” GM Mike Lombardi said recently. I’m sure he’ll be phenomenal at the Xs and Os. But that’s such a small part of a college coach’s job.
GO DEEPER
Mandel: North Carolina is going to regret hiring Bill Belichick
GO DEEPER
What’s it like to get recruited by Bill Belichick? ‘It’s pandemonium’
UCF (D): Former UCF and Nebraska head coach Scott Frost
This was so weird! Yes, Frost led the Knights to one amazing season in 2017, but that was before he went to Nebraska and, with significantly more resources and recruiting cachet, went 16-31 and was fired three games into his fifth season. UCF was also in the AAC when Frost last coached there; now it’s a Power 4 program. You’d think his 10-26 Big Ten record would raise flags. (That and the fact he was not in much demand in the two years since his firing.)
Scott Frost returns to UCF this cycle. Will he find the same success he did before his tough tenure at Nebraska? (Derik Hamilton / Imagn Images)
Group of 5 grades
Temple (A+): Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler
This call should have come a long time ago. Keeler, 65, won FCS national championships at Delaware (2003) and Sam Houston (2021) and led the Bearkats’ recent transition to FBS, going 9-3 last season. The guy wins.
Utah State (A+): New Mexico head coach Bronco Mendenhall
This is an ideal fit for Mendenhall, a Utah native who coached at BYU for 13 seasons (11 as head coach) before leaving for Virginia. He’s well-suited to lead the program into the rebuilt Pac-12 next year.
Southern Miss (A): Marshall head coach Charles Huff
Marshall and Huff did not see eye-to-eye on a contract extension, so Huff, who upset Notre Dame in 2022, bolted immediately after winning a Sun Belt title. What a coup for Southern Miss, coming off of a 1-11 season.
GO DEEPER
The football coach who won his conference, then left for its last-place team
Charlotte (A): Ohio head coach Tim Albin
What a great get. Albin spent 16 seasons on Frank Solich’s Ohio staff before moving up to the head job in 2021. He soon produced three consecutive 10-win seasons and led that program to its first MAC title since 1968.
Fresno State (A-): USC linebackers coach Matt Entz
Before spending one season at USC, Entz succeeded Chris Klieman (now at Kansas State) as head coach of North Dakota State and led the Bison to three national championships in five years. He’ll thrive at Fresno.
FIU (A-): Duke running backs coach Willie Simmons
Before joining Duke last season, the Florida native was an accomplished head coach. He took over a downtrodden Florida A&M program in 2018 and led it to four Top 25 seasons in five years, winning the 2023 Black College Football National Championship.
Kennesaw State (B+): Jacksonville Jaguars running backs coach Jerry Mack
The 44-year-old took a brief NFL detour after 20 years in college, most recently at Tennessee. Before that, from 2014-17, he was 31-15 as the head coach at North Carolina Central, where he won three MEAC titles.
Marshall (B+): NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson
This is a smart hire by Marshall, given the longtime former Rich Rodriguez assistant spent 13 seasons over two stints at in-state rival West Virginia. At NC State he developed All-Americans Alim McNeill and Payton Wilson.
Rice (B+): Davidson head coach Scott Abell
While Abell had no prior connection to Rice, he oversaw a remarkable transformation at Davidson, which had won a total of nine games in seven seasons before his 2018 arrival. Abell led the Wildcats to three consecutive FCS playoffs.
Appalachian State (B): South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains
App State has been at its best over the years with dynamic quarterbacks. Loggains coached that position in the NFL for 11 seasons, and over the past two at South Carolina did an impressive job developing Spencer Rattler and LaNorris Sellers.
Central Michigan (B): Army offensive line coach Matt Drinkall
The former Iowa receiver has some Kalen DeBoer parallels, going 42-17 as an NAIA coach at Kansas Wesleyan from 2014-18. More recently he spent six seasons absorbing Jeff Monken’s winning culture at Army.
New Mexico (B): Idaho head coach Jason Eck
While he’s never coached in the Mountain West, Eck knows how to build a program. Idaho had endured five consecutive losing seasons before he led the Vandals to three straight FCS playoff berths.
Ball State (B): Butler head coach Mike Uremovich
This was not an obvious name, but the 48-year-old has both Group of 5 experience as an OC at NIU and Temple and head-coaching experience at Butler, where the program produced three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1982-84.
Ohio (B): Offensive coordinator Brian Smith
Ohio promoted Smith, who served under the departed Albin for three seasons. Before that, he was with Nick Rolovich at Hawaii and Washington State. He’s not as entrenched in Athens as Albin was for so long under Solich.
UMass (B): Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak
The 38-year-old New Jersey native has spent most of his career in the Northeast, including three seasons (2016-18) as the head coach at Maine, which he took the FCS semifinals. He’s walking into a tough job as UMass joins the MAC.
East Carolina (B-): Interim coach Blake Harrell
You don’t often see a school retain a guy from the fired coach’s staff, but Harrell impressed the brass by taking over a 3-4 team and winning five of the last six. Now comes the challenge of building his own program.
Jacksonville State (B-): Auburn co-DC Charles Kelly
The former Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban and Deion Sanders assistant is back at the school where he landed his first FBS assistant job in 1994. But the FBS newbie may be a tough job for a first-time head coach.
Tulsa (B-): East Tennessee State head coach Tre Lamb
Tulsa hopes it landed a rising star with the 35-year-old Lamb, a head coach of five seasons, who in 2022, took Gardner-Webb to its first FCS playoffs in 30 years. Of possible concern: He’s yet to notch more than seven wins in a season.
UNLV (C+): Former Florida head coach Dan Mullen
UNLV hit the jackpot with former Odom, so it’s going back to the SEC well. But while Mullen brings considerable experience, he’s been out of coaching since 2021. The sport has changed drastically in the interim.
FAU (C): Texas Tech OC Zach Kittley
The youngest FBS head coach, 33, became a hot name when he developed Bailey Zappe into a record-setting passer at Houston Baptist and Western Kentucky. But none of his three Texas Tech offenses cracked the top 50 nationally in yards per play.
Sam Houston (C-): Wisconsin OC Phil Longo
It’s not every day you see a guy get fired as a coordinator on Nov. 17, turn around and land a head-coaching job. It’s because Longo had a highly successful run as OC at Sam Houston, then in FCS, from 2014-16. Still, weird timing.
(Top photos of Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick: Ethan Miller, Peyton Williams / Getty Images)
