2022 College Football Coaching Carousel: Biggest Movers, Openings
The coaching carousel is quickly becoming a focal point in college football. Increased player and staff mobility creates a dozen movements and opening each December as soon as the regular season concludes.
While this year's scramble didn't have quite the same blockbuster moves as last year's, but there's still some major movers. Find every FBS head coaching change and the biggest coordinator moves from the carousel thus far below.
2022 College Football Coaching Carousel: Head Coaches
Nebraska Cornhuskers: Matt Rhule
The first hire of the cycle may also stand to be the biggest. After a tough 11-27 run with the Carolina Panthers, the former Baylor standout returns to college football. Nebraska hired Matt Rhule in a mostly-lauded hire.
With Rhule's connections to the NFL and time away from college ball, expect Nebraska to begin their rebuild through the transfer portal as opposed to on the recruiting trail. The Huskers may be following the model set by USC this past season.
Wisconsin Badgers: Luke Fickell
Instead of learning to recruit brand new territory in Texas and the Plains, Luke Fickell returns to the Big Ten in Wisconsin. The move was an unexpected and new one for Wisconsin, who traditionally hires from within and the coaching tree of Barry Alvarez.
Fickell is bringing a brand new system to Wisconsin in an effort to modernize the Badgers, hiring UNC's Phil Longo to direct the offense. It seems on the surface the old run-the-damn-ball Wisconsin offense is heading the way of the dodo. He's a proven winner, haven taken Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff in 2021.
Colorado Buffaloes: Deion Sanders
There's flashy hires, and then there's Prime hires. Colorado brought in college football's biggest personality, hiring Deion Sanders from Jackson State. The Buffs are coming off a 1-11 season where they fired their old coach after just five games.
Sanders is bringing plenty of high-profile recruits to Boulder– including his own son– and putting the school back on the map. However, is this move just his entrance into the FBS? Or is Prime Time looking to bring Colorado back to its 1990s glory longterm?
Arizona State Sun Devils: Kenny Dillingham
Dillingham moved quickly through the college ranks, from Florida State's offensive coordinator to Oregon's OC to Arizona State's new head coach. At just 32 years old, he's the FBS's youngest head coach.
He first gained notoriety on multiple "30 under 30" lists, most notably 247Sports and The Athletic. This is technically Dillingham's second stint with ASU, having previously served as an offensive assistant in 2014 and 2015.
Auburn Tigers: Hugh Freeze
Freeze is a veteran of the SEC and is a well-known name for not always the right reasons. Scandals that arose in 2016 ended his stint with Ole Miss and three years later, Freeze resurfaced at Liberty.
After leading the Flames to a 34-18 record over four years– including two Top 25 appearances and a 10-win 2019 season– Freeze landed back in the SEC with Auburn. He boasts a 3-0 record in bowl games as well.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Brent Key
Multiple names were rumored for the Georgia Tech job, but ultimately the university liked how interim head coach Brent Key handled the last eight games of the season and promoted him to full-time. Tech went 4-4 over that stretch with upset wins over ranked North Carolina and Pitt.
Key played on the offensive line for Ramblin' Wreck back in the early 2000s and also spent two seasons as a grad assistant. He spent the majority of his coaching career at UCF before coaching the line at Alabama and then returning to Tech as an associate head coach in 2019.
Louisville Cardinals: Jeff Brohm
The minute the Louisville job opened up, Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm's name arose. He's a Louisville native, went to school at Louisville, and coached at Louisville from 2003-08.
His FBS career took him throughout the country before landing his first FBS head coaching gig at Western Kentucky. He then moved onto Purdue, leading the Boilermakers to a 35-34 record over five seasons, three top-3 upset wins, and a Big Ten West title this season.
Cincinnati Bearcats: Scott Satterfield
Things are going to be awkward in the Fenway Bowl, to say the least. After Fickell took the Wisconsin job, Cincinnati hired away Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield. Cincinnati plays Louisville on Dec. 17 in the Fenway Bowl.
Satterfield found success at Appalachian State before moving to the Power Five at Louisville. There, he posted a 25-24 record, picking up the pieces in the wake of Bobby Petrino's 2-10 final season. Satterfield leads the Bearcats into a new era as they begin play in the Big 12 in 2023.
UAB Blazers: Trent Dilfer
Consider this hire out of left field. Trent Dilfer has prominently run the national QB competition Elite 11 for several years and has coached Lipscomb Academy (TN) to back-to-back State II-AA titles. But his professional and collegiate coaching experience sits at zero.
Players had penned a letter to UAB requesting interim Bryant Vincent be retained, but that request went unfulfilled. Dilfer steps into a difficult situation with either a skeptical locker room or one without many of its players from 2021.
Liberty Flames: Jamey Chadwell
Chadwell has been a name rumored for several job openings over the past two seasons. He led Coastal Carolina to an incredible 31-6 record over the last three seasons and to national recognition. After Freeze left Liberty, the Flames came knocking and Chadwell took the job the day after losing the Sun Belt Championship.
Liberty begins Conference-USA play in 2023 after transitioning into the FBS as an independent.
Other Head Coaching Changes
- Charlotte: Biff Poggi (Michigan associate head coach)
- Florida Atlantic: Tom Herman (former Houston and Texas head coach)
- Texas State: GJ Kinne (Incarnate Word head coach)
- USF: Alex Golesh (Tennessee offensive coordinator)
- Tulsa: Kevin Wilson (Ohio State offensive coordinator)
- UNLV: Barry Odom (Arkansas defensive coordinator)
- Western Michigan: Lance Taylor (Louisville offensive coordinator)
- Coastal Carolina Tim Beck (NC State offensive coordinator)
2022 College Football Coaching Carousel: Open Jobs
Purdue Boilermakers
After winning their first Big Ten West title ever, Jeff Brohm returned home to Louisville. Brohm led Purdue to its most successful stretch of years since the late 1990s and his departure makes things murky for the future. The Boilermakers play LSU in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2.
Reported names include Wisconsin interim Jim Leonhard, former Florida head coach Dan Mullen, and Ohio State receivers coach Brian Hartline. All three present an exciting hire for Purdue, who's become a more respected program after upsetting three straight top-3 ranked opponents.
Stanford Cardinal
Things were almost really interesting with the Stanford job after the school parted ways with longtime coach David Shaw. Among the leading names was Jason Garrett– former Cowboys coach and current NBC broadcaster. Garrett reportedly visited Palo Alto, but turned down the offer.
Another high-profile name also to have turned down the job is former Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall. The only other name reported by Pete Thamel left is Sacramento State (FCS) head coach Troy Taylor. Taylor led Sac State to a 30-7 record in his time there and three straight appearances in the FCS Playoffs (only other playoff appearance in school history was 1986).
North Texas Mean Green
North Texas' opening will have to wait. The Mean Green play in the Frisco Bowl on Dec. 17 after shockingly parting ways with Seth Littrell and they're still searching for a new Athletic Director. Littrell led UNT to six bowl games and a pair of C-USA Championships, most recently this season where they were bested by UTSA.
UNT makes the move to the American this coming season. Names attached to the job include Justin Fuente (former Virginia Tech head coach), Graham Harrell (West Virginia OC), and Garrett Riley (TCU OC and Bryles Award winner).
Kent State Golden Flashes
When Deion Sanders comes knocking, you don't ignore the call. Head coach Sean Lewis was surprisingly hired away to run the offense in Boulder after leading the Flashes to their first ever bowl win in 2019.
Per The Athletic, multiple names are in contention for the opening. However, their first mentioned names include Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford and former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Mike Tressell (who may follow Fickell to Wisconsin).
2022 College Football Coaching Carousel: Notable Coordinator Hires
- Colorado offensive coordinator: Sean Lewis (Kent State head coach)
- Iowa State offensive coordinator: Nate Steelechase (Iowa State RB/WRs)
- Kentucky offensive coordinator: Liam Cohen (Los Angeles Rams OC/Kentucky OC in 2021)
- NC State offensive coordinator: Robert Anae (Syracuse OC)
- Old Dominion offensive coordinator: Kevin Decker (Fordham FCS OC)
- Oregon offensive coordinator: Will Stein (UTSA OC)
- Wisconsin offensive coordinator: Phil longo (North Carolina OC)
- Arizona State defensive coordinator: Brian Ward (Washington State DC)
- Nebraska defensive coordinator: Tony White (Syracuse DC)
- USF defensive coordinator: Todd Orlando (former Texas, USC DC)
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