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The college football coaching carousel is in overdrive, and at least one big name has already found a ride.
Nine jobs in the Power Four conferences opened up in-season, including at blue-blood places like LSU, Florida and Penn State. Expect more jobs to become available once the dominoes start to fall.
USA TODAY college football columnists Blake Toppmeyer and Matt Hayes will grade each hire in this year's coaching cycle as the hires are made.
∎ WE WILL UPDATE AS MORE COACHING HIRES ARE MADE. STAY TUNED...
Nov. 30: Alex Golesh to Auburn
Grade: B-
Auburn made an outside hire, at least. That’s something. Athletic director John Cohen had said he’d consider DJ Durkin, but if Auburn had promoted Hugh Freeze’s leftover lieutenant to the top job, that would’ve been the ultimate slice of humble pie.
Auburn needs help on offense to pull it out of yearslong rut, and Golesh shows some chops for the assignment. He’s worked inside the SEC and was Josh Heupel’s offensive coordinator when Tennessee toppled Alabama in 2022 and the Vols’ up-tempo spread system led the nation in offense.
Golesh did a solid job at South Florida in his first coaching gig. The Bulls were 1-11 the year before he arrived. By this season, Golesh’s Year 3, the Bulls upset Florida and went 9-3. They fizzled a bit in the second half of the schedule. USF enjoys an advantage as one of the best-resourced programs in the American Conference, and it’s located in enviable recruiting territory.
Golesh can’t expect such a head-start on his SEC peers while at Auburn, and USF fans were appropriately disappointed Golesh couldn’t get this year’s team to the American Conference championship game, after peaking early in wins against Boise State and Florida.
Golesh is a more unproven hire than Auburn’s past two, but after Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze failed miserably, you could argue it’s worth taking a shot on a rising 41-year-old talent.
The up-tempo spread system Golesh is trained in has become less novel inside the SEC in recent years. Golesh will join Heupel, Lane Kiffin and Jeff Lebby as coaches who operate a version of this offense. Does that increase in familiarity sacrifice some of the advantage Tennessee enjoyed while Golesh was there? Perhaps.
He also must prove himself as a recruiter while going toe-to-toe with the likes of Kirby Smart, Kalen DeBoer and others in blue-chip battles.
Golesh is a bit of a gamble, but not a total Hail Mary, and he’s a hopeful choice after the retread shot with Freeze flopped. ― Blake Toppmeyer
Nov. 30: Lane Kiffin to LSU
Grade: A
If you’d formed a list of who LSU should pursue after it fired Brian Kelly, it might have looked like this:
- Lane Kiffin
- Revert to option 1 and get it done.
LSU landed the white whale. The Tigers secured the hire they should have made last time this job was open. Kiffin turning heel on Mississippi before the College Football Playoff is a bad look for the sport and the coaching industry, but that’s not LSU’s problem at this moment.
Kiffin torched his Ole Miss legacy on the way out the door, but the record books will say he was the program’s best coach since Johnny Vaught retired in 1973 after a tenure that peaked in the late 1950s and early ‘60s.
Kiffin is the nation’s best coach to never appear in a CFP game. Considering the coaches who have been to the playoffs aren’t leaving their jobs, he’s the top pony of this carousel.
Kiffin’s mastery on offense will be a boon for LSU, after the Tigers spent the season spinning their tires. He’ll upgrade the quarterback production. Just consider what he did with Division II transfer Trinidad Chambliss. Simply sublime. That came after Jaxson Dart and Matt Corral thrived under Kiffin at Ole Miss. He’s close to a guarantee for quality quarterback production, and if you have a quarterback, you have a chance.
LSU played the transfer game in its final season under Kelly, but nobody plays portal roulette better than the Portal King himself. Kiffin will upgrade this roster, and LSU will give him the funds to do it. Bet on that.
Can Kiffin meet LSU’s demands for a national championship? That’s an unanswered question. Kiffin went 0-4 against Nick Saban and he’s 1-2 against Kirby Smart.
Also, how well will he recruit in Louisiana? Also unanswered.
Kiffin’s career never looked better than it did when he had an SEC underdog punching above its historical weight. Now, he’s rolling with the big boys again. That hasn’t brought out his best in the past, but that doesn’t mean LSU and Kiffin won’t pair well. ― Blake Toppmeyer
Nov. 30: Pete Golding at Ole Miss
Grade: B-
To grade this hire, first consider the situation. Lane Kiffin’s stay-or-go saga held the Ole Miss job hostage, even while the Rebels approached their first College Football Playoff bid.
By the time Kiffin officially pledged to LSU, many top coaching candidates who might have been willing to consider Ole Miss already had been hired elsewhere. Kiffin’s heel turn on the doorstep of the Rebels’ first playoff bid put pressure on athletic director Keith Carter to make a hire who could keep the roster and coaching staff intact for a postseason run. Players can rally around this hire.
In the short term, that makes this a strong move. In the long term, stay tuned.
Golding is a skilled defensive coordinator who trained under Nick Saban. Ole Miss’ best stretch under Kiffin came after he hired Golding to run his defense ahead of the 2023 season. He’s built a reputation for being a good recruiter, too.
This is the zig to the zag of new industry norms. Many Power Four athletic directors have shied away from turning to the coordinator ranks for their coaching hires in the past couple of seasons, as the job of being a head coach is bigger than ever.
And yet it’s worth noting the SEC’s best active coach had no head coaching experience, before Georgia hired Kirby Smart. In the Big Ten, Ohio State elevated Ryan Day from coordinator to coach to succeed Urban Meyer.
That’s not to compare this hire to those. It’s only to say hiring a good coordinator steeped with SEC experience feels like no more of a gamble than hiring a coach from the Group of Five.
Considering Ole Miss’ available moves, this is a fine choice. Re-evaluate in a year or two. For now, this hire provides stability in a moment the Rebels desperate need it. ― Blake Toppmeyer
Nov. 28: Tavita Pritchard to Stanford
Grade: B
Everything about this screams success. Pritchard is a Stanford alum, and a former walk-on quarterback under Jim Harbaugh. He led the Cardinal to an upset of mighty USC in 2007 ― as a 41-point underdog. The greatest upset of the modern era.
He knows what it takes to persevere under difficult circumstances, but also knows what the buildout looks like when everything falls into place ― like it did under Harbaugh. Pritchard was general manager Andrew Luck's leader for the job early on, and it never really changed.
Pritchard has college and NFL experience, and most recently was quarterbacks coach for Jayden Daniels with the Washington Commanders. The only hiccup of the Stanford hire: Pritchard has zero head coaching experience.
It may not matter in this unique era of player empowerment, where it's as much about managing personalities and motivation as anything. ― Matt Hayes
Nov. 26: Jim Mora to Colorado State
Grade: B
Hey, UCLA, how do you like Mora now?
Mora went 46-30 in six seasons coaching the Bruins before they fired him in 2017. Successors Chip Kelly and then DeShaun Foster each fared worse, while Mora burnished his credentials with consecutive nine-win seasons at UConn these past two years.
Mora took over a UConn program that went 1-11 before his arrival. This season, in Year 4, his Huskies went 2-1 in games against ACC schools. An impressive turnaround. UConn athletic director David Benedict applauded Mora for exceeding expectations during his tenure.
Agreed. He did.
He’s a solid coach, and he needs to be, because he probably wouldn’t win many Mr. Congeniality competitions.
Although Mora spent the past few years out East, he’ll bring necessary West Coast connections to Colorado State. He played at Washington, and he coached the Seattle Seahawks after his stint with the Atlanta Falcons.
Other candidates might have teased the potential of a higher ceiling, but Mora offered Colorado State a high-floor option as a steady hand for a program that’s never found its way back since Jim McElwain left more than a decade ago. ― Blake Toppmeyer
Grade: B
This surprises me only because it's strange that Mora either didn't receive interest from Power conference schools, or didn't want to wait for the dominoes to fall.
I don't want to say he's better than Colorado State, but he most certainly has the resume and track record to land any number of Power conference jobs available. So instead of getting a young coach on the rise or a top assistant coach, CSU got a coach who has proven he can build and win.
So he didn't win big at UCLA, who has since Terry Donahue? Frankly, who has won with any semblance of consistency at UCLA since Donahue?
Here's a hint: no one.
If CSU upgrades its NIL base, Mora will recruit well to a school with wildly underrated facilities. Have you seen Canvas Stadium, and the integrated football facility? ― Matt Hayes
Nov 25: Eric Morris to Oklahoma State
Grade: A-
Will it work? Don’t know.Do I like the hire? Absolutely.
Oklahoma State is catching Morris, 40, on his way up. After two losing seasons to start his North Texas tenure, he’s enjoyed a breakout campaign in Year 3, steering the Mean Green into playoff contention. If UNT’s star freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker follows Morris to Stillwater, all the better. Mestemaker played safety as a high school senior. Paired with Morris, he’s become the American Conference’s best quarterback. Impressive.
Morris suits Oklahoma State’s needs. He’s from Texas, a crucial state for Cowboys recruiting, and he’s spent most of his coaching career within the state. He’ll bring a track record for quarterback development within the Air Raid offense. That system makes a lot of sense for the Cowboys. Plenty of high schools in Texas run the Air Raid, inspired by former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. Morris played for Leach at Texas Tech and worked under him at Washington State.
Just consider the quarterbacks Morris has helped develop. Baker Mayfield. Patrick Mahomes. Cam Ward.
Is it any wonder I like this hire for a program that needs a revolution of offense? ― Blake Toppmeyer
Grade: A
Yet another Power conference coach from the Mike Leach coaching tree. Better yet, a former player for Leach at Texas Tech, where Morris was a tough, undersized wide receiver they called Elf.
it was only a matter of time before he landed a Power conference job. But this one, with the infrastructure in place and the expectation of an elite pass game from all those successful Mike Gundy seasons, seems like the perfect fit.
He's a native Texan, and has connections throughout the deep and talent-rich Texas high schools. He'll be the surge of different ideas Oklahoma State has needed.
Make no mistake, this will be all about the quarterback. The overriding question: can Morris convince prolific freshman QB Drew Mestemaker to come to Oklahoma State ― over any number of Power conference offers he's bound to receive.
When the Cowboys get it going, there are few better places for a football game than Stillwater. ― Matt Hayes
Nov. 17: James Franklin to Virginia Tech
Grade: A
Virginia Tech — with the hiring of James Franklin — is making perhaps the best move of the coaching carousel, despite not being anywhere near the best job available.
Virginia Tech securing Franklin is a big-boy move, reinstalling gravitas to a program that went the Group of Five hiring route to replace Frank Beamer, and then went the coordinator route with Brent Pry to replace Justin Fuente, who was previously head coach of Memphis.
It’s not hyperbolic to say Franklin is far and away the most accomplished coach to ever accept the Virginia Tech job. Beamer's stardom occurred after taking the Hokies job, not before.
Virginia Tech doesn’t need Franklin to reinvent himself. It just needs Franklin to be who he’s been his entire career. ― Blake Toppmeyer
Grade: B
If we're basing this on James Franklin alone, it's a higher mark. But in the new and ever-evolving college football world, it's about coach, revenue sharing and private NIL commitment.
The hope is private money starts flowing because of Franklin and his history of winning big (yes, he won big at Penn State and Vanderbilt), and elite high school players in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads start returning to Blacksburg. Because Franklin will land his share of impact transfer portal players, but to truly make it work, he needs to organically build through two wildly underrated areas for high school football.
Never underestimate a coach who has won big everywhere, who's full of motivation after the way it ended at Penn State, from completing a heavy lift and carrying Virginia Tech back to the elite of the ACC. ― Matt Hayes
Keep up with the latest news and analysis from college football's top two conferences: Check out our Big Ten Hub and our SEC Hub to get school-by-school coverage from across the USA TODAY Network.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football coaching carousel: Grades for each hire, how they fit
Reporting by Blake Toppmeyer and Matt Hayes, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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