After false alarms at Michigan and Auburn, the 2021-22 college football coaching carousel has stopped spinning for good. The end to a wild cycle provides the opportunity to examine the coaching hires from the recent past.
Borrowing an NFL idea from colleague Bill Barnwell, I will rank the top 10 college coaching hires from the past five seasons. The era of long-tenured coaches and slow builds to success is largely over in college football, where everything seems to be moving faster. Some of the sport’s hottest coaches have been hired since the end of the 2016 season, or even more recently.
A lot can happen to a coach in five years. Ed Orgeron landed LSU‘s permanent coaching job, led the program to a perfect season and a national title, and lost his job, all within a span of four years, 10 months and 22 days. When 2017 began, Ryan Day was the quarterbacks coach for a 2-14 San Francisco 49ers team. He’s now one of the top coaches at one of college football’s premier programs (Ohio State).
Both Orgeron and Day make the list below, but where do they place? Who else will join them? The context around candidates is important. While Day and Lincoln Riley took over surging, blueblood programs and made upgrades, other coaches entered much tougher situations and engineered improvement. I wanted to find the coaches who truly changed the trajectories of programs, whether through scheme, recruiting or just plain winning.
As a reminder, only coaches who made their debuts in permanent roles in 2017 or later are eligible, so strong hires such as Georgia‘s Kirby Smart, Iowa State‘s Matt Campbell and UCF‘s Scott Frost are not included. Some who just missed the cut for the top 10 include: Baylor‘s Dave Aranda, Ole Miss‘ Lane Kiffin, SMU‘s Sonny Dykes, Minnesota‘s P.J. Fleck, Texas A&M‘s Jimbo Fisher and Liberty‘s Hugh Freeze.
Let’s begin with No. 10 and work our way down to the top coaching hire in the past five seasons.
10. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
Debut season: 2020
Previous job: Offensive line coach, Georgia
Record as coach: 12-11 (.522)
League notes: 7-11 record, third place finish in SEC West Division in 2021
Postseason: Outback Bowl title, No. 21 AP finish
Team record, prior three seasons: 8-26 (.235)
Pittman truly exemplifies a great coaching hire because so many (including me) strongly questioned the move at the time. Arkansas picked a 58-year-old career offensive line coach who had never led a program to take over a team that had tumbled to the bottom of the sport’s toughest division. The Razorbacks didn’t win a single SEC game under Pittman’s predecessor, Chad Morris, and were outscored 442-257 during the 2019 season. Arkansas was picked a distant last in the West Division in the 2020 preseason poll, and a conference-only schedule looked like a brutal way for Pittman to begin his tenure.
Instead, he restored hope in the program, helping Arkansas end its 20-game SEC losing streak in only his second contest. Arkansas won again two weeks later and played mostly competitive ball the rest of the season. The team then surged to a 4-0 start, which included double-digit wins over both Texas and Texas A&M. After a midseason slump, Arkansas won five of its final six games, falling only to Alabama, and beat Penn State to record its first New Year’s Day bowl victory in 22 years.
Pittman’s nine wins in 2021 marked Arkansas’ most in a decade, and the team seems poised for more success this fall. Beyond the wins, Pittman is an excellent fit for Arkansas, connecting with the fans and program culture. He certainly took the long road to become a head coach, but he seemingly has found the perfect spot at the perfect time.
9. Jeff Traylor, UTSA
Debut season: 2020
Previous job: Running backs coach, Arkansas
Record as coach: 19-7 (.731)
League notes: Conference USA title, Conference USA coach of the year in 2021
Postseason: Bowl appearances in each of his first two years
Team record, prior three seasons: 13-22
Hiring a coach with deep local roots, especially in the high school ranks, doesn’t guarantee success. There are plenty of homegrown hires that appear to be great fits but end up flopping. But UTSA’s selection of Traylor, a longtime successful Texas high school coach who recently transitioned to college ball, looks like a transcendent move for the program. Traylor took only two seasons to deliver UTSA’s first Conference USA championship.
The team also made its debut in the CFP rankings during a 2021 regular season where it began 11-0, easily the best start in team history, and took down UAB, Memphis and Illinois. UTSA entered the national rankings for the first time in team history and spent most of November in the AP Top 25. Traylor guided the Roadrunners to their second straight bowl and just the third in team history.
The momentum Traylor’s program generated helped UTSA land an invitation to the AAC, a seismic move toward a more stable conference. Traylor also showed his loyalty by agreeing to a new 10-year contract with UTSA, before Big 12 schools such as Texas Tech and TCU could truly pursue him. His approach to branding and culture-building, hooked around the “210 Triangle of Toughness,” has been a huge hit at a program with great growth potential.
Debut season: 2019 (spent 2017 as interim head coach during Joe Moglia’s medical leave)
Previous job: Offensive coordinator, Coastal Carolina
Record as coach: 30-19 (.612)
League notes: Sun Belt title in 2020, Sun Belt coach of the year, 14-2 the past two seasons
Postseason: First two FBS bowl appearances the past two seasons (1-1 record)
Team record, prior three seasons: 18-18 (went 10-2 as FCS independent in 2016)
Coastal Carolina has an interesting football history, especially after the arrival of Moglia, the former CEO of TD Ameritrade, as head coach in 2012. But most college football fans didn’t know much about the program until the breakthrough of 2020. Thanks to Chadwell and his team, teal turf, mullets and a quirky and effective offense are now part of the national college football discussion. The Chanticleers posted an 11-0 record during the 2020 regular season, highlighted by a dramatic win against BYU in a hastily scheduled game that drew the national spotlight to Conway, South Carolina.
Chadwell, who coached in Division II and the FCS before coming to Coastal Carolina, embraces and promotes the program’s distinct identity. His offense is extremely fun to watch, and behind quarterback Grayson McCall and others, Coastal Carolina ranks fourth nationally in scoring (39.1 ppg) since the start of 2020. The Chanticleers also are tied for fourth in winning percentage (.880) the past two seasons. Although they haven’t faced many stiff tests outside the Sun Belt, they have successfully navigated an improving league.
Chadwell won AP Coach of the Year and four other national coaching honors in 2020. His team was ranked for 22 consecutive weeks between October 2020 and November 2021. The Chanticleers are one of only six FBS programs to record double-digit wins in the past two seasons. Most important, Chadwell has created a recognizable identity and brand for the program.
7. Mario Cristobal, Oregon
Debut season: 2018
Previous job: Co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach, Oregon
Record as coach: 35-13 (.729)
League notes: Two Pac-12 titles, three division titles, Pac-12 coach of the year in 2019
Postseason: Four bowl appearances, Rose Bowl title, Fiesta Bowl appearance
Team record, prior three seasons: 20-18 (.526)
Cristobal not only restored Oregon atop the Pac-12 after a brief downturn, but showed that the program could recruit at a nationally elite level. Oregon had won the Pac-12 and Rose Bowl before, but even during the program’s best era, which featured two national runner-up finishes under Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, the Ducks weren’t pulling in recruiting classes like Cristobal did. He signed the Pac-12’s top-rated recruiting classes from 2019 to 2021, including ESPN’s No. 6 class in 2019 and No. 8 class in 2021.
Oregon had fallen off after its national title appearance in 2014, going 4-8 in Helfrich’s final season and 7-6 in Willie Taggart’s lone season as coach. The team improved to nine wins in Cristobal’s first season, and then won the Pac-12 and the Rose Bowl, and finished No. 5 in 2019. Oregon repeated as league champion during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Cristobal’s final year in Eugene featured a Week 2 win at Ohio State, one of the biggest non-conference regular-season wins in team history. Oregon spent much of the fall in CFP contention before falling off late, although it still won the Pac-12 North Division. Cristobal ultimately didn’t get Oregon back to the national title stage, but he proved that the program can excel with a pedal-down, relentless recruiting approach that his successor, Dan Lanning, likely will continue.
Debut season: 2018
Previous job: Offensive coordinator, Arizona State
Record as coach: 40-12 (.769)
League notes: Two Sun Belt titles, four division titles, two-time Sun Belt coach of the year
Postseason: Four bowl appearances, two wins, two AP top-16 finishes
Team record, prior three seasons: 15-22 (.405)
Louisiana had some good moments before Napier arrived, and had been one of the best-supported programs in the Sun Belt. But the program had only two league titles, and had never won more than nine games. Napier elevated the program during a time when the Sun Belt was getting increasingly more competitive, and elevating its regional profile. Since 2019, Louisiana is tied with Georgia and Clemson for second nationally in wins (34), trailing only Alabama, and tied with Georgia for second in winning percentage (.872).
Under Napier, Louisiana in 2020 entered the national rankings for the first time in the modern era, finishing No. 15 in the AP poll and No. 19 in the CFP rankings. His teams set team records for wins in consecutive seasons (2020 and 2021). After opening the 2021 season with a loss at Texas, Louisiana won its final 12 games, breaking the team record of eight consecutive victories.
His teams displayed good balance on offense and defense, not overly relying on one unit to spur success. In 2019, Napier became the first Louisiana coach to win Sun Belt coach of the year, and repeated in 2021. He also turned down SEC overtures to remain at Louisiana and set up the program even better for successor Michael Desormeaux.
5. Ed Orgeron, LSU
Debut season: 2017 (served as interim coach for final eight games of 2016)
Previous job: Defensive line coach, LSU
Record as coach: 51-20 (.718)
League notes: SEC title, SEC coach of the year in 2019
Postseason: National title in 2019, Fiesta Bowl championship in 2018, 4-1 in bowls/CFP
Team record, prior three seasons: 25-12 (.676)
Coach O’s wild ride on the bayou reached a crescendo in 2019, before tumbling down to stunning mediocrity the past two seasons. The end to his tenure raises some doubt about where he falls in this list, but he’s also the only coach hired since the end of 2016 to win a national championship in the years that followed. Was LSU a one-hit wonder under Orgeron? For the most part, yes, but what a year it was. Orgeron oversaw arguably the best college football team of the modern era in 2019, behind one of the greatest quarterbacks in Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow.
LSU also recorded a 10-win season, a Fiesta Bowl championship and a No. 6 finish in 2018, Orgeron’s second season as permanent coach. Orgeron also won a lot of big games, 13 against top-10 opponents, second most for any LSU coach behind predecessor Les Miles. He continued LSU’s tradition of mass-producing NFL draft picks, as the team had an SEC-record five first-round selections in 2020, and tied a record with 14 players picked that year. Orgeron’s Tigers had 21 total selections in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.
There are two chapters to Orgeron’s LSU tenure, as he went 34-7 in his first three years in the permanent role, and 11-11 in his final two seasons. He has to own the post-championship mistakes. Still, he ended up being the right hire for LSU after Miles. The school’s top choice, Tom Herman, never got Texas even one Big 12 title. Orgeron showed that LSU could finally produce an elite quarterback and an elite offense. He also showed how quickly LSU can reach the top when the right pieces are in place.
4. Matt Rhule, Baylor
Debut season: 2017
Previous job: Head coach, Temple
Record as coach: 19-20 (.487)
League notes: Big 12 championship game appearance, Big 12 coach of the year in 2019
Postseason: Sugar Bowl appearance after 2019 season, two bowls in three years
Team record, prior three seasons: 28-11 (.718)
Here’s where context matters. Why else would a coach with a losing record, who took over a team that had been winning at a good clip, appear among those with much better ledgers? Baylor was in crisis before Rhule arrived, as the sexual assault allegations and convictions involving football players under Art Briles lingered over the program and the university. Although Baylor had made significant program upgrades under Briles, it also had a limited history of success before him. A poor coaching hire or two following Briles’ exit could’ve set back the program for many years.
Rhule, who picked Baylor over Oregon, provided stability and vision that was critical at the time. He went from 1-11 in his first season to a Big 12 runner-up finish in his third. Baylor became the first Power 5 program to go from 11 losses to 11 wins in a two-year span, and Rhule in 2019 guided the Bears to their first Sugar Bowl appearance since 1957. He’s only the second Baylor coach to reach bowl games in two of his first three seasons.
He rebuilt a roster that had endured significant attrition during the Briles transition. Despite having no ties to Texas or Baylor, Rhule re-established the program in the state’s recruiting scene, signing a Top 25 class in 2018. Rhule also changed the way Baylor played, emphasizing a more physical style at the line of scrimmage and more offense-defense balance. The Big 12’s style-of-play shift can be traced back in part to what Rhule did at Baylor.
3. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
Debut season: 2017
Previous job: Offensive coordinator, Oklahoma
Record as coach: 55-10 (.846)
League notes: Four Big 12 titles, Big 12 coach of the year in 2018
Postseason: Three CFP appearances, four New Year’s Six bowls, one bowl win
Team record, prior three seasons: 30-9 (.769)
Most Oklahoma fans don’t want to read about all the good things Riley did before he bolted for USC, but there are plenty. He made a significant impact even before succeeding Bob Stoops as the nation’s youngest head coach at age 33. Riley upgraded OU’s quarterback play and overall production with his scheme after arriving as offensive coordinator in 2016. But this assessment is really about the impact of head coaches since 2017, and only Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney and Smart won more games than Riley did with the Sooners. He became the first person to win four outright conference titles in his first four seasons as an FBS coach.
Riley mentored Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks in each of his first two seasons as coach — Baker Mayfield in 2017 and Kyler Murray in 2018. Jalen Hurts, who had lost his starting job at Alabama, became the Heisman runner-up under Riley in 2019. Oklahoma never finished outside the top-10 with Riley at the helm, and went 37-7 in Big 12 play. No team has averaged more points since 2017 than Oklahoma (43.6 ppg).
There are some shortcomings with Riley’s tenure, especially in postseason play. He went 0-3 in CFP appearances, and lost convincingly in his last two. Oklahoma’s defense never truly turned a corner under his leadership. But he made OU into the nation’s top program for offense and quarterback play and dominated the Big 12 until his final season. He also set Oklahoma records for most coaching victories in his first two seasons (24), first three seasons (36) and first four seasons (45).
Debut season: 2019
Previous job: Offensive coordinator, Ohio State
Record as coach: 34-4 (.895)
League notes: Two Big Ten titles, three Big Ten East Division titles
Postseason: Two CFP appearances, one CFP national runner-up, Rose Bowl championship
Team record, prior three seasons: 36-5 (.878)
Ohio State is one of the most consistently successful teams in American sports, so new coaches rarely face many obstacles to winning. But when Day arrived in 2017 as an assistant, the program was coming off of a shutout loss to Clemson in the CFP, and needing a significant lift on offense. Day began making Ohio State into a quarterback-centric program, which had never been achieved throughout the program’s storied history. He helped quarterback J.T. Barrett cap off a record-setting career in 2017, and then mentored quarterbacks Dwayne Haskins and Justin Fields to milestone performances in 2018 and 2019.
Day went 3-0 as Ohio State’s acting head coach in 2018, and then took over the permanent role from Urban Meyer the following year. Ohio State’s only losses in Day’s first two seasons came in the CFP to Clemson (semifinal) and Alabama (national championship). Since 2019, only Alabama (.902) has a better winning percentage than Ohio State, which leads the nation in scoring average (45.9 ppg) and ranks second in QBR (85.4). Day’s teams have led the nation in scoring in each of the past two seasons.
Last season brought an end to Ohio State’s streaks of Big Ten championships (4) and wins over archrival Michigan (8), which overwhelmed the Buckeyes in the snow. But Day’s team responded to rally past Utah in an epic Rose Bowl, overcoming three 14-point deficits and the opt-outs of several stars. After reshaping the defensive coaching staff, Day will have a team this fall that should once again contend for a national title, which would be Ohio State’s first since 2014.
Debut season: 2017
Previous job: Co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach, Ohio State
Record as coach: 48-15 (.762)
League notes: Two AAC titles, three-time AAC coach of the year
Postseason: CFP appearance in 2021, Peach Bowl in 2020, four bowls (2-2)
Team record, prior three seasons: 20-18 (.526)
Fickell had to wait a little longer for his first permanent head-coaching opportunity, after leading Ohio State on an interim basis during a tumultuous 2011 season. When things went sideways for Cincinnati under Tommy Tuberville, Fickell was the fairly obvious choice for a program that needed someone better connected to the state of Ohio and its recruiting scene. Fickell, a Columbus native who played and coached at Ohio State, looked like a strong fit, but he has exceeded the initial expectations.
After a 4-8 debut in 2017, Cincinnati has won 44 games since 2018, fourth most nationally behind Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State. Cincinnati has become the premier Group of 5 program and best in the highly competitive AAC, leapfrogging UCF to enter the national spotlight. The Bearcats nearly posted an undefeated season in 2020 before falling to Georgia in the Peach Bowl. Cincinnati then accomplished what many thought could never be done — reaching the four-team CFP as a Group of 5 candidate. Fickell’s team ended Notre Dame‘s 26-home win streak and posted its second consecutive perfect season in AAC play.
Cincinnati had great teams before Fickell, especially during the final years of Brian Kelly’s tenure. But the program has reached new heights, which helped when the Big 12 made an expansion push in September. Cincinnati is headed to a Power 5 league largely because of the improvements engineered by Fickell, who earned six national coaching honors in 2021 and will continue to lead the program.