2022 Coaching Carousel

LSU

The Tigers will not bring Ed Orgeron back after the 2021 season. He led the team to a National Championship in the 2019 season, but has gone 9 – 9 in the season and a half since.

Orgeron took LSU to a National Championship and a 40 -9 record in his first four seasons with the team. Several key players opted out of the 2020 season due to Covid-19 concerns and Orgeron was unable to get the team back on track in 2021.

LSU Tigers Gear

Brian Kelly

The Tigers have hired Notre Dame Head Coach, Brian Kelly, to be their next head coach. This is his fourth head coaching job after stops at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame. Kelly first turned around the Central Michigan program in his three years there, then had a very successful three year run at Cincinnati before taking the Notre Dame job. He stabilized the Notre Dame program and had ten or more wins in each of the last five seasons. He has a 145 -62 career record, making him an established and proven hire.

Kelly has 18 years of head coaching experience, all of which came in the Midwest. He has proven he can develop talent and build a program that not only competes but maintains at a high level. Kelly is a good recruiter and will be able to take advantage of the fertile recruiting territory around Baton Rouge. The only concern is that Kelly struggled in the BCS Championship game against Alabama and in the college football playoff the two times Notre Dame qualified for it. LSU was looking for a proven coach who can turn around the culture of their program, they have achieved that goal. Whether Brian Kelly can take the final step and win on the biggest stage remains to be seen, but he is a safe bet to put LSU in position to play in those big games again.

Grade: B+

USC

The Trojans fired Clay Helton on September 13, 2021 after he led the team to a 46 – 24 record over 8 seasons at USC.

The move was surprising not because Helton was let go, but that USC made the move just two games into the 2021 season. Helton had a 5 – 1 record last year and was 1 – 1 to start the 2021 season.

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Lincoln Riley

The The Trojans have hired Oklahoma head coach, Lincoln Riley, to be their next head coach. Riley had a very successful tenure with the Sooners, winning the Big 12 winning four Big 12 championships in five years and holding a 55 – 10 record over that stretch. Riley had been the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, before he took over for Bob Stoops after Stoops retired.

USC was looking to make a big hire that would immediately energize the program. Obviously, this hire achieves that objective. Riley is one of the best offensive coaches in college football. He has put three starting quarterbacks in the NFL and his offenses have been among the best in college football every year. Riley is a proven recruiter who did an excellent job bringing talent to Norman. He has proven he can win at and maintain a high standard at a major program. The only concern with Riley could be that his defenses were not nearly as successful as his offenses, but he has proven he can win nonetheless. USC made an excellent hire, pulling one of the best coaches in college football from a top program.

Grade: A

Oklahoma

Lincoln Riley has accepted the head coaching position at USC leaving the Sooners with an unexpected opening.

Riley was 55 – 10 since taking over at Oklahoma in 2017. He led the program to four straight Big 12 titles and made the College Football playoff three times during his tenure.

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Brent Venables

The Sooners have hired Clemson defensive coordinator, Brent Venables, to be their next head coach. Venables has been one of the best defensive coordinators in college football during his tenure at Clemson. He took over in that role in 2012 and the Tigers have ranked top ten is scoring defense six times and top 25 nine times since he took over. Before joining Clemson, Venables was the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma from 1999 to 2003 and the sole defensive coordinator there from 2004 to 2011.

Venables has been one of the elite defensive coordinators in college football. His schemes confuse the offense and create pressure, forcing opponents into mistakes. Venables has also done a good job recruiting top talent to Clemson during his time with the program. The only knock on Venables would be that he does not have head coaching experience and Oklahoma is a big job to have to learn to be a head coach at. Fortunately, he is familiar with the program and has spent a long time coordinating at two of the top programs in the country. Venables will bring a defensive mentality to the program that has been absent over the past few seasons.

Grade: B+

Florida

The Gators fired Dan Mullen on November 21, 2021. He led the team to a 34 – 15 record since taking over before the 2018 season, but was in the midst of his worst season with a 5 – 6 record this year.

Mullen was very successful early in his tenure, winning double digit games in 2018 and 2019. He led the Gators to a Peach Bowl win his first year and a Orange Bowl win in his second season. 2020 was a bit of a down year as Florida finished 8 – 4, but still made the Cotton Bowl, but lost to Oklahoma. The 2021 season continued that down trend as the Gators were under .500 when Mullen was fired.

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Billy Napier

The Gators have hired Billy Napier to be their next head coach. He is fresh off an 11 win season at Louisiana where he built one of the best group of five programs in the country. Napier has a 39 – 12 career record over four seasons at Louisiana. Before his arrival the Ragin Cajuns had been under .500 for three straight seasons, but Napier was 7 – 7 in his first season and won double digit games the next three years.

Napier showed that he could build a winning culture around his program during his time at Louisiana. While he does not have power five head coaching experience, Napier has coached at Clemson and Arizona State as an offensive coordinator, Florida State as a TE coach and at Alabama as a WR coach. He has recruited in the southeast and in the SEC, so he should be prepared to battle the top programs on the trail. Florida has hired one of the up and coming coaches in the profession, who has already proven he can flip the fortunes of a program. He will be expected to do the same in Gainesville.

Grade: A-

Notre Dame

Brian Kelly has accepted the head coaching position at LSU leaving the Fighting Irish with an unexpected opening.

Kelly was 92 – 40 since taking over at Notre Dame in 2010. He led the program to a BCS Championship appearance and made the College Football playoff two times during his tenure and was in position to make it a third time this year.

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Marcus Freeman

The Fighting Irish have promoted defensive coordinator, Marcus Freeman, to be their next head coach. Freeman took over as the defensive coordinator for Notre Dame this past year and has led a unit that allows just 18.3 points per game. Freeman has climbed the coaching ladder quickly, starting as a grad assistant at Ohio State in 2010, then serving as a linebackers coach at Kent State and Purdue before becoming the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati from 2017 – 2020. He made the move to Notre Dame after a successful four year stint at Cincinnati and after one season is taking over as the head coach.

Freeman has been a good defensive coordinator at both Cincinnati and Notre Dame. The defense was the strength of the team during his time with the Bearcats and that trend continued in his one year at Notre Dame. Freeman is an excellent recruiter who has done an excellent job bringing talent to South Bend since joining the staff last year. While he is a good coordinator and recruiter, Freeman has never been a head coach before and has only one season as a coordinator at major program like Notre Dame. It’s not impossible for first time head coaches to succeed, but Notre Dame is one of the biggest jobs in college football and Freeman will need to learn to manage the entire program. Nonetheless, Freeman is one of the rising stars in the profession and could continue to build on the foundation that Brian Kelly laid for the program.

Grade: B+

Washington

The Huskies decided to let Jimmy Lake go on November 14, 2021. He led the team to a 7 – 7 record since taking over, but his altercation with a player during the Oregon game probably played a role in this decision as well.

Lake took over for Chris Peterson and went 3 – 1 during the covid shortened 2020 season. That short term success did not transfer over to 2021, as the Huskies were 4 – 6 and struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball. Lake’s seat was getting warm before the altercation in the Oregon game, but that may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Washington Huskies Gear

Kalen DeBoer

The Huskies have hired Fresno State head coach, Kalen DeBoer, to be their next head coach. DeBoer took over at Fresno State heading into the 2020 season and has a 12 – 6 record with the Bulldogs. Though his tenure at Fresno State was short, he was responsible for a high powered offense that averaged over 33 points per game this year.

Washington was looking for a coach who could energize a stagnant offense and help make the program competitive in the Pac 12. DeBoer has done well at Fresno State and is an up and coming coach, but he does have limited head coaching experience at the FBS level. DeBoer has plenty of experience as an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana proving to be an innovative offensive coach at each stop. DeBoer will bring a fresh offensive scheme to Washington that should help the team on the field and on the recruiting trail.

Grade: B

Miami

The Hurricanes fired Manny Diaz on December 6, 2021. He led the team to a 21 – 15 record since taking over before the 2019 season.

Diaz was actually headed to Temple, but instead took over at Miami when Mark Richt retired. The Hurricanes did not have a full coaching search but instead felt that Diaz could build on the momentum Richt had built in his time there. Diaz never really built enough momentum to show that he could restore Miami to the heights the program had reached in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

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Mario Cristobal

The Hurricanes have hired Oregon head coach, Mario Cristobal, to be their next head coach. Cristobal took over at Oregon near the end of the 2017 season and has led them to a 35 – 13 record since. Cristobal’s team played in three straight Pac 12 championships and won two of them. He also was the head coach at FIU from 2017 to 2012, leading the program to two bowl appearances. He then coached the offensive line at Alabama under Nick Saban and then spent one season at Oregon as an offensive coordinator and OL coach before taking over as head coach.

Cristobal is an excellent recruiter who has been bringing top talent to Eugene since taking over as head coach. He recruited four top 13 classes to Oregon including the 2019 class which ranked seventh in the country and the 2021 class which ranked sixth. He was not only a player at Miami but also spent three seasons as a position coach with the team before taking the FIU job. Cristobal has a history of developing excellent offensive lineman and emphasizes the play in the trenches. Oregon’s passing game seemed to be off track this entire season and the team lost badly to Utah twice in the last few weeks, but Oregon was clearly in a better place now than when Cristobal arrived. He is a proven head coach who is an excellent recruiter that should prosper at his Alma-mater.

Grade: A-

Oregon

Mario Cristobal has accepted the head coaching position at Miami leaving the Ducks with an opening.

Cristobal had a 35 – 13 record during his four plus year tenure with the program. He led Oregon to three straight Pac 12 Championsip game appearances and two Pac 12 titles before taking the Miami job.

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Dan Lanning

The Ducks have hired Georgia defensive coordinator, Dan Lanning, to be their next head coach. He has been the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs since 2019 and spent the 2018 season as an outside linebackers coach at Georgia. Lanning has coached inside linebackers at Memphis from 2016 to 2017 and defensive backs and Sam Houston State in 2014. He has also served as the recruiting coordinator at Arizona State, Sam Houston State and Memphis during his career.

This is Lanning’s first head coaching job and he has only been a defensive coordinator for 3 seasons. He may be short on experience but Lanning is a young coach who has been very successful early in his career. He led one of the best defenses in the country at Georgia, ranking first in the country in scoring defense in 2019 and 2021 and 16th in 2020. Lanning has been an excellent recruiter helping land big time recruits across the southeast. For a major power five job, lack of head coaching experience and limited coordinator experience is a concern, but Lanning is one of the up and coming coaches in the game and has excellent results as a coordinator and recruiter. The Ducks hope he can continue to add to the talented roster that Cristobal built in Eugene.

Grade: B-

Virginia Tech

The Hokies fired Justin Fuente on November 16, 2021 after he led the team to a 43 – 31 record over almost 6 seasons at Virgnia Tech.

Fuente got off to a good start at Virginia Tech going 19 – 8 in his first two seasons with the program, but had not approached that success since. The Hokies were 5 – 6 last year and were sitting at 5 – 5 when Fuente was let go.

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Brent Pry

The Hokies have hired Brent Pry to be their next head coach. He was a grad assistant with Virginia Tech early in his coaching career, from 1995 to 1997. Pry has spent most of his career as a defensive assistant and served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Penn State the past six seasons. He was also co-defensive coordinator at Penn State for two seasons before taking over as the sole coordinator.

This is Pry’s first head coaching job, but he has spent 11 seasons as a defensive coordinator and five seasons as a co-defensive coordinator. He led a strong defense at Penn State that allowed less than 17 points per game three of the past five seasons. Pry has a hard nosed defense that is aggressive and plays a physical brand of football. He has recruited Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region so there will be some overlap when recruiting for Virginia Tech. The lack of head coaching experience is always a concern at a big job like Virginia Tech, but Pry is one of the top defensive coordinators in college football and has been for some time. The Hokies will look for that toughness and physicality to lead the entire football team under Pry.

Grade: B

TCU

The Horned Frogs let Gary Patterson go on October 31, 2021. The coach led the team to a 181 – 79 record in 21 seasons at TCU.

The move came as a bit of a surprise because of the long run of success Patterson has had with the program. The problem was the team appeared to have plateued and was struggling recently. The Horned Frogs were 14 – 16 from 2019 until when Patterson was let go, a losing record over almost three seasons was not good enough for the Administration.

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Sonny Dykes

The Horned Frogs have hired Sonny Dykes to be their next head coach. This is his fourth head coaching job in the FBS ranks with stops at Louisiana Tech, California and SMU. Dykes has coached several prolific offenses and has been successful improving the team at each stop on his road to TCU. He has a 71 – 62 career record as a head coach and has improved by at least three wins from year one to year two at each stop.

Dykes had built a good program at SMU that had lost just three games in each of the last three seasons. He is a proven recruiter who was starting to bring some high level talent to SMU, a trend that should continue at TCU. Dykes had his most successful seasons at Louisiana Tech and SMU, and has proven he can recruit Texas and the surrounding region. He is known for his high powered offense and will bring energy and excitement to Fort Worth. TCU replaced an iconic coach who was know for his defenses with a familiar name in state who is one of the best offensive coaches in the game. This could be a move that helps TCU continue to elevate their program.

Grade: A

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders fired Matt Wells on October 25, 2021. The coach led the team to a 13 - 17 record in just over two seasons at Texas Tech.

The move came as a bit of a surprise since Texas Tech appeared to be turning the corner in 2021. Wells won four games in each of his first two seasons, but was off to a 5 - 3 start this year. Nonetheless, the University decided to make a change and did not allow Wells to finish year three.

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Joey McGuire

The Red Raiders have hired Joey McGuire to be their next head coach. He was an extremely successful high school coach in Texas for 14 seasons before joining the Baylor coaching staff in 2017. He has coached tight ends, defensive ends and outside linebackers during his tenure with Baylor and was promoted to associate head coach. McGuire was hired by Matt Rhule and retained by Dave Aranda when he took over at Baylor.

McGuire has never been a head coach or coordinator at the collegiate level. He is however very well known at the Texas high school level and comes with a reputation as a strong recruiter, an area that Texas Tech has to improve in. McGuire also has experience rebuilding a program, albeit at the high school level. He took over a high school team that had never won a playoff game and won three state titles during his time there. The risk here is that McGuire does not have collegiate head coaching experience or coordinator experience, but the Red Raiders believe in the upside his recruiting prowess provides and his high school experience as a program builder.

Grade: B -

Washington State

The Cougars fired Nick Rolovich on October 18, 2020 for cause. The coach led the team to a 5 - 6 record during the Covid shortened 2020 season and the start of the 2021 season. He was let go for refusing the Covid Vaccine.

Rolovich appeared to be getting results on the field. The team went 1 - 3 in 2020 and was of to a 4 - 3 start in 2021 before Rolovich was let go. Of course this was not a football move, so the improvement on the field did not matter.

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Jake Dickert

The Cougars have hired interim coach and former defensive coordinator Jake Dickert to be their permanent head coach. Dickert became the defensive coordinator before the 2020 season and after a tough first season, led a much improved defense in 2021. He took over as interim head coach when Nick Rolovich was let got and Dickert led the team to a 3 - 2 record since, including an Apple Cup win over Washington.

Dickert did a good job for the Cougars under difficult circumstances when he took over as head coach this year. He held the team together and the defense was clearly improved in his second season with the program. He led a good Wyoming defense in 2019, so his success in that area is not a surprise. Dickert has no previous head coaching experience and has only been an assistant at a power five program for two seasons. He is a young coach, so there is potential here but he does not have a lot of experience coaching at the power five level, much less running a program at this level.

Grade: C

Virginia

On December 2nd, Bronco Mendenhall announced that he would be stepping down after the team's bowl game leaving the Cavaliers with an opening.

Mendenhall had a 36 – 38 record during his six year tenure with the program. He led Virginia to a .500 or better record in each of his last four years on the job, though the team finished exactly .500 the last two years.

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Tony Elliott

The Cavaliers have hired Clemson offensive coordinator, Tony Elliott, to be their next head coach. He has been an assistant coach with the Tigers since 2011 and served as the offensive coordinator the last two seasons and co-offensive coordinator from 2015 to 2019. Clemson's offense averaged 43.5 points per game in 2020, but that average plummeted to 26.8 points per game this past season. That was the lowest scoring average for the Tigers since the 2010 season.

Elliott has been at Clemson for a decade and has been part of one of the premiere programs in college football during that stretch. He has been a strong recruiter during his time with the Tigers and should be able to recruit well for Virginia. It is concerning that the offense took such a sudden dive during Elliott's second season, though the Tigers did lose Trevor Lawrence to the NFL. Elliott has no head coaching experience and does not have a proven track record as a sole offensive coordinator either. Elliott is a young coach who has been with an elite program for most of his career, Virginia is hoping some of that winning and program building comes with Elliott to Charlottesville.

Grade: C-

Duke

The Blue Devils and David Cutcliffe have mutually agreed to go their separate ways on November 28th. He led the team to a 77 - 97 record over 14 seasons as the head coach.

Cutcliffe guided the team to five winning seasons in six bowl appearances during his tenure. He had a ten win season in 2013, the best total during his tenure, but had only one ten total games in the last three seasons.

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Mike Elko

The Blue Devils have hired Texas A&M defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, to be their next head coach. He has been the defensive coordinator for the Aggies since 2018, before that he served as the defensive coordinator For Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Bowling Green and Hofstra. Elko has been a defensive coordinator at the FBS level since 2009. Texas A&M's defense improved each year Elko was on the job climbing from 47th in scoring defense in 2018 to 36th in 2019, 28th in 2020 and 3rd in 2021.

Elko has worked his way up the ranks as a defensive coordinator and has been successful at each of his stops along the way. He has been excellent revamping defenses and making immediate progress, then building on that success moving forward. Elko has never been a head coach, but he has plenty of experience working as a coordinator at private institutions and with stricter guidelines during his career. He has a history coaching on the east coast and has experience in the ACC, giving him familiarity on the field and on the recruiting trail. Elko is a proven defensive coordinator who has been successful at every stop during his career, he will bring a winning defense to Duke and could be the one to turn the program around.

Grade: B+

Louisiana

Billy Napier has accepted the head coaching position at Florida leaving the Ragin Cajuns with an opening.

Napier had a 39 – 12 record during his four year tenure with the program. He led Louisiana to four straight Bowl Appearances and three straight double digit win seasons before taking the Florida job.

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Michael Desormeaux

The Ragin Cajuns have promoted co-offensive coordinator, Michael Desormeaux, to be their next head coach. Desormeaux was named co-offensive coordinator for Louisiana this past year, helping guide the offense to 30.7 points per game. He is a young coach who has risen from being a high school head coach in the state from 2013 -2015, then joining the Louisiana staff as a RB coach in 2016 and a TE coach from 2017 - 2020. This is Desormeaux' first head coaching job at the collegiate level, coming after his first season as a coordinator for a college team.

Desormeaux played his college ball at Louisiana and has coached exclusively in the state at the high school level and again as a college assistant. He has strong ties across the state and is obviously familiar with the Ragin Cajuns football program. Desormeaux' experience as a high school coach and name recognition in-state will be an asset on the recruiting trail. Obviously he does not have a lot of collegiate experience, but has been a coach with the Louisiana football program for six seasons and the administration is very familiar with him. There may be some growing pains as Desormeaux adjusts to being a collegiate head coach, but there is potential for this to be an excellent fit for both the coach and the program.

Grade: B

Fresno State

Kalen DeBoer has accepted the head coaching position at Washington leaving the Bulldogs with an opening.

DeBoer had a 12 – 6 record during his two year tenure with the program. He led Fresno State to 9 - 3 record in just his second season with the team.

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Jeff Tedford

The Bulldogs have hired Jeff Tedford to be their next head coach. He is a familiar face at Fresno State as well as in the state of California. He played college ball with the Bulldogs and spent 3 seasons as the head coach at Fresno State from 2017 to 2019, he also coached 11 seasons at Cal from 2002 to 2012. Between stints Tedford coached in the NFL briefly as a coordinator, in the Canadian Football League as a head coach and as a consultant for Chris Peterson at Washington.

Tedford had a very successful run during his tenure at Cal and Fresno State. He led the Golden Bears to an 82 - 57 record as head coach and established his reputation as an excellent developer of quarterbacks. Tedford had two excellent seasons with Fresno State before a disappointing third season in which the team went 4 - 8. Overall, he had a 26 - 14 record with the team over his three seasons. He is a strong offensive coach who will be able to continue the positive offensive momentum that DeBoer has built over the last two seasons. Tedford is a recognized coach in the area that has long standing recruiting relationships in the state and has proven he can succeed at this level. The second go around is not always as good as the first, but Tedford is set-up for success at Fresno State.

Grade: B+

SMU

Sonny Dykes has accepted the head coaching position at TCU leaving the Mustangs with an opening.

Dykes was 30 – 17 since arriving at SMU in 2017. He led the program to a Top 25 finish in his last three seasons with the team and lost just three games in each of his last three seasons.

Smu Mustangs

Rhett Lashlee

The Mustangs have hired Rhett Lashlee to be their next head coach. He served as the offensive coordinator and Quarterbacks coach at SMU from 2018 to 2019. That 2019 Mustangs offense ranked 7th in the country, averaging 41.8 points per game. Lashlee left to take the same job at Miami and after a two year stint their will return to SMU as the head coach.

Lashlee is a respected offensive coach who has had success at multiple stops. He was an offensive coordiantor and QB coach at Samford, Arkansas State, Auburn and UConn before taking that job at SMU in 2018. Lashlee is a former assistant for the Mustangs who is familiar with the program, the recruiting landscape and helped to build the program to where it is now. While Lashlee does not have head coaching experience, he is an excellent pick to continue to build on the success Dykes has led the program to over the past few seasons.

Grade: A-

Troy

The Trojans have fired Chip Lindsey, who led the team to a 15 - 19 record over the past three seasons. He won five games in each of his three seasons as the head coach at Troy.

Lindsey took over a program that had double digit wins in three straight seasons under Neal Brown, but never got the Trojans to a bowl game during his tenure. After three years of basically the exact same results, the Trojans decided to move on and find a new coach.

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John Sumrall

Grade: ?

Connecticut

Randy Edsall stepped down as head coach on the Huskies on September 6, 2021. He had announced the day before that he would retire at the end of the season, but met with the school and decided to accelerate those plans.

Edsall's second go around at UConn was not nearly as successful as his first. He was 6 - 32 since taking over the program in 2017. He had a successful run at UConn from 2000 to 2010 when he went 70 - 63 before leaving to take over the Maryland program.

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Jim Mora Jr

The Huskies have hired Jim Mora Jr to be their next head coach. He is well known coach who has experience as a head coach in college and in the NFL. Mora's last head coaching job was at UCLA where he led the Bruins to a 46 - 30 record from 2012 to 2017. Since then, Mora has been a college football analyst with ESPN. Mora also coached the Atlanta Falcons from 2004 to 2006.

Mora got off to a fast start at UCLA, winning 10 games in his second and third season with the program and qualifying for a Bowl game in each of his first four seasons. The Bruins had a losing record in each of his last two seasons with the team. Mora's entire college coaching career took place on the west coast, so one would presume most of his recruiting ties are on the west coast as well. Nonetheless, Mora is an experienced coach who has proven he can win, at least for some time, and brings name recognition to the UConn program.

Grade: C

Georgia Southern

The Eagles fired Chad Lunsford on September 26, 2021 after he led the team to a 28 - 21 record since taking over in 2017.

Lunsford had a winning record from 2018 - 2020, but opened the 2021 season 1 - 3. He led the team to a 10 win season in 2018 and three straight bowl appearances, winning two of those three bowl games.

Georgia Southern Eagles

Clay Helton

The Eagles have hired Clay Helton to be their next head coach. He was let go by USC earlier this year after eight years with the program and a 46 – 24 record. Helton has coached running backs, wide receivers and quarterbacks at Duke, Houston, Memphis and USC before becoming USC's head coach. He also has experience as a passing game coordinator and offensive coordinator at Memphis and USC.

Helton landed another job quickly and is known as a well liked coach who is able to recruit. Helton won several big recruiting battles during his time at USC and will look to collect talent in the fertile state of Georgia. He is not the first coach to fail at USC recently, both Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian were fired at USC and have rebuilt their careers since. With some name recognition, a reputation as a sound recruiter and the chance to learn from the mistakes he made at USC, Helton could be on the rebound quickly. Georgia Southern has had success and Helton could help elevate the program while rebuilding his own resume.

Grade: B+

Akron

The Zips fired Tom Arth on November 4, 2021. The coach led the team to a 3 - 24 record in just under three seasons at Akron.

Arth won more games in 2021 than he had in 2019 and 2020 but progress was coming very slowly. Three wins over three years is hardly a feather in the cap and Arth's tenure was cut short in his third season.

Akron Zips

Joe Moorhead

Grade: ?

FIU

The Panthers and Butch Davis have agreed to part ways after the season. The coach led the team to a 24 - 30 record in five seasons at FIU.

Davis had some success early in his tenure, but the program has spiraled downward over the past three season. The Panthers went 6 - 7 in 2019 and are 1 - 14 over the past two seasons.

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Mike MacIntyre

Grade: ?

UMass

The Minutemen fired Walt Bell on November 7, 2021. The coach led the team to a 2 - 23 record in just under three seasons at UMass.

Bell was unable to gain any traction over the course of his tenure with the team. With one win in 2019 and one in 2021 to date, the program did not show any signs of progress so Bell was let go.

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Don Brown

The Minute Men have hired Don Brown to be their next head coach. He is a familiar figure for the University as he served as head coach there from 2004 to 2008. He left UMass to become a defensive coordinator at the FBS level and a role he filled for Maryland, Boston College, Michigan and Arizona. Brown was successful, but struggled in his final year at Michigan, resulting in him being fired and taking the same job at Arizona.

Brown coached UMass before they joined the FBS, but his five year tenure with the program was the best five year stretch in the program's history. Brown led the team to 43 - 19 record and played for a National Championship in 2006. Brown is obviously familiar with the program and the region, but he will have to prove he can repeat the success he enjoyed from 2004 to 2008 against a higher level of competition and in a new era of college football. Brown has been a coordinator since 2009 so he has not been away from the game, but he has not been a head coach in over a decade.

Grade: B-

New Mexico State

The Aggies did not retain Doug Martin at the end of the 2021 season. The coach led the team to a 25 - 74 record in nine seasons at New Mexico State.

Martin had one winning season over the course of his tenure with the team. That seven win season in 2017 was the high point of his tenure, but the Aggies never won more than three games under Martin before or after that season.

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Jerry Kill

The Aggies have hired Jerry Kill to be their next head coach. He is an experienced head coach who has had success at Northern Illinois and Minnesota. He left Minnesota due to health concerns but has worked as an assistant coach at Rutgers, Virginia Tech and TCU since then. Kill has a 54 - 47 record as a head coach over nine seasons.

Kill did a good job turning around the Northern Illinois program and after two mediocre seasons led the team to a 10 - 3 record in his third and final season with the team. He then rebuilt the Minnesota program where after two losing seasons he was 8 - 5 in years three and four before stepping down with a 4 - 3 record during his fifth season. Kill is a well respected coach who is able to identify the type of players he needs to build a program. If his health concerns are in the past, Kill is the type of coach that can make the New Mexico State program a respectable one.

Grade: B