Grading every college football coaching hire this offseason from best to worst

He was described as “a coaching vagabond” who lacked “the chops” to bring his new program “out of the conference basement and into the mix for bowl bids, let alone a division title.”

That was the USA TODAY Sports breakdown three years ago of new Arizona coach Jedd Fisch, who came in dead last in the Power Five in a ranking of the new hires.

Oops. A few years later, Fisch has been revealed instead as one of the top hires of the cycle, along with Kansas coach Lance Leipold, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and Tennessee coach Josh Heupel.

Hey, it just goes to show: The quality of these hires is almost impossible to predict in the moment. And a few years later, we get a chance to take another crack at ranking Fisch, now the new head coach at Washington.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at this year’s moves and rank every new hire in the Bowl Subdivision. In this case, we’re not going to include Northwestern’s David Braun, who coached the Wildcats this entire season and was named the coach of the year in the Big Ten.

1. Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico

He’s a winner, pure and simple. Mendenhall has been very successful at two stops, Brigham Young and Virginia, reaching bowl eligibility in every non-COVID-19 year of his coaching career outside of his debut season with the Cavaliers. Mendenhall is also a former New Mexico assistant under Rocky Long and brings deep familiarity with the program and the broader region. As one of the surest bets in coaching and a terrific ambassador for the program and athletics department, he’s an absolute coup for the Lobos.

2. Willie Fritz, Houston

And speaking of home-run hires: Fritz brings to Houston an unimpeachable track record highlighted by a 23-4 mark across the past two seasons with one New Year’s Six bowl victory against Southern California in the Cotton Bowl. Going all the way back to JUCO…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/grading-every-college-football-coaching-114026039.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-01-31 11:40:26

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