2022 College Coaching Changes

Football is getting ready to kickoff again!

Another action packed fun filled year with plenty of highs, lows, twists and things that just make you go hmmmm. And all along there are plenty of chances to put you money where your mouth wont go and put some sheckels on your new favorite team to cover. 

But before you put your hard earned dollars (or retirement nest eggs as the GO JUMBO gang continues to add another beach bumming, grandkid watching, distillery touring member to the retirement roster) - best to review the latest stops on the coaching carousel. You want to make sure you don't mistakenly fade a team only to find out they fired the knucklehead from last year. Conversely, you might want to wait a little bit on strong Group of Five teams that lost their head coach to a Power Five program. 

2021 was a calm year as there were only 18 new HCs. This year was a more normal churn with 29 programs finding their latest savior. 

Team

Out with the Old

In with the New

Tom Arth

Joe Moorhead
OC Oregon
​

Nice grab by Akron. Moorhead's is from the area having grown up in Pittsburgh. He coached at Akron from 2004-2008 before moving up the ranks, making stops at Fordham, UConn, Penn State and ultimately HC at Mississippi State.

Moorhead’s tenure as a head coach at Mississippi State didn’t end well going 14-12. but he has proven to be a good offensive coordinator at both Penn State and Oregon. At Penn State he took and offense that averaged 23.2 PPG to 41.1. He was also a successful HC at Fordham taking a team that went 1-10 and going 38-13 over four years. Moorhead is going to to win a lot of games at Akron.
 

Steve Addazio

Jay Norvell
HC Nevada

A real in your face move, going from one MWC team to another. For Norvell it made sense, Colorado State has a bigger budget, newer stadium, more resources, and is arguably a better job than the one in Reno.

Not sure why it makes sense for CSU though. His track record at Nevada was OK but nothing great. He took a 3-9 his first year then going on to win at least seven games in each of the next four years, finishing with a 33-26 mark. Maybe that will be good enough for the Rams. 

Randy Edsall

Jim Mora
​HC UCLA

Remember when UConn was good at football. That was a long time ago. The Huskies haven't had a winning season since 2010 and is just 4-32 over the last three years.

So what do they do? They hire a coach who has been out of action since 2017 and doesn’t have any ties to the East Coast. 

Sure, his resume looks all bright and shiny - long time NFL coach including HC for the Falcons and Seahawks. HC at UCLA where he went 46-30 with 20 victories in 2013-2014. 

But this requires a turnaround type of coach who can find hidden recruiting gems and build a culture. Not sure Mora is up to the task. 

David Cutcliffe

Mike Elko
DC Texas A&M

It was a good run for former HC David Cutcliffe but he was getting to get to be like you grandpa -  a little musty. It's not that Duke really cares about football but a change every once in awhile lets the donors have something to talk about. 

Elko has never been a HC before but has been on the HC radar for sometime now with solid but not great stints as DC at Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Texas A&M. Last year's A&M defense finished 20th overall.   

I guess if you are going learn how to be a HC Duke is a noce place to start. Expectations are low. 

Butch Davis

Mike MacIntyre
​DC Memphis

Here's the HC UConn should have chased. MacIntyre has experience in turning around FBS programs, After going 1-12 at San Jose State in ’10, the Spartans went 15-9 over the next two years, including 10 regular-season victories in ’12.

He then inherited a Colorado program coming off a 4-21 mark from 2011-12 and got them to in a 10-4 season and a Pac-12 South title in ’16. But going 10-13 over the next two years got him the ziggy. MacIntyre has spent three years as an assistant at Ole Miss and Memphis.

If MacIntyre can turn around San Jose State, FIU should be a piece of cake. 

Dan Mullen

Billy Napier
​HC UL Lafayette

Dan Mullen sounded like he wasn't fully committed to 'cruiting, his team mailed it in last season while UGA was winning the Natty. Bye bye Danny boy.

Billy Napier has been one of my favorite coaches over the last several years. His UL Lafayette teams went 40-12 over the last four years, notching four division titles and an outright Sun Belt championship in ’21. His teams in Lafayette were disciplined and tough, words not associated with the 2021 Gators. 

Napier is non stop full time recruiter and spent time as an on-field assistant working under the top two coaches in college football – Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney. 

I am worried that the jump from the Sun Belt to the SEC might be a bridge too far. I was hoping he would get a little experience in the Big 12 or ACC first but he is a superb coach. Florida will challenge in the SEC East very soon.  

Kalen DeBoer

Jeff Tedford
​HC Fresno State

In one of the better stories of the coaching cycle, Jeff Tedford returns to Fresno State after having to step away due to health reasons following the 2019 season. Tedford guided the Bulldogs to a 26-14 record and a Mountain West title (’18) from 2017-19.

​Prior to that he went 82-57 as California’s head coach from 2002-12 and has just three losing records in 14 years. 

Glad to have you back Jeff. The Bulldogs remain a contender in the Mountain West.  

Chad Lunsford

Clay Helton
HC Southern Cal

Another name hire. He was forever on the hot seat at USC  as the Trojans went 46-24 under his watch. 

He is a southern boy coming from Florida and having coached at Duke, Houston and Memphis so he knows the recruiting landscape. 

But he is going to install a spread offense. Every time GSU abandons the option they fail miserably. 

Like UConn, going for the shiny toy is going to backfire. 

Todd Graham

Timmy Chang
​WR Colorado

Todd Graham destroyed Hawaii. The team melted down and players transferred out in droves. Hawaii is a unique job where a cultural fit is every bit as important and good coaching chops.

​Chang is a native of Honolulu, had a record-setting career as the quarterback at Hawaii, and has spent the last five years working under Jay Norvell at Nevada and for a few months at Colorado State. He also had stints at Jackson State (2014-15) and Emory & Henry (’16) as an offensive coordinator. Chang is young (40), has no previous head-coaching experience, and may need some time to rebuild his alma mater with just five returning starters in place for ’22.
The Todd Graham-era ended poorly. Hawaii does not have many returning players, as many transferred out before Graham was even fired. The Rainbow Warriors have turned to their record-setting quarterback Timmy Chang to take things over, but things don’t look good for the foreseeable future. He’ll have his work cut out for him.

Skip Holtz

Sonny Combie
​OC Texas Tech

Are you ready for some Air Raid Bulldog fans? Combie is a former Texas Tech QB where he played in the Air Raid system and followed it up as an assistant in Lubbock.

He also coached under Gary Patterson at TCU from 2017-20 before returning to Tech. He gained valuable experience as a HC after Matt Wells was fired mid season last year. He finished 2-3 with a win over Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl. 

He's an up and coming coach and landed in a good spot. 

Ed Orgeron

Brian Kelly
​HC Notre Dame

Talk about Not a cultural fit!. Only a moron like Kelly would get introduced to the LSU faithful by faking a Cajun accent. I was embarrassing. I almost felt sad for the Tiger nation. But, hey, they hired him. 

Not sure if Riley going to USC or this was the biggest surprise on this year's coaching carousel. Kelly had one of the better runs at Notre Dame, but he couldn’t seem to get them back to being an elite program. He steps in at LSU as a safer hire than their previous coach, a true Cajun, Ed Orgeron, but if he couldn't make ND elite, what makes you think he can do it in Baton Rouge. 

Don't get me wrong, Kelly is a good coach, he has won at every level, He went 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State, had a 19-16 mark in three years at Central Michigan,  guided Cincinnati to a 34-6 record from 2006-09 and he ia the winningest coach in Notre Dame history, winning 113 games since ’10 along with a trip to the BCS National Championship Game and two treks to the CFB Playoffs (all losses).

He will need to to adjust to recruiting and life in SEC territory, and sky high (unreasonable) expectations after LSU's magical 2019 season. Will the Tigers accept a couple transition years? 

Probably not. Kelly is inherently a jerk and will someone important off. And playing as a semi independent in the ACC is nothing like the SEC West. It's going to be a short run in Red Stick. 

Walt Bell

Don Brown
​DC Arizona

That vaunted Don Brown defense. Michigan didn't just have a defense it was vaunted and had a name. Well, its back to where it started. Dr. Blitz returns to his home state of Massachusetts for a second stint in charge of the Minutemen.

Brwon spent 2021 as Arizona’s DC after spending 2016-20 vaunting scUM's defense. Brown has had success in the Northeast going 43-19 at UMass from 2004-08, including a No. 2 ranking and appearance in the FCS title game in ’06. Other stops during Brown’s career include stints as an assistant at Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Maryland, UConn and Boston College. Brown knows the landscape and has already won before here.

Not sure about this one a s second time around coaches have a tendency to flame out. I like the hire it's just the trend is against him.

Manny Diaz

Mario Cristobal

A match made in heaven. Cristobal was born in Miami, played as an offensive tackle with the ‘Canes from 1989-92, and later worked in Coral Gables as an assistant from 2004-06.

He's been one of my favorite coaches ever since he turned around Florida International back in 2007-12. He later was an assistant under Saban before moving to Oregon eventually becoming the top man in 2017. He went 36-13 with the Ducks including two Pac 12 titles. 

Cristobal is regarded as relentless, high energy recruiter which should help him win recruiting battles in Florida and throughout the southeast. 

The Canes are going to be immediate contenders in the Coastal and ACC contenders in the near future. 

Jay Norvell

Ken Wilson
​DC Oregon

Cristobal's right hand man left the Ducks too. Wilson is a first-time head coach, but he has long ties to Nevada, as an assistant under College Football Hall of Famer Chris Ault from 1989-2012.

He stayed on the west coast, moving to Washington State from 2013-18 and then to Oregon as DC from 2019-21. His experience with recruiting area makes him a good fit for the Wolf Pack.  With just six returning starters it could be awhile for Wilson to make an impact in the MWC. 

Doug Martin

Jerry Kill
​HC Minnesota

Another feel good hire. Hill was on the cusp of getting the Gophers to be a perennial power in the B10 West when he had to step down due to a seizure disorder in 2015. Prior to Minnesota, he took a Northern Illinois team that went 2-10 to 11-3 and the MAC powerhouse it is today. 

He also turned around Southern Illinois going 5-18 his first two years to 55-32 and a record 99 straight weeks of being ranked, by the time he was all done. His Salukis were also the first Missouri Valley team to beat a Big Ten team when SIU defeated Indiana in  2006.

He has won the Eddie Robinson award for FBS coach of the year (2004) and the Big Ten coach of the year award in 2014.

New Mexico State is one of the toughest jobs in college football, but his track record of building winning football programs in just what the Aggies need. NMSU will soon be going from laughable doormat to bowl games. 

Brian Kelly

Marcus Freeman
​DC Notre Dame

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick mailed in the job search for Brian Kelly's replacement. Freeman came to South Bend prior to the 2021 season after spending four years as DC at Cincinnati. When Kelly bolted for LSU, the players rallied around Freeman so Swarbick gave him the job. Spartan fans remember when their head coach left for Baton Rouge and the players "picked" their HC. How did that work out?

Freeman at least has some coaching cred. Hos Bearcats defenses ranked first in the AAC in fewest points allowed for three consecutive years (2018-20). In his only season as defensive coordinator for the Fighting Irish, the defense held teams to 19.7 points a contest and 5.3 yards per play. 

But I'm tarnished by these kind of hires after Bobby's flame out. Freeman won't get the Irish to the CFP and Notre Dame will be looking for real in a few years. 

Lincoln Riley

Brent Venables
​DC Clemson

Venables finally made the move. It seems like he is on every top programs short list for a decade now, always deciding to stay with Clemson. But the opportunity to move to Oklahoma where he worked under Bob Stoops finally got him to leave. 

Under Venables’ watch, Clemson ranked inside of the top 10 nationally in scoring defense in six out of the last eight years while winning two Natty's.

The Oklahoma fanbase has seemed pretty occupied with its scorn toward Lincoln Riley rather then turning the page to the Brent Venables era in Norman. This is the first head-coaching job for Venables, the longtime defensive coordinator most known for winning two national titles at Clemson.

Defense is foreign concept to Oklahoma fans after watching the Sooners put up tons of points and letting nearly as many. We will know if this is a good hire right away. If Oklahoma is not in the top spot in the Big 12, how are they going to compete in the SEC a couple of years.

Mario Cristobal

Dan Lanning
​DC Georgia

Lanning was this years hot rising star in college football after Georgia's defense dominated their way to a national championship. 

But this hire is a real crap shoot. Lanning is only 35 and has no background in the West Coast. His resume is impressive but not very deep. He was coaching DBs at Sam Houston State back in 2014. 

I have my doubts bout this one. How much of his defnesive prowess is his versus Kirby's. This is his first HC position. Oregon and the PAC 12 is not where he should have started. 

Sonny Dykes

Rhett Lashlee
OC Miami (FL)

SMU loves their offense. Lashlee marks the fourth consecutive coaching hire to come from an offensive background at SMU. it should be a seamless transition from the last staff, as Lashlee worked under Sonny Dykes in Dallas from 2018-19.

In his previous tenure at SMU, the Mustangs averaged more than 30 points a game in two seasons, He left to become the play-caller at Miami and replicated that success, guiding the Cane's offense to average 30 PPG in both seasons.

Lashlee has never been a head coach before but unlike Lanning, the AAC is a good place to start. SMU continues their ways of plenty of points for both teams. Take the overs. 

Clay Helton

Lincoln Riley
​HC Oklahoma

It was the biggest hiring shock of the year and perhaps the century. USC hiring Riley away from Oklahoma sent shockwaves through college football which aims to get the program back on a path to Pac-12 titles and playoff berths on a regular basis.

The Trojans have been for struggling on the recruiting trail and underachieving on the field for years. Expect that to change under Riley. He is one of the top offensive minds in college football and went 55-10 with three trips to the CFB Playoff in his career at Oklahoma.

He's already started building the roster by getting his QB Caleb Williams to follow him to USC and he has been hitting the transfer portal hard. But there still plenty of holes to fill especially on defense. 

There will be a transition year this year but Riley will get USC back into the national spotlight with multiple trips to the Pac12 and eventually B10 championship games and CFP contender. 

Gary Patterson

Sonny Dykes
​HC SMU

Dykes didn’t have to move far from his last job (SMU) to his new home (TCU). He was really good at blending recruiting and managing the transfer portal with the Mustangs,a formula that should easily translate to Fort Worth.

Dykes went 30-18 as the head coach at SMU, guiding the team to a 10-3 mark in 2019. He previously went 19-30 at California (2013-16) and 22-15 at Louisiana Tech (2010-12). Dykes’ ability to produce high-powered offenses and ties throughout the state of Texas should be an excellent fit at TCU.

Dykes can coach offense, but his SMU teams consistently faded down the stretch and his Cal teams were poor defensively. The fit for Dykes in Fort Worth makes sense on a lot of levels, but there’s no track record he can coach a top 25-level program.

Rod Carey

Stan Drayton
​RB Texas

Ummm - a career RB coach with no coordinating experience let alone HC experience. Yeah, this is going to work out.

It's said that he can recruit Pennsylvania but other than a couple of year at Ohio State 10 years ago he's been either in the NFL or in the SEC at Tennessee, Mississippi State and Florida. 

Temple has been bad for years. They continue to be bad. I'll be fading the Owls again this year. 

Matt Wells

Joey McGuire
​LB Baylor

I'm not a fan of great high school coaches who make the leap to the college ranks. McGuire was 141-42 record as Cedar Hill High School’s head coach from 2003-16. He then became a position coach at Baylor before getting the nod at Texas Tech.
He has no coordinating experience.

This is going to be a disaster to the Red Raiders. Another team to fade for the next few years. 

Chip Lindsey

Jon Sumrall
​DC Kentucky

Another coach returns home. Sumrall as an assistant with the Trojans from 2015-17 under Neal Brown before moving up the coaching tanks with stops at Ole Miss before the last three years with the Wildcats.

This is Sumrall’s first chance to be an FBS head coach, but this is a strong hire for Troy given his background in the state, recruiting ties, and track record on defense. Good hire. Troy will challenge in the Fun Belt

Billy Napier

Mike Desormeaux
OC UL Lafyette

The name alone makes it a great fit! That said, Desormeaux has some big shoes to fill at his alma mater. Billy Napier guided Louisiana to 33 wins and a Sun Belt title from 2019-21,

The former Ragin’ Cajuns QB worked in the high school ranks from 2010-12 before returning to Lafayette as an assistant in ’16. He remained in that role when Napier arrived (’18) and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator last year.

Desormeaux’s tenure is also off to a good start after beating Marshall in the New Orleans Bowl. However, maintaining the current level of success as a first-time head coach won’t be easy.

It will be a step back for the Ragin' Cajuns but they remain a dangerous team. 

Bronco Mendenhall

Tony Elliott
​OC Clemson

Elliot followed a similar path as his former colleague Brent Venables.He waited until he found a good landing spot. But rather jump right into the bright lights he decided to build his resume further with a stop at Virginia.   Elliot played in the ACC as a QB played at Clemson from 2000-03. He was a walk on eventually becoming a team captain.  Elliott tutored RBs for Clemson from 2011-14 before becoming OC in 2015.

The Tigers averaged at 33 points a game and ranked inside the top two the ACC in scoring offense every year from 2015-20 though there was a huge regression last year. 

Bronco Mendenhall built Virginia into a consistently competitive program, Elliott will keep them competitive. 

Justin Fuente

Brent Fry
​DC Penn State

Virginia Tech is a proud program that has been plagued by mediocrity since the later years of the Frank Beamer era. Justin Fuente got to the ACC title game in his first season but had a combined 24-23 (17-15 ACC) record over his final four seasons in Blacksburg. Fuente’s recruiting was lackluster, leading to a decline in talent on the roster.

Fry is familiar with the history from his three-year stint as a graduate assistant under Beamer and longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster from 1995-97. Since then, Pry has had stops at Western Carolina, UL Lafayette, Memphis and Georgia Southern before joining James Franklin’s staff at Vanderbilt. He followed Franklin to Penn State in ’14 and has helped mold some of the nation’s better defenses in Happy Valley. Pry’s group has ranked inside of the top five in the Big Ten in fewest yards per play allowed every year since ’16 and has excelled at finding ways to create havoc around the line of scrimmage.

Pry’s familiarity with the region is good for recruiting, but he’s also learning on the job as a first-time head coach. It won't be the glory days of Beamer Ball but the Hokies will be a tough out. 

Jimmy Lake

Kalen DeBoer
​HC Fresno State

DeBoer is a proven head coach at different levels of competition. DeBoer went 67-3 and won three NAIA championships as the head coach at South Dakota from 2005-09. After stints as an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois (2010-13), Eastern Michigan (2014-16), Fresno State (2017-18), and Indiana (2019), DeBoer landed his first FBS head-coaching job.

Fresno State went 3-3 in the abbreviated ’20 campaign but finished 9-3 behind an offense that averaged 33.4 points a game last fall. DeBoer has to prove he can recruit at a high level in the Pac-12, but there’s a lot to like about this hire. 

The Huskies will challenge in a depleted Pac 12. Let's hope his first game is a loss though. 

Nick Rolovich

Jake Dickert
​DC Washington State

It was pure chaos under former HC Nick Rolovich before he was finally pushed out.  Dickert stepped into the interim role and despite all of the drama and changes to the staff, Dickert kept the Cougars on track, finishing 3-3 over the final six games.

That, and a 40-13 win over rival Washington, was enough for Dickert to earn the full-time job. Dickert has no previous experience as a head coach but has spent time at a handful of jobs as an assistant, including North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Wyoming.

Under his watch, Washington State’s defense showed marked improvement. After allowing 38.5 points a game in ’20, the Cougars surrendered only 24.2 in ’21. Maintaining the momentum from the interim role into the full-time position will be a big challenge for Dickert. He'll have some success but is going to trail his rivals in Seattle.