Ranking the new college football coaches for 2023

This is a big hire for Nebraska and (stop me if you've heard this before) is a great one. While both the Huskers program and Matt Rhule's last few years haven't gone very well, this seems like a perfect marriage. Rhule is known for building up programs -- notably Temple and Baylor -- and Nebraska is in dire need of the same with a bigger sense of urgency. The Cornhuskers have had six straight losing seasons and in 2024 will see the Big Ten go division-less ... so getting to a conference title game will be more difficult. Rhule also needs to resurrect his career a bit after a bad run in the NFL, but it has happened to college coaches before. Look for this program to finally turn around quickly. 

Unlike Nebraska, Wisconsin has been one of the better Big Ten programs over the last decade or so but has taken a step back the last couple of years. There has seemed to be a ceiling on its success, which keeps them from climbing to a level that Michigan and Ohio State currently reside. Luke Fickell broke that ceiling at Cincinnati, becoming the only Group of 5 school to reach the College Football Playoff when he took the Bearcats to the 2021-2022 College Football Playoff. Fickell is known for his physical style of running the football and tough defenses, and that will play very well in Madison. He is an excellent recruiter and great at developing talent, which has been missing at Wisconsin. A great hire.

Coach Prime is undoubtedly the splashiest hire of this cycle, and the one most people will keep a close eye on. It has also come with a touch of controversy, as there was a mass exodus of the program via the transfer portal (which Sanders was fine with). Sanders brings the flash and confidence that he exhibited during his college career at Florida State and during his Hall of Fame NFL career. That is much needed at a Colorado program that has struggled to find an identity since the 1990s and especially since the Buffaloes joined the Pac-12. Coach Prime gives them that identity. He also brings success, which is what he had at Jackson State. He went 27-5 over three seasons with the Tigers and won two SWAC championships. In a changing Pac-12, there will be a power vacuum looming that Colorado could find itself filling if this works out. 

Auburn hiring Freeze could be a disaster or one of the most brilliant moves in quite a while. Auburn is known for being a tough place to coach, with expectations high and your rival down the road constantly winning -- and outside interference possibly calling the shots. Hugh Freeze was winning games at Ole Miss before scandal brought him down, and he was forced to rehabilitate his career at Liberty. His work with the Flames was extremely impressive and fast-tracked him back into an elite SEC job. The Freeze hire was met with both disgust from some of the fan base and praise from the other side. If Freeze wins ... and wins a lot ... while keeping a clean program, then the entire base should be pleased. 

Cardinal fans were ecstatic when much-maligned head coach Kenny Satterfield left for the Cincinnati job and Louisville was able to hire their dream replacement. This time, Jeff Brohm wouldn't turn the Cardinals down. Just like with their men's basketball program, Louisville hired a former Cardinals player to head up their football program (hopefully, this ends up better than the men's hoops season did). Brohm threw for over 5,400 yards and 38 TDs during his Cards career, which spanned the late 1980s and early 1990s. But it is more about what he did as the head coach of Purdue that makes fans giddy -- he employs a passing attack that will play better in the ACC than in the more traditionally physical Big Ten. With removing divisions in the ACC, Louisville isn't snuffed out by Clemson for ACC glory anymore. 

The changing college landscape makes this one of the more interesting moves this offseason. Liberty is ditching independence and entering Conference USA next season, so hiring Jamey Chadwell from Coastal Carolina is a huge win for the Flames. He will also be able to continue the success that Hugh Freeze brought to Lynchburg since we've seen him do it at CCU. Coastal Carolina went 31-6 over the past three seasons with three bowl appearances. His coaching career has been spent in the mid-Atlantic/southeast area so he will be able to recruit well at Liberty. He's also an extremely likable guy which will endear him to the fan base that may not have fully embraced Freeze. 

Florida Atlantic started its program in 2001 and has amassed quite a list of head coaches. Howard Schnellenberger, Lane Kiffin and Willie Taggart all came to the Owls after previously running high-profile jobs (Miami, USC, Florida State, respectively), and now Tom Herman is in that boat after being fired by Texas after the 2021 season. FAU had two 11-win seasons under Kiffin, but the Taggart era failed to keep it rolling. Herman's sudden rise up the coaching ranks hit a wall in Texas where he couldn't get the Longhorns "back" to prominence. Florida Atlantic is moving to the AAC, where Herman coached Houston in 2015-2016.

Geoff Collins was a disaster over nearly four seasons in Atlanta, which forced Brent Key into an interim role last season. Key did a really nice job over his 8 game stretch that the school offered him the full-time gig. Key went 4-4 over the final eight games of the season, with wins over North Carolina and Pittsburgh. Sure, they lost some head-scratchers as well, but Key's Yellow Jackets fought much harder and played to their potential more than they ever did under Collins. Key was a guard for the Jackets in the late 1990s and spent time as an assistant at Alabama from 2016-2018. Key understands what comes with Georgia Tech's program and has a clear vision of what he wants this program to look like.

Wilson is known for working with quarterbacks, with the most notable being Sam Bradford and Justin Fields. He was the architect of Ohio State's offense over the last six years and coached two Heisman trophy winners during his stay at Oklahoma (Bradford and Jason White). At Ohio State, he developed Dwayne Haskins, Fields, and C.J. Stroud. Wilson is instantly respected in the state and will immediately get the Golden Hurricane's offense back on track. His six-year run as Indiana's head coach never really got anywhere, but Tulsa is a nice spot to get back into running his own program.

Newberry was promoted from Navy's defensive coordinator to the head coach job after the service academy dismissed Ken Niumatalolo, who ran the program for 15 years. Newberry was brought on in 2019 and he instantly turned one of the nation's worst defenses into one of the best in the AAC. The offense will still be option oriented but the plan is to open up the passing game a bit more. 

Kent State wanted a coach who has ties to the Midwest (Burns was P.J. Fleck's assistant at Western Michigan and Minnesota), one who is familiar with the MAC (as mentioned, he worked at Western Michigan) and someone who understood the challenges of coaching at a non-power. Burns played at Indiana and before joining Fleck's staff had coached at Wyoming, South Dakota State and Southern Illinois. But can he coach? He specialized as the Gophers' running backs coach and Minnesota was one of the better rushing teams in the Big Ten and he's one of the most prepared coaches you can find. This is a solid hire for a program that wasn't expecting to need a new head coach.

Kinne is yet another young head coach (34) who has quickly risen up the coaching ranks. He spent time bouncing around jobs for just one season each -- SMU, Arkansas, Philadelphia Eagles, Hawaii, and UCF before becoming the head coach at Incarnate Word last year. He took the Cardinals to an 11-1 record behind a national-best 53 points per game, as such a high riser who hasn't really put roots down anywhere, who knows how long Kinne will stay if he finds success with the Bobcats.

Dillingham is a local guy who was born in Phoenix, went to high school in Scottsdale, and attended Arizona State University. He's been around the block -- offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Memphis, Auburn, Florida State, and Oregon before being hired by the Sun Devils. At only 32 years old, there are some concerns about if he's able to helm a program at this level, though others like the fact that he runs a modern, dynamic offense and understands how NIL can help build a program via recruiting and the transfer portal. This clearly is a departure from their last coaching hires like Dennis Erickson and Herm Edwards.

This is a very interesting hire. For one, it follows trends of going young (Walter is 36 years old) and hiring a defensive-minded coach. That second point is very interesting since Purdue is known for their high-flying passing attacks, and this hire isn't what they normally do. Walters isn't just a defensive coach, but one who keeps things close to the vest and plans on being the guy making all the defensive calls. So what will that mean for the Boilermakers' offense? Well, Walters is saying all the right things -- he used words like "explosive" and "creative" to describe how the offense will continue to run. 

Golesh has gained attention for orchestrating Tennessee's offense this season, and it netted him the South Florida head coaching gig. In his three seasons as Josh Heupel's offensive coordinator (one season at UCF; two at Tennessee), he has overseen electric offenses that have given fits to defenses. While the talent at South Florida won't be what he had in Knoxville or Orlando, USF is still capable of getting guys who can play in Golesh's offenses. He is a stand-up coach who has an outstanding work ethic and demands the same of everyone around him. This has the be the potential to be a home-run hire, provided he's able to quickly build this program from the ground up.

Under Taylor, Western Michigan is going to run the football. Taylor is known as a strong recruiter and a very good running backs coach during his coaching career. He coached Christian McCaffery and Bryce Love at Stanford and Kyren Williams at Notre Dame. Taylor began his coaching career under Nick Saban at Alabama (where Dabo Swinney was his position coach) and Appalachian State, and he spent time in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers under Ron Rivera and the New York Jets. Last year he was the offensive coordinator at Louisville, where he guided the Cardinals to the ACC's third-best rushing attack. Western Michigan is one of the better jobs in the MAC where Taylor can have success.

Who knew that Incarnate Word was the hotbed for developing head coaches? Texas State hired G.J. Kinne from Incarnate Word, while North Texas hired the guy he replaced. Morris led the Cardinals to a 10-3 record in 2021 before leaving to become the offensive coordinator at Washington State. He will be tasked with moving the Mean Green to the American Athletic Conference next year and living up to his reputation as a quarterback guru. Morris played receiver at Texas Tech for the late Mike Leach and is very familiar with the Texas recruiting scene. Hopefully, the Air Raid scheme opens up opportunities for North Texas to emerge as an AAC power. 

Jamey Chadwell leaves Coastal Carolina for Liberty and the Chanticleers now hope they've hired someone who can keep their recent success going. Tim Beck has been around the block and spent his last three seasons as NC State's offensive coordinator and QBs coach. He seems to really be able to get the most out of his signal callers, even if his offenses weren't the most popular in Raleigh. It will be interesting to see how much time Coastal Carolina will give Beck, a first-time head coach, if he does pick up where Jamey Chadwell left off. As I mentioned, NC State's offenses looked unremarkable at times under Beck which could stall CCU's momentum.

This is one of the most interesting job changes of the offseason. Cincinnati lost its all-time winningest coach, Luke Fickell, to Wisconsin and then replaced him with Scott Satterfield, a guy Louisville fans weren't really sad to see go. Satterfield oversaw Appalachian State's transition from FCS power to an FBS program and had the Mountaineers winning 10 or more games in three of his final four seasons there. He moved on to Louisville where it just ... well ... just didn't work. He went 25-24 with the Cardinals and was on the hot seat before Cincinnati hired him away. Satterfield is a good hire due to his experience in transitions (Cincinnati jumps to the Big 12), his experience as a Power 5 head coach, his experience in the area, and his experience in general. Of course, he's taking over a program that reached unthinkable heights in 2021, and there is no way to think Satterfield will be able to replicate that success in the Big 12 ... even if the fans expect it. And right now, fans aren't that excited about Satterfield so he needs to really get off to a big start.

Taylor had only been a college head coach for three seasons before taking the Stanford job, but he's been around the block and knows the area. He played at Cal, was a high school head coach in Orangevale, Sacramento and Folsom, was an assistant coach at his alma mater, and just led Sacramento State to an undefeated regular season in 2022 before losing in the FCS playoffs. His specialty is offense, where his teams have typically led their leagues in yards and scoring (Sac State's playoff loss was 66-63 to Incarnate Word). Stanford has run a pro-style offense for years so Taylor will be tasked with overhauling the Cardinal offense without the ability to navigate the transfer portal as other schools can.

The sudden passing of Mike Leach in December stunned the college football world. Mississippi replaced their beloved head coach with defensive coordinator Zach Arnett. Arnett was key to the Bulldogs' success, as Leach's offenses had an equally powerful defense balancing out the roster. Arnett had been sought after for other defensive coordinator jobs but stuck with Leach and Mississippi State, and the way he's been a leader for the players during this difficult time has been extremely impressive. Having said that, this is an SEC program that is hiring a coordinator who is making his coaching debut -- that is a big ask with names like Saban, Kelly, Kiffin, Fisher and Freeze in the same division. Arnett did lead the Bulldogs to an ugly ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Illinois in January. 

Barry Odom went just 25-25 in four years as head coach of his alma mater, Missouri, and has spent the last three years as Arkansas' defensive coordinator. Odom brings to UNLV an experienced FBS head coach, something they haven't had in Vegas since John Robinson roamed the sidelines in the early 2000s. Odom has spent his football career in the same part of the country -- he played at Missouri and coached at Missouri, Arkansas and Memphis -- so building recruiting relationships out west will be key. 

Different is a risky hire.  His coaching experience is a four-year stint at Lipscomb Academy, a prep high school that did win Tennessee's Division II Class AA title for the last two years.  Jumping from a prep high school to an FBS job is quite a move. Dilfer obviously played at the highest level of football (winning Super Bowl XXXV), and his time at ESPN allowed him the ability to break down film as well as being media savvy. But coaching comes down to coaching. It will be interesting to see how he handles all that comes with being a Division I head coach.

The Northwestern situation is a mess. Pat Fitzgerald, who was a star player and successful coach for the Wildcats over much of the last nearly 30 years, was let go after hazing incidents were discovered in the program. David Braun, who was hired in January to be the defensive coordinator, has taken over as the head coach. He won two FCS championships as a defensive coordinator at North Dakota State and was highly sought after among FBS programs. However, this is a very difficult task for Braun to deal with. On the field, the team was 1-11 last season and has seemed lost in the era of NIL and the transfer portal. Obviously, the off-the-field issues have and will affect the talent on his roster now and going forward. You also have to think that his lack of tenure with the program is why he got the interim job as he would have no knowledge of the past hazing incidents nor was he involved. This ranking isn't just about Braun, but the situation that put him there.  

This is a hire that is outside the box. Poggi was Jim Harbaugh's right-hand man at Michigan and is known as a motivator and who is great with player relationships. His path to Charlotte isn't typical. Prior to his three years at Michigan, he was a hedge fund manager and a high school football coach in Baltimore, where he led the Gilman School to 13 Maryland state titles. He also helped start football at Saint Frances Academy, which was featured on HBO's "The Cost of Winning." Charlotte is a program that was started from scratch, reached one bowl game during its decade run, and will now be entering the AAC next season.