Every College Football Head Coach Making a Debut With a New Team In Week 1

Nate Cunningham | Aug 26, 2025

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez speaks with the media during 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days at The Star. / Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Change is the only constant in college football. Players change teams, programs rise and fall each year and coaches bounce around the country with more freedom than ever.

With Week 1 of the 2025 college football season about to kick off, let's look at all of the (sometimes) old faces in new places.

New Coaches in the ACC

The most intriguing hire of the 2025 offseason was undoubtedly North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick. Considered by many to be the greatest professional football coach ever, Belichick made headlines for all the wrong reasons after landing the job (namely his girlfriend/publicist's handling of certain media interviews).

Still, there is an undeniable fever pitch in Chapel Hill. And for good reason. Belichick is obviously one of the greatest football minds in the history of the sport and his love for teaching and coaching will likely translate to building a better football program for the Tar Heels.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
North Carolina	Bill Belichick	Mack Brown
Stanford	Frank Reich	Troy Taylor
Wake Forest	Jake Dickert	Dave Clawson

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New Coaches in the American

There was a lot of movement in the American. Temple is looking to rebuild its program entirely, while Charlotte is looking to keep the momentum going after last season marked its first .500 season in conference play as member of the American.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
Charlotte	Tim Albin	Biff Poggi
Florida Atlantic	Zach Kittley	Tom Herman
Rice	Scott Abell	Mike Bloomgren
Temple	K.C. Keeler	Stan Drayton
Tulsa	Tre Lamb	Kevin Wilson

New Coaches in the Big Ten

Barry Odom takes over Purdue, replacing one of his former assistant coaches, Ryan Walters. Purdue has been one of the worst Power 4 programs in the country, so it can only go up from here.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
Purdue	Barry Odom	Ryan Walters

New Coaches in the Big 12

Two coaches are returning home in the Big 12, with Rich Rodriguez coming back to West Virginia and Scott Frost reuniting with UCF.

Both Frost and Rodriguez had tremendous success with these programs before, but time will tell if they can do it again in 2025 and beyond.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
UCF	Scott Frost	Gus Malzahn
West Virginia	Rich Rodriguez	Neal Brown

New Coaches in Conference USA

Four coaches are debuting with new teams in Conference USA. Charles Kelly finally became a head coach after spending 30 years as an assistant in various capacities for various programs.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
Florida International	Willie Simmons	Mike MacIntyre
Jacksonville State	Charles Kelly	Rich Rodriguez
Kennesaw State	Jerry Mack	Brian Bohannon
Sam Houston State	Phil Longo	K.C. Keeler

New Coaches in the MAC

College football diehards will recognize the name and potential of Joe Harasymiak, but the headlines have all gone to former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George taking over at Bowling Green.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
Ball State	Mike Uremovich	Mike Neu
Bowling Green	Eddie George	Scot Loeffler
Central Michigan	Matt Drinkall	Jim McElwain
Kent State	Mark Carney	Kenni Burns
Ohio	Brian Smith	Tim Albin
UMass	Joe Harasymiak	Don Brown

New Coaches in the Mountain West

Former North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz took a loss in his D-I head coaching debut, but still has the track record to give Fresno State fans plenty of hope. Elsewhere, Bronco Mendenhall returns to the state of Utah and the ever-unique Dan Mullen comes to Las Vegas.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
Fresno State	Matt Entz	Jeff Tedford
New Mexico	Jason Eck	Bronco Mendenhall
UNLV	Dan Mullen	Barry Odom
Utah State	Bronco Mendenhall	Nate Dreiling

New Coaches in the Pac-12

Washington State hired Jimmy Rogers, who has spent the last 20 years as a player, assistant and coach for South Dakota State.

School	New Coach	Previous Coach
Washington State	Jimmy Rogers	Jake Dickert

New Coaches in the Sun Belt

Tony Gibson is tasked with rebuilding a Marshall roster that was so depleted it had to forfeit its bowl game last season, Dowell Loggains brings more than a decade of NFL experience to Appalachian State and Charles Huff leaves Marshall for Southern Miss after winning 10 games last season.

School	New Coach	Old Coach
Appalachian State	Dowell Loggains	Shawn Clark
Marshall	Tony Gibson	Charles Huff
Southern Miss	Charles Huff	Will Hall

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