Hiring a college football coach isn’t a science. In fact, the whole process is closer to a complete gamble.
Sure, administrations can do their research and go through the whole vetting process. Good athletic directors will leave no stone unturned when trying to fill a vacancy. But even the most can’t-miss hire can backfire in college football.
Sometimes schools just swing big and miss — or they may be forced to settle after striking out on other targets. Or they just completely whiff on someone they thought would pan out. Whatever the case may be, there are a lot of ways to fumble a coaching search.
There have been plenty of notable mishaps throughout this sport’s history. Some didn’t work out when contextualized with the gift of hindsight. Others were dead on arrival. With peak offseason in full swing, here’s a look back at 15 of the worst coaching hires from the past decade of college football.
15. Chris Ash, Rutgers (2016-19)
Record: 8-32
Ash inherited a bit of a mess left by his predecessor Kyle Flood, but it became apparent rather quickly that Ash was ill-prepared to right the ship in his first head coaching job. Ash only won more than two games in a single season once, and the Scarlet Knights failed to win a single Big Ten game in three out of four seasons under Ash. He was fired midway through the 2019 campaign, and after a brief stint at Texas in 2020, he recently made his return to college football as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator.
Record: 5-6
Rolovich had the unenviable task of replacing the great Mike Leach, who left Washington State for Mississippi State after eight years with the Cougars. Compounding matters was the COVID-19 pandemic in Rolovich’s first year; it’s understandable that Washington State went…
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Author : Will Backus
Publish date : 2025-05-03 18:33:00
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