UCLA and Virginia Tech kicked off the coaching carousel season in college football Sunday when they moved on from DeShaun Foster and Brent Pry, respectively, after 0-3 starts.

Athletic directors generally don't want to make these dramatic changes and give up on a season in September, and they try not to unless the results are truly disastrous. In both cases, blowout home losses to Group of 5 opponents in Week 3 made delaying the inevitable untenable. Now it's up to interim coaches to try to salvage the rest of the season while coaching searches begin in earnest.

In this era of college football, though, the factors an athletic department must weigh before firing a head coach extend far beyond just the cost of the buyout. Players can now immediately enter the transfer portal. Recruits d

See Full Page