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Ranking the new college football head coaching hires for 2021
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Ranking the new college football head coaching hires for 2021

The 2021-2022 coaching carousel was unlike any other. Some of the biggest programs in the sport were looking for new head coaches after being stunned that their current head coach left for greener pastures. I mean, who leaves Notre Dame for another job? Who leaves Oklahoma? We also had one of the highest-paid assistant coaches finally find the job that would tempt them to leave.

Not only did we get moves we haven't seen in decades, but it also began one of the most fun rumor mills in ages. Urban Meyer to Notre Dame? Bob Stoops coming out of retirement? Where's Luke Fickell going? Miami trying to hire Oregon's coach before firing their own. Let's check Lane Kiffin's social media to solve cryptic posts. We were living in a time where no rumor seemed completely ridiculous.

And the dominoes fell. Hard. As usual, some Group of 5 head coaches moved up into Power 5 jobs. Some jobs were filled by assistants while others saw some old names in new places. Unlike most years, we weren't treated to any head-scratching hires. Of course, some of the new head coaches will fail and become fired themselves in a few years, but none of them seemed destined to do so.

Let's rank the new head coaching hires.

 
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1-Brian Kelly, LSU

1-Brian Kelly, LSU
Patrick Dennis-USA TODAY Sports

Bad accents aside, I think LSU hiring Brian Kelly is nothing short of a coup. With so many other elite jobs open, LSU was able to nab a successful coach at one of the most historically elite programs in sports. Guys don't leave Notre Dame for other jobs, but this one did. Kelly's final season at Cincinnati was an undefeated one, and then he went to Notre Dame and placed his team in the College Football Playoff twice (and also put his team in the BCS title game in 2012-2013. A guy that has been successful at recruiting to Notre Dame should be able to be a force in keeping a fertile Louisiana prep area at home in Baton Rouge. The last three head coaches the Tigers have hired all won national championships. 

 
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2-Lincoln Riley, USC

2-Lincoln Riley, USC
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There are two parts to this hiring. For USC, this is a huge steal as they get a guy who coached two Heisman trophy-winning quarterbacks and got his Sooners to three College Football Playoff berths (he was the offensive coordinator for a fourth appearance). He knows offense and should be able to recruit well to the Los Angeles area. I've been pointing out: Would LA area natives Alabama's Bryce Young and/or Ohio State's C.J. Stroud have been able to resist staying at home and playing for Riley? Of course, USC has had some big-name coaches run this program since Pete Carroll left in 2009 but the Trojans have failed to become a nationally relevant program. Riley will continue to get a lot of heat for bolting Oklahoma, with many feeling he wanted no part of the SEC when the Sooners eventually move to the conference. He better win and win big at Southern Cal or else he'll still be saddled as a guy who feasts on a lesser league and can't win on the biggest stage.

 
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3-Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

3-Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame didn't expect to have to replace their head coach but was fortunate to have their guy in house. While he was only at Notre Dame for one season, he was instantly successful and one of the hottest names for a head coaching job. He knows the midwest well -- he played at Ohio State and also coached at Kent State, Purdue, and Cincinnati -- and is extremely popular with current players and people around the program. There is an element of risk with this hire, as the Irish have struck out with first-time head coaches in the recent past (see: Bob Davis and Charlie Weis), but if the timing to nab Cincinnati's Luke Fickell wasn't right then going with his former assistant seems to be a great fall-back option. 

 
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4-Billy Napier, Florida

4-Billy Napier, Florida
Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports

Napier was one of the top Group of 5 head coaches out there and was ready for a Power 5 job. He was also wise to hold out for a major job (some thought LSU was that gig) and was rewarded with his patience with the Gators opportunity. Napier was an assistant under Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban, and Jimbo Fisher and at Louisiana has won the last two Sun Belt championships and has been 33-5 over the last three seasons. He knows expectations, he knows the southeast and he knows how to win. 

 
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5-Mario Cristobal, Miami

5-Mario Cristobal, Miami
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There might not be another coaching hire that will receive more attention to what happens than Miami's. For one, it was a very awkward coaching search as Miami was actively attempting to hire Cristobal away from Oregon before getting rid of their current coach, Manny Diaz. Yeah, this was a "you're still our guy if the dude we want says no" deal that could really backfire if it doesn't work out. Also, people surrounding the Hurricanes are willing to push all their chips into the middle of the table to get this program back to its glory days. Cristobal, a south Florida native who played at Miami, gets the gig and the backing from fans and former players to improve facilities (there's even discussion of a new stadium near campus). It's likely no other coaching hire has caused this kind of mobilization of the community. At issue is if Cristobal can actually do it. While he did get Oregon on the right track, he ultimately failed to get the Ducks back into the playoff.

 
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6-Brent Venables, Oklahoma

6-Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Ken Ruinard / USA TODAY NETWORK

Venables waited and waited for the right opportunity that would entice him to leave Clemson and he found it. Venables, who was an assistant coach at Oklahoma for 13 seasons before leaving for Clemson, has been one of the nation's highest-paid assistants for several years (deservedly so) and has shown that he's ready for a job like this. His defenses have been elite for most of his time with the Tigers and should immediately help turn around a program that has lacked defensive discipline under former head coach Lincoln Riley. What makes this an interesting hire is the fact that the Sooners chose to not grab an experienced head coach but to go back to the well of hiring an assistant. It worked the last time.

 
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7-Joe Moorhead, Akron

7-Joe Moorhead, Akron
Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK

Akron has been one of FBS's worst programs over the last three years and has had some very lean years over the last decade. Hiring a former SEC head coach is quite a move for the middling Zips. Moorhead's offenses were typically high powered at Mississippi State and his other stops as an OC so he should be able to get Akron competitive in the MAC. 

 
8 of 28

8-Dan Lanning, Oregon

8-Dan Lanning, Oregon
Joshua L. Jones via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Lanning was an interesting choice for Oregon, just because a 35-year-old assistant beat out some more established resumes for the job. It wasn't like his name came out of nowhere -- his name was mentioned for the Oklahoma job as well -- and he was the defensive coordinator for a Georgia unit that was historically great. Despite his age, he's been around the block and brings an SEC mindset to Eugene and should continue the great recruiting that resurrected the Ducks under Mario Cristobal. 

 
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9-Kalen DeBoer, Washington

9-Kalen DeBoer, Washington
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

DeBoer may have only been a head coach at Fresno State for 18 games, but he was 67-3 over five seasons at NAIA Sioux Falls and three national championships in the late 2000s. He runs an attractive offense that should be able to lure recruits back to Seattle and right that ship. Washington isn't far off from getting back to being a factor in the Pac-12 and DeBoer is capable of lighting that spark. 

 
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10-Rhett Lashlee, SMU

10-Rhett Lashlee, SMU
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

This may end up being the beginning of a long, successful career. Lashlee is great at developing quarterbacks which typically is important in developing a successful program. SMU has been on a nice run of signal-callers of late ... which includes Shane Buechele, who Lashlee worked with as the Mustangs offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2019. His work with D'Eriq King and Tyler Van Dyke in Miami earned a lot of praise.  He can keep the Mustangs momentum going and possibly put this program as one of the elites in the AAC. 

 
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11-Clay Helton, Georgia Southern

11-Clay Helton, Georgia Southern
Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News / USA TODAY NETWORK

This will be an interesting change. Helton is moving from a high-profile job at USC to a relatively new program at Georgia Southern. He also is a pass-heavy coach who is taking over a program that is used to more of a run option offense. Though he spent the last decade at USC, he played at Auburn and coached at Duke and Memphis so he has experience with football in the south. A key to watch is how he handles the responsibilities of the job. Whenever a coach at an elite program ends up at a G5 job, it is interesting to see how much he embraces the program and its community and how he seems committed to building something there. 

 
12 of 28

12-Jerry Kill, New Mexico State

12-Jerry Kill, New Mexico State
Nathan J. Fish/Sun-News / USA TODAY NETWORK

New Mexico State has been one of the worst programs in the FBS for, well, decades. Jerry Kill is a fantastic coach who has been successful in Division II (Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State), FCS (Southern Illinois), and various stops in the FBS (Northern Illinois, Minnesota, TCU). He's a good coach, but one that has had medical issues during his career. He missed several games and ultimately resigned from Minnesota due to epileptic seizures. Other than his four games as an interim head coach at TCU this year, this will be his first time heading up his own program since leaving Minnesota in 2015. Can he hold up?

 
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13-Jim Mora, UConn

13-Jim Mora, UConn
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Mora is a good coach and a big enough name to give UConn some kind of selling point, but he hasn't coached since 2017 and certainly hasn't had to deal with the unique issues in Storrs. Mora coached in the NFL for his entire career before taking over at UCLA in 2012. He showed great promise with the Bruins before fizzling out after six seasons. So UConn will be his first coaching job of any kind in five years and is a program struggling to come up with an identity. The Huskies are an independent after leaving the AAC a couple of years ago and are coming off a 1-11 season. To his credit, Mora initiated contact with UConn and emphasizes that he wants to be there and rebuild the program.  

 
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14-Mike Elko, Duke

14-Mike Elko, Duke
Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire

The David Cutcliffe era came to a merciful end and Elko is the perfect person to reboot the program. Elko is a defensive guy (he leaves his job as Texas A&M's DC) so look for Duke to start being more physical and defense-oriented as they begin their rebuild. Why is he perfect for this job? He understands having to sell a program that has certain standards that his opponents don't have. He's been an assistant at Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and Penn ... where he was also a player.  

 
15 of 28

15-Tony Elliott, Virginia

15-Tony Elliott, Virginia
Ken Ruinard / staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC

This is a really solid hire by Virginia, who weren't expecting to have to replace Bronco Mendenhall. First, as Clemson's offensive coordinator for 11 years, he knows the ACC and is familiar with the challenges of recruiting to an academically rich university. Second, he's a very sharp guy who has been able to adapt his system to fit his quarterbacks ... especially athletic ones like Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. His 16-year coaching career has all been spent at South Carolina schools, so branching out north to Virginia will be an adjustment.

 
16 of 28

16-Jake Dickert, Washington State

16-Jake Dickert, Washington State
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Dickert took over as the interim head coach when Nick Rolovich was fired over the state's vaccination mandate. It was a messy situation that Dickert seemingly stayed steady through. He helped the Cougars win three of their last four games ... including pounding Washington in the Apple Cup. He should be applauded for overhauling a defense that was largely ignored during the Mike Leach era and his ability to keep a fractured Cougars season afloat this year. 

 
17 of 28

17-Sonny Dykes, TCU

17-Sonny Dykes, TCU
Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

This is one of the more interesting hires during this cycle. Dykes moves about 45 minutes west from SMU to TCU but it is a huge leap going from the AAC to the Big 12. He's done a superb job keeping the Mustangs relevant but hasn't done well closing out seasons. In 2019, SMU began 8-0 before losing three of their final five games. Last year, the Mustangs were 7-1 before losing their final two games. This year, they won their first seven games before limping to a 1-4 mark down the stretch. With the transition the Big 12 will be going through over the next few years, there will be a power vacuum that TCU is expecting to be the one to fill it. Can Dykes find consistency in Ft. Worth? 

 
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18-Jay Norvell, Colorado State

18-Jay Norvell, Colorado State
Jon Austria/The Coloradoan / USA TODAY NETWORK

After the disastrous Steve Addazio era, Colorado State is resetting by hiring a coach that makes much more sends. Norvell comes to Colorado State after a successful five-year run at Nevada. He knows the league and he knows the area and should be able to turn the Rams program around fairly quickly, though he will be changing the offense to a pass-heavy attack (Addazio favored a physical running game). 

 
19 of 28

19-Jeff Tedford, Fresno State

19-Jeff Tedford, Fresno State
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Tedford is a good coach and his return to Fresno is a welcome one. After an 11-year stint at California which saw him become the Bears' winningest coach in history, he went 22-6 in his first two seasons as head coach at Fresno State. He would resign after a 4-8 season in 2019, citing health reasons, and Kalen DeBoer took over. With DeBoer off to Washington, Tedford takes over again (wildly with some of his recruits still on the roster), but there are concerns that his health issues ... which have risen elsewhere as well ... may linger. If he is indeed healthy, this is a fantastic hire.

 
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20-Don Brown, UMass

20-Don Brown, UMass
Michael Allio-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking of coaches returning, UMass hopes that their second helping of Don Brown is just a great as the first go around. Brown's first stint with the Minutemen saw the best five-year stretch in the program's history (43-19) and won two CAA titles. He knows the New England area very well, coaching at UMass, Plymouth State, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Northeastern, UConn, and Boston College. He may be best known as the architect of Michigan's tough defenses from 2016 to 2020 (he spent last year in Arizona) and will look to resurrect a program that has lost 28 of their last 30 games. 

 
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21-Brent Pry, Virginia Tech

21-Brent Pry, Virginia Tech
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

The long nightmare of the Justin Fuente era in Blacksburg is over, and Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry takes over. Pry has been very successful under James Franklin at Vanderbilt and Penn State and seemed to be a guy ready to take over a Group of 5 program and work his way to a P5 job. Well, he gets a very good gig right off the bat. Virginia Tech is very much one of the premier programs in the ACC ... especially in the Coastal Division. Like other hires with a defensive background, look for Pry to establish that side of the ball as they try to get the offense back on track. There's a lot of trust to rebuild at V-Tech.

 
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22-Mike MacIntyre, Florida International

22-Mike MacIntyre, Florida International
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

MacIntyre turned around a horrible San Jose State program before getting hired away to Colorado. He turned around the Buffs as well, taking them to the Pac-12 championship game in his fourth year. Colorado was middling the two following seasons before he was fired after a six-game losing skid in 2018. Florida International is in need of a rebuild, especially as they watch rival Florida Atlantic's success earn them an invitation to the AAC. 

 
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23-Joey McGuire, Texas Tech

23-Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
John E. Moore III/Getty Images

McGuire is the latest Texas high school football coach to get his turn running a college football program -- and he's the latest one to helm Texas Tech (see: Spike Dykes). Matt Rhule hired McGuire when he arrived at Baylor to help lock down the Texas recruiting pipeline. He stuck around as an associated head coach under Dave Aranda but now takes over his own program. He won the introductory press conference in Lubbock and has the Texas Tech fans salivating to get back to the top of the Big 12.

 
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24-Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech

24-Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Cumbie is a solid hire. While this is technically his first head coaching job, he was the interim head coach for the final month of Texas Tech's season. He's spent his entire coaching career in Texas (Texas Tech and TCU) so he has connections to recruiting in the state which is key for Louisiana Tech. Tech has done a great job developing quarterbacks and that's what Cumbie, a former quarterback, is known for. 

 
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25-Stan Drayton, Temple

25-Stan Drayton, Temple
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This may not be an earth-shattering hire, but it may be a home run for Temple. For starters, new Temple athletic director Arthur Johnson wanted Drayton to be his first coaching hire. Johnson and Drayton worked together while both were at Texas (they both left for Temple within months of each other). Drayton has been around. He was a running backs coach for Urban Meyer at both Florida and Ohio State, worked in the NFL with the Packers and Bears, and has been an assistant at 11 different schools. He also has Philly ties as a running backs coach for Penn and Villanova in the 1990s.  

 
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26-Jon Sumrall, Troy

26-Jon Sumrall, Troy
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Troy hired Kentucky defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall, marking a return for the first-time head coach. Sumrall was an assistant for Neal Brown ... who also left Kentucky for Troy in 2015 .. and grew up in nearby Hunstville. He is a passionate coach and aggressive recruiter which has already endeared him to the fanbase. The guys he gets he's shown to coach up, which brings memories of Brown's three years in Troy. Brown went 31-8 over his final three seasons with the Trojans before taking the West Virginia job. Chip Lindsay's three seasons saw zero bowl appearances or winning seasons. Sumrall looks to get the defense back to its dominance and Troy back to competing for Sun Belt titles.

 
27 of 28

27-Ken Wilson, Nevada

27-Ken Wilson, Nevada
Andy Barron / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wilson will be making his head coaching debut at 57 years old, but the Pack's last two hires were also assistants who were taking their first top job. He knows the program, as he spent 19 years as an assistant before taking jobs at Washington State and Oregon. This is his dream job -- his words -- so he will take great care of the program and understands how things get done in Reno. Does he understand how to run a program? We shall see.

 
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28-Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana

28-Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana
SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

Louisiana is banking that staying in-house with their coaching hire will keep Billy Napier's momentum going. Napier took the Cajuns to four bowl games in four seasons and went 33-5 over his last three years -- winning two Sun Belt championships. Desormeaux is a Ragin' Cajuns legend as one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks statistically. He came back to Lafayette in 2016 as an assistant and now inherits the head job. This is a huge risk for Louisiana, which may have been able to get a more experienced head coach.

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