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Five First-Year Coaches Off to a Hot Start

Originally posted on Mike Farrell Sports
By Alec Nederveld | Last updated 9/22/23

By: Alec Nederveld

After being hired this offseason, these five coaches have exploded onto the College Football scene and are already exceeding expectations. Let’s see who they are and what they’ve done.

Deion Sanders

Colorado

Could I start with anybody else? Despite heavy doubt (especially from some of the authors on this site), Sanders has shocked the country by going 3-0. Say what you want about Coach Prime, but he can motivate his team, get them to make clutch plays, and put attention on a Colorado program that was fading into irrelevance.

His Louis Vuitton luggage is flat-out making plays. Shadeur Sanders, Xavier Weaver, Shilo Sanders, and Travis Hunter, among others, have been huge. His coaching staff, especially offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, have also done a great job putting his players in a position to win while masking some of the team's visible weaknesses.

Coming off a double-overtime win vs. Colorado State, the Buffaloes will have their toughest test yet by playing at #10 Oregon without Travis Hunter. They are three-touchdown underdogs again, but Colorado has already done the seemingly impossible by getting to this point. Can Sanders' team do it again?

Jamey Chadwell

Liberty

Jumping ship from Coastal Carolina to Liberty, Chadwell has done a great job replacing Hugh Freeze. His offense is scoring 40.7 ppg, and his defense is leading the country in interceptions and turnovers forced. More importantly, the Flames are 3-0 with three double-digit wins.

The team overall is very balanced. The nine interceptions are split between six players. Seven players have over 100 yards on offense, and nobody has more than 252 yards or three touchdowns. The man leading the balanced offense, Kaidon Salter, has 763 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He is a dual threat, too, with 191 yards and three scores on the ground.

Liberty’s move to the C-USA could result in the Flames winning the conference in the first season. Next week, they travel to a 3-1 FIU team, arguably their most difficult game yet. Later on, a week nine game at Western Kentucky looks to be the toughest test all year. Liberty had a losing season since moving to the FBS, and Chadwell looks to continue that streak.

Jeff Brohm

Louisville

After moving to his Alma Mater, Brohm and the Cardinals have started 3-0 with two neutral sight power-five wins. The sample size is small, but he’s doing something previous coach Scott Satterfield couldn’t - win the close one. Louisville was 3-6 in one-possession games in 2021 and 2022, and so far is 2-0 in one-possession games this year.

Louisville has a two-headed monster at RB and WR. The explosive running back Jawhar Jordan has over 400 yards and four touchdowns, while Georgia State transfer Jamari Thrash has 324 receiving yards and four scores. Jordan has the ninth-most rushing yards, and Thrash has the twelfth-most receiving yards in the country. Both also lead the ACC.

The Cardinals host Boston College this week, then travel to NC State. They could easily get to 5-0 before they host the currently ninth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Coming off of the thirty-first-best HS class and twelve-best portal class, the future looks bright in Louisville.

G. J. Kinne

Texas State

Eleven years into their program's birth, Texas State has never made a bowl game. Kinne and his explosive offense may be able to change that in year one. He’s a very young coach, only thirty-four years old, but he took Incarnate Word to the FCS Semifinals in his only season. In addition, he already gave Texas State their first power-five win in program history by beating Baylor 42-31.

Kinne has quickly built the roster through the transfer portal. He brought in thirty-nine players, and they are showing up all over the field. Leading passer T.J. Finley played at Auburn last year. Leading rusher Ismail Mahdi played for Houston Baptist. Leading receiver Kole Wilson was at Incarnate Word last fall. You get the point.

Outside of beating Baylor, Texas State lost a close one to UTSA and blew out Jackson State. They will host 0-3 Nevada next week, and their Sun Belt schedule is very workable, getting to host Troy and South Alabama. The Bobcats also avoid the undefeated Georgia State, James Madison, and Marshall teams from the east. As long as Kinne is on the sideline, Texas State's future will be bright.

Barry Odom

UNLV

The former Missouri coach may be in the Mountain West now, but he’s still beating SEC teams. Last week, his team walked it off 40-37 over Vanderbilt. A seventeen-point comeback led by backup quarterback Jayden Maiava. For a program that has historically been a Mountain West cellar dweller, this win could turn the program's fortunes.

Statistically, UNLV doesn’t look amazing, but they’re doing enough to win. It looks like starting quarterback Doug Brumfield will be healthy for Saturday, but Maiava will be ready if he needs to be. JuCo transfer Jacob De Jesus is an explosive player who leads the country with 259 kick return yards and is the team's #2 receiver. Arkansas transfer Jackson Woodard also has twenty-five tackles, good for second in the MWC.

UNLV now sits at 2-1, with their only loss coming at Michigan. They will travel to a 1-3 UTEP team next week before starting MWC play. Other than a trip to undefeated Fresno State, the Rebels schedule is workable. Reaching a bowl in Odom’s first season is lofty, but not impossible.

This article first appeared on Mike Farrell Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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