Keep yourself up to date with all the changes on the college football coaching carousel.
With the 2022 college football regular season pretty much in the books, that means the coaching carousel will now be in full effect.
It was an especially strange season in the coaching department, as several marquee Power Five jobs opened up well before Halloween. Though most opportunities opening up were not at places where it is all that easy to contend for national championships, national titles have been won before at places like Auburn, Colorado and Georgia Tech. We are only just getting started, people…
Here is what the coaching carousel has left us with now that the 2022 regular season is history.
College football coaching carousel: Who has been fired? Who has been hired?
Here are all the jobs that became available across college football this year in chronological order.
UAB Blazers: Bill Clark ->
Longtime UAB Blazers head coach Bill Clark retired right before the start of fall camp on Aug. 1. News of him stepping down due to health reasons came several weeks prior on June 24. Clark went 49-26 overall and 32-12 in Conference USA. He led the Blazers over six seasons from 2014 to 2021. Keep in mind that the UAB football program had been briefly and unjustifiably shut down.
Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Bryant Vincent served as the interim at UAB throughout the 2022 college football season. Vincent had been on the UAB staff previously back in 2014 before returning to South Alabama to be the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator in Mobile from 2015 to 2017. He returned to Birmingham in 2018. Vincent went 6-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
Nebraska Cornhuskers: Scott Frost -> Matt Rhule
Despite being the perfect candidate for the job, Scott Frost fizzled out at his alma mater in Lincoln a third of the way through his fifth year on the job. Frost was fired on Sept. 11 after a 1-2 (0-1) start at Nebraska. He finished his run leading the Cornhuskers into the ground at 16-31 overall and 10-26 in Big Ten play. He won three more games over two seasons while coaching at UCF…
Former Cornhuskers quarterback Mickey Joseph took over in the interim for Frost. He only came back to his alma mater in 2022 to be the associate head coach/wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator. Joseph went a respectable 3-6 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play serving as the interim head coach at his alma mater. He won his final game as the interim over Iowa at Kinnick.
While Joseph had an outside shot at getting the job full-time, Nebraska athletic director went with former Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule on Nov. 25. Rhule had been let go in Charlotte after a rough three-year run in the NFL, but has a great track record of success at the college level from his time at Baylor and Temple. Big Red is in great hands with an outstanding program builder.
Arizona State Sun Devils: Herm Edwards -> Kenny Dillingham
Clearly, Arizona State did not play to win the game, as former Sun Devils head coach Herm Edwards was fired after a bad home loss to Eastern Michigan on Sept. 18. Edwards’ run in Tempe was as underwhelming as it was marred by scandal. The Sun Devils shamelessly brought recruits on campus for visits during peak COVID. He went 26-20 (17-14) in part of five seasons.
Arizona State running backs coach Shaun Aguano took over in the interim for the duration of Pac-12 play. After a 1-2 start in the non-conference under Edwards, Arizona State finished the 2022 college season with a disastrous 3-9 (2-7) mark, meaning Aguano went 2-7 overall and 2-7 in conference play leading the Sun Devils. Sparky put up more fight in the Territorial Cup than him.
After Oregon lost on the road to Oregon State Saturday evening, Arizona State hired former Ducks offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham to be the head coach of his alma mater’s program. The Scottsdale native played his high school ball at Chaparral before serving on Todd Graham’s 2014-15 Arizona State staff as an offensive assistant for Mike Norvell. Dillingham is only 32 years old…
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Geoff Collins ->
Georgia Tech parted ways with Geoff Collins after a 1-3 (0-1) start to his fourth year down on The Flats on Sept. 25. He took over a challenging situation with the Yellow Jackets pivoting off the Paul Johnson triple-option attack in favor of something more passing-centric. Unfortunately, Collins went an atrocious 10-28 overall and 7-9 in ACC in parts of four seasons in charge of Georgia Tech.
Associate head coach/offensive line coach/running game coordinator Brent Key took over for Collins in the interim at his alma mater. To the surprise of just about everyone, Tech ended the season within one game of achieving bowl eligibility. Key went 4-4 overall and 4-3 in ACC play filling in for Collins. Tech had big wins over Pittsburgh, Duke and North Carolina under Key’s watch.
Colorado Buffaloes: Karl Dorrell ->
Colorado moved on from Karl Dorrell after an 0-5 (0-2) start in year three for him at Boulder on Oct. 2. It was weird when the Buffaloes hired him the first place. They largely panicked after Mel Tucker left CU after one season to take over for Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Though Dorrell had a decent COVID year, he went 8-15 overall and 6-9 in Pac-12 play over parts of three seasons.
The Buffaloes named offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike Sanford Jr. as the interim head coach. While the Buffs did win a game, the former Western Kentucky head coach went only 1-6 overall and 1-6 in Pac-12 play in the interim. Colorado was arguably the worst program in the Power Five by the end of the season. The Pac-12 had a strong season, but the Buffs were terrible.
Wisconsin Badgers: Paul Chryst -> Luke Fickell
While Dorrell had to go at Colorado, people were totally caught off-guard when Wisconsin fired its former quarterback and head coach Paul Chryst the same weekend. This came after a horrible loss to former Badgers coach Bret Bielema’s Illinois Fighting Illini. Chryst went 67-26 overall and 43-18 in Big Ten play over parts of eight seasons at his alma mater. He won three division titles.
The reason why Wisconsin moved on from Chryst so suddenly was to see if defensive coordinator and former Badgers player Jim Leonhard could be an effective head coach for them. Well, Leonhard only went 4-3 overall as the interim, leaving doubts in the mind of many if he would be the right man to take over the Wisconsin program full-time. It was his job to lose and he lost it…
In the first real big shock of the hiring cycle, longtime Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell will leave UC to take over in Madison. Even though Cincy was joining the Big 12 next season, it did not stop Fickell from leaving UC. He led the Bearcats to a 57-18 overall record and a 35-11 mark in ACC play over six seasons. Cincinnati won the Group of Five twice, making the playoff in 2021.
Charlotte 49ers: Will Healy -> Biff Poggi
Charlotte had enough and did not like the direction there 49ers program was heading in year four under Will Healy. Despite having plenty of promise coming over from Austin Peay, Charlotte fired him after a 1-7 (0-4) start to the 2022 season. Healy went 15-24 overall leading the 49ers over parts of four seasons, but went 10-14 in Conference USA play. He won seven games in year one.
49ers offensive line coach Peter Rossomando took over for Healy in the interim on Oct. 23. While he went 2-2 (2-2) as the 49ers’ interim head coach, Charlotte was in fact the first team to fill its head-coaching vacancy this cycle. The 49ers hired Michigan assistant head coach Biff Poggi on Nov. 15. He will take over full-time once the undefeated Wolverines finish their college season.
Auburn Tigers: Bryan Harsin ->
The Auburn coaching situation has been a regrettable one ever since the Tigers abruptly fired the successful Gus Malzahn after a 6-4 season during COVID. Former Tigers athletic director Allen Greene hired Bryan Harsin away from Boise State. He is a good coach, but was a terrible fit in the SEC. After almost being run out of town back in January, Harsin was out on Halloween this year.
Harsin went 9-12 overall and 4-9 in SEC play in 21 games on the job. He was fired after a 3-5 (1-4) start to his second season. This came immediately after former Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen was hired away from his alma mater to take over for Greene. Cohen named running backs coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams the interim. Williams went 2-2 (1-2) filling in.
South Florida Bulls: Jeff Scott ->
Jeff Scott was the last in-season head-coaching firing of the 2023 cycle, bringing the total to nine programs who used an interim head coach at any point during the regular season. The former Clemson offensive coordinator was ousted at South Florida on Nov. 6. Scott went 1-8 overall this season and 0-5 in AAC play. He went an absolutely horrendous 4-26 (1-19) during his Bulls run.
Bulls special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato took over for Scott in the interim for their final three games. South Florida did not win any of its final three conference games since USF decided to make the move at head coach. At one point, this was a top-tier Big East program on the rise. Now, USF is arguably the worst FBS program in the entire State of Florida. What a total disaster…
Florida Atlantic Owls: Willie Taggart ->
After three seasons on the job in Boca Raton, Florida Atlantic decided it was time to part ways with an ineffective Willie Taggart. The former Oregon and Florida State head coach inherited a strong program from Lane Kiffin and pretty much ran it into the ground. He never won more than five games in a season, finishing his three-year run at Boca Raton with a 15-18 (11-11) record.
Stanford Cardinal: David Shaw ->
In the wee hours of Sunday morning on Nov. 27, longtime Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw decided he had enough. The former Cardinal wide receiver resigned after another down season for the program. Stanford went 3-9 in back-to-back seasons. While Shaw went 96-54 (65-40) in 12 seasons, Stanford has not won nine games since 2018. He was not going to be fired.
Cincinnati Bearcats: Luke Fickell ->
With Luke Fickell expected to leave Cincinnati to take over at Wisconsin, the Bearcats ended up with one of the best openings in the country. UC is going Power Five next season once it joins the Big 12 alongside BYU, Houston and UCF. Special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs will serve as the Bearcats interim head coach in their bowl game. UC will not be playing for an AAC title this season.
Texas State Bobcats: Jake Spavital ->
After four losing seasons in a row, Texas State decided it was time to move on from Jake Spavital as the Bobcats head coach. The former Texas A&M, California and West Virginia offensive coordinator went 4-8 (2-6) in his final season at Texas State. He leaves San Marcos with a 13-35 overall record in four years and an awful 9-23 mark in the Sun Belt Conference. It was past time.
FanSided will keep you posted on all that happens on the coaching carousel until we are done.
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