It’s finally the post season for college football, and boy is this coaching carousel heading up. Tennessee’s football program is officially in flames, close to a month after firing Butch Jones. There has been a lot of moving around of coaches after championship weekend. Here is part 2 of the yearly coaching carousel.
| Team | Former Coach | New Coach |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona State | Todd Graham | Herm Edwards |
| Arkansas | Bret Bielema | Chad Morris |
| Florida | Jim McElwain | Dan Mullen |
| Florida State | Jimbo Fisher | Willie Taggart |
| Georgia Southern | Tyson Summers | Interim HC Chad Lunsford |
| Kent State | Paul Haynes | OPEN |
| Louisiana | Mark Hudspeth | OPEN |
| Mississippi State | Dan Mullen | OC Joe Moorhead |
| Nebraska | Mike Riley | Scott Frost |
| Ole Miss | Hugh Freeze | Interim HC/OC Matt Luke |
| Oregon | Willie Taggart | OPEN |
| Oregon State | Gary Andersen | OC/QB Jonathan Smith |
| Rice | David Bailiff | OPEN |
| Tennessee | Butch Jones | OPEN |
| Texas A&M | Kevin Sumlin | Jimbo Fisher |
| UCF | Scott Frost | Josh Heupel |
| UCLA | Jim Mora Jr. | Chip Kelly |
| UTEP | Sean Kugler | OPEN |
Arizona State
Previous Coach: Todd Graham
New Coach: Herm Edwards (ESPN Analyst)
Notes: ASU’s current AD was Edward’s agent back in the day, and Edwards hasn’t been on the sideline since 2008. The last team he coached was a 2-14 Kansas City Cheifs, with a total record of 54-74 in the NFL from 2001 to 2008. I have no clue what direction the Sun Devils are going, but this tweet sums it all up.
Herm Edwards’ agent: “I have no doubt he will put a lot of points on the scoreboard of life”
— Brad Denny (@BDenny29) December 4, 2017
His first press conference was also quite bizarre. This will either go incredibly well or not well at all. Take a look:
Arkansas
Previous Coach: Bret Beilama
New Coach: Chad Morris (HC, SMU)
Notes: In the midst of hunting for a new football coach, Arkansas has hired Hunter Yurachek to be their new AD. Hunter will step down from the same position at the University of Houston. Familiar with the AAC, on his first day, Yuracheck, hired Chad Morris from SMU. Morris served as offensive coordinator for Clemson from 2011 to 2014. In three years at SMU, Morris took the team from 2-10 to 7-5 while increasing offensive ranking from 71st to 8th in the country. Arkansas should see a shake up of their athletic program and a new look to their football team at the start of the 2018 season.
Florida State
Previous Coach: Jimbo Fisher
New Coach: Willie Taggart
Notes: Taggart was only at Oregon for a year before leaving for Florida State. Taggart previously was the head coach at Western Kentucky and South Florida and has a record of 47-50. Taggart previously coached under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford. He has developed offensive talents such as Toby Gerhart and current USF QB Quentin Flowers, one of the most explosive players in the country, and USF RB Marlon Mack. Taggart is a Florida man and is returning home to family. FSU was ranked number 3 in the country to start the 2017 the season. The turn around for the Seminoles will be quick.
Kent State
Previous Coach: Paul Haynes
Head Candidates:
Notes: Haynes went 14-45 in 5 seasons at the school, including a despicable 2-10 in 2017.
Louisiana
Previous Coaches: Mark Hudspeth
Head Candidates:
Notes: After going 9-4 each year for his first 4 seasons, Hudspeth was unable to control the team off-field and went 15-22 in the next three years. With attendance declining, the Ragin Cajun’s decided to fire Hudspeth.
Mississippi State
Previous Coach: Dan Mullen, hired at Florida
Head Candidates: Joe Moorhead (OC, Penn State)
Notes: Dan Mullen did leave Starkville quickly to coach at Florida, but, the Bulldogs were just as quick in hiring Penn State’s OC, Joe Moorhead. Moorhead has developed a deadly offense at Penn State and was key in the development of Trace McSorely and Saquon Barkley. Moorhead should be able to build of Mullen’s success and continue the strong recruiting needed in the SEC. Moorhead has ties to the northeast, which should be a great recruiting pipeline for the Bulldogs. Great hire at Mississippi State, especially with 20 returning starters next year.
Nebraska
Previous Coach: Mike Riley
New Coach: Scott Frost, HC UCF
Notes: Frost is coming home to Nebraska. In what may seem like a fairy tale, the Cornhuskers have landed their coach, one that may finally bring success back to the Big Red. In 2 years, Frost took 0-12 UCF to 12-0 and a spot in a NY6 bowl against Auburn and a AAC Championship. UCF was the highest scoring offense this year and was steam rolling over teams, with over 3 40-point victories on the season. After 3 terrible seasons in the B1G, Frost needs to bring back excitement to the program. A rebuild is taking place in Lincoln and will be very exciting to watch.
Oregon
Previous: Willie Taggart
Head Candidates: Kevin Sumlin, Mike Leach, Lane Kiffin
Notes: With Taggart leaving the program after 1 year today, the Ducks need to find a long term coach.
Oregon State
Previous Coach: Gary Anderson
New Coach: Jonathan Smith, OC Washington
Notes: Oregon State is not an easy place to coach, and definitely not an easy place to recruit. New coach, Jonathan Smith, will need all the help in bringing the Beavers out of a rut. Luckily, Smith has experience in recruiting from the area and has played in Corvallis as a 4-year starting QB for the Beavers. He helped build a strong offence at Washington, which he hopes to translate over to OSU. Something needs to change, before the the Beavers can be competitive in the PAC 12.
Rice
Previous Coach: David Baliff
New Coach: Mike Bloomgren
Notes: Bloomgren spent the last 7 season with Stanford as the offensive line coach. Bloomgren has shaped the offensive line that has led to Heisman level seasons for Andrew Luck, Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. The toughness of offensive lines at Stanford has allowed for consistent play from season to season.
Tennessee
Previous Coach: Butch Jones
Head Candidate: Greg Schiano, John Gruden, Mike Gundy, Lane Kiffin, David Cutcliffe, Jeff Brohm, Dave Doeren, Kevin Sumlin,
Notes: As the list of coaches not wanting the head coach job at Tennessee continues to grow, the list of commits shrinks. In less than a month, Tennessee has 14 decommits including 5 start OT Cade Mays and 5 4-star players. Not a good sign in Rocky Top.
Texas A&M
Previous Coach: Kevin Sumlin
New Coach: Jimbo Fisher, HC FSU
Notes: Jimbo Fisher just got paid. Texas A&M gave Fisher a $72 million – 10 year deal that is all guaranteed. Insane deal for one of the best coaches in the country. We know that Fisher knows how to recruit, knows how to manage games and can take a team to the national championship. But if you were guaranteed to make $72 million in the next 10 years, would you be motivated to do your job?
UCF
Previous Coach: Scott Frost
Head Candidates: Josh Heupel, OC Mizzou
Notes: Scott Frost had a high powered offense at UCF. what better guy to use the current team than the OC at Mizzou, who develop QB Drew Lock lead the SEC in passing and TDs after a disappointing 2016 season.
UTEP
Previous Coach: Sean Kugler
Coach Candidates: Mike Price, Interm HC UTEP
Notes: UTEP lies in the small town of El Paso, on the border of Texas, Mexico and New Mexico. It is incredibly hard to bring players, even coaches to the school. UTEP needs to hire somebody that knows the area and can recruit from Arizona, New Mexico and the mainland of Texas, otherwise, they may stay at the bottom of C-USA.
College Football - Big Ten | The Final Snap 