Hey All,
Here we meet again for the first installment of our summer reading program for the upcoming football season. Yes, once again it's time to take another ride on the Coaching Carousel. Before we get to the changes, I provide a disclaimer. This year's array of coaching changes doesn't have nearly the garvitas of last year's tumultuous chain of events kicked off by the retirement of Saint Nicholas of Tuscaloosa. So, with that in my mind, let's dig in. We still miss you. Alan Malamud.
The Big Tar Heel Hire
North Carolina
OUT: Mack Brown
IN: Bill Belichick
Mack Brown told reporters at his press conference before the Tar Heels last regular season game of 2024 that he would be back to coach again in 2025. The next day he was fired by UNC AD Bubba Cunningham. According to multiple sources, Cunningham had been working for months to let Brown ride off into the sunset quietly at the end of the 2024 campaign. Brown's defiant statement of his own return was looked as the reason why Cunningham made his firing a public spectacle. Obviously, Brown wasn't going to ride off into the sunset quietly like the UNC admin wanted. So, with Brown gone, many expected UNC to hire an up and coming much younger man to run the program. Instead they got one of the NFL's greatest coaches of all-time who happens to be the same age as Brown, 73, to take the job. The story of how Belichick ended up at UNC is a long one and I defer to the ESPN story written by the trio of reporters David Hale, Andrea Addison and Chris Low on how this all came to pass Carolina Bill. With how he got to Chapel Hill in the linked story now history, the more important thing now is how will he do in the college game. While the college game is getting closer to the game played on Sundays structure wise, it's still a different game, but in his plain, "I'm just here because I have to be" style of dealing with the media Belichick said in his UNC introductory press conference the biggest difference between the two games is the distance between the NFL and college hash marks. Basically with all the hoopla swirling around him from all the money being spent by UNC, to what access his girlfriend has to the program to how crazy the fans and media are over his hiring, what remains when you strip that away is that Belichick is just a coach who lives for teaching the game and winning games. He may end up having a bigger impact in Chapel Hill than Deion Sanders ever will at Colorado. Oh, and he'll do it in his usual quiet, utilitarian style. I say may, because in this ever-changing landscape of college football things that seem destined for success can founder quickly. Just ask Luke Fickell at Wisconsin.
Someone We Just Used to Know, Their New Friend and a Trip Down Tobacco Road
Washington State
OUT: Jake Dickert
IN: Jimmy Rogers
As Wazzu continues to come off life support and rebuild a new league with the name Pac 12, the Cougars won't do it with Jake Dickert. Dickert basically left for a more stable environment at Wake Forest. If that doesn't speak volumes as to just how bad things have gotten at Wazzu, nothing else will. However, the writing was own the wall about Dickert's departure when in a Spokane Spokesman-Review article that covered his departure, WSU AD Anne McCoy said that Dickert and his agent put off contract extension talks until the 2024 season was finished to "see where things were at." Basically, Dikert had his foot out the door at Wazzu and Wake Forest was waiting for him to walk through theirs. In place of Dickert steps in Jimmy Rogers. Rogers comes from South Dakota State where his Jackrabbits were the 2023 FCS National Champs. Rogers has spent most of his coaching life at SDSU. There's no reason to believe that he can't win games in Pullman. With the way the new Pac 12 is shaping up, Wazzu could be the top team in the league.
Fresno State
OUT: Jeff Tedford/Tim Skipper
IN: Matt Entz
Continued health problems for Jeff Tedford led FSU to relive Tedford of his job and elevate Tim Skipper to the acting HC role in 2023 and then be named interim HC in 2024. Many thought Skipper had a real shot at getting that interim tag removed, but it was not to be. His 2024 Bulldogs finished 6-7 and the admin started to put out feelers for a new HC. Matt Entz jumped a the chance to be an HC at the FBS level. Entz was USC's LB Coach in 2024, but in his heart he's a HC. From 2019 2023 he was the HC of the 800 pound gorilla of the FCS, North Dakota State. Fresno could be perfect for Entz. He has that energy reminiscent of Pat Hill. Entz knows how to win and he can build a team of kids with something to prove. No kids play harder than the ones at Fresno State that are still angry that USC and UCLA didn't recruit them.
Wake Forest
OUT: Dave Clawson
IN: Jake Dickert
After the being basically the best HC that the Deamon Deacons ever had, Dave Clawson hung up his whistle after 11 years on the sidelines. The admin at Wake got lucky when they pulled Jake Dickeerrt away from Wazzu. Dickert can win in the ACC. However, part of me thinks that Wake can only progress so far a s a program in the ACC as they are decidedly a basketball school first.
Point to Ponder: Jake Dickert owes a good measure of his career to Nick Rolovich refusing to get the COVID vaccine back in 2020 when he was the HC of Wazzu. In Nick got pricked, would we even know who Jake Dickert is now.? Hmmmmmmmm
John Denver Lives
West Virginia
OUT: Neal Brown
IN: Rich Rodriguez
If you're humming Take Me Home, Country Roads right now, you aren't the only one as most West Virginians and RichRod should have this blaring loudly on every speaker available in the state. So, how did we get to RichRod coming back to Morgantown? Neal Brown was let go as the HC of the Blue and Gold after going 37-35 over the past six years. After being let go, Brown failed upward and is now a special assistant to HC Steve Sarkisian at Texas. With Brown gone that left a way for RichRod to return after a long coaching odyssey back to the Mountaineers. A born West Virginian, Rodriguez played for the Mountaineers then went on to be the HC at WVU from 2001-07. In 2008 he took the Michigan job and promptly went a very underwhelming, 15-22 in three years for the Maize and Blue. After being fired by UM, he took a year off and then landed the Arizona HC gig where he went 45-35 from 2012-2017 for the Wildcats but was shown the door after hovering around the .500 mark in his last three years in Tucson. He then went to being an assistant at Ole Miss, Hawaii and Louisiana-Monroe before landing the HC job at Jacksonville State. He shepherded the program form the FCS tot he FBS level with good success and that led him back to WVa's country roads. Most coaches don't have great runs when they return to a school. Bill Walsh at Stanford and John Robinson at USC come to mind, but anything is possible. If his Mountaineers start off 3-0 with this year a win over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, it could shape up to be quite a second act for RichRod.
Big In Vegas
Purdue
OUT: Ryan Walters
IN: Barry Odom
Just how bad did things get on the field during Ryan Walters two year tenure in West Lafayette? Well let's see. The Boilermakers went 5-19 overall and posted a 1-11 mark last year with their only win coming against FCS also ran Indiana State. Meanwhile the other FBS teams in the state, Indiana and Notre Dame, pounded Purdue by a combined score of 132-7. The PU Admin then made a pretty good hire in snatching Barry Odom away from UNLV. Odom had done the near impossible and turned the Rebels into a winner going 19-8 with two bowl appearances over his two years in Sin City. Odom is a defense mined coach who will fix a Boilermaker defense that gave up more yards than Italian army last year. He has a wealth of experience as most folks may remember he was the HC at Missouri from 2016-19 and then the DC at Arkansas from 2020-22. Odom's first year will be a success if the Sons of John Purdue don't repeat last year's last place finish in the Big Ten.
Fun Fact: Barry Odom played linebacker at Missouri from 1996-99 for former USC HC Larry Smith.
UNLV
OUT: Barry Odom
IN: Dan Mullen
After Odom left for Big Ten Country, it looked like UNLV would be left in a lurch trying to find another man who can win in the desert. However, those in control at the school with a top notch resort management major plucked Dan Mullen away from his duties as a TV analyst to walk the college sidelines again. Mullen has a long resume that most remember for his stints at Mississippi State and Florida as the HC, but his resume goes pretty far back to being the QB coach at Utah for Urban Meyer when the Utes went 13-0 with a 2005 Sugar Bowl win over Nick Saban's Alabama squad. The Mountian West isn't the SEC, so Mullen will have to get used playing late games on the ESPN 2 and CBS Sports Network. He has been left a team with only two returning starters. So it will be hard for the Rebels to repeat the success they've had the last two years.
A Poor Marshall Plan or How To Lose Coach In 10 Days
Marshall
OUT: Chalres Huff
IN: Tony Gibson
Charles Huff led the Thundering Herd to the school's first ever Sun Belt Conference title in his fourth year at the helm. The Admin didn't seem to think that was a big deal. According to Huff in an article in the Hattiesburg American from December 12th of last year he stated that the admin wasn't inclined to bring him back, stating that "...they felt going in another direction was the right decision. The decision was probably made before we won the championship, if that makes sense." In Huff's place comes Tony Gibson. Gibson played his college ball at Glenville State as a defensive back and has spent his entire career as a player and coach on the defensive side of the ball. His last two jobs have been as the DC at West Virginia from 2014-18 and NC State from 2019-24. The 52-year old Gibson inherits a squad that has just four returning starters including their placekicker. Forget about the league title this year. A top half finish in the league would be a great first season for Gibson.
Southern Miss
OUT: Will Hall
IN: Charles Huff
Hall came to USM with some fanfare as a young guy who could put together a strong offense and knew his way around the area as far as recruiting goes. Neither of those expectations ever came to fruition as he posted just one winning record in three plus seasons with that winning season being a pedestrian 7-6. It was no shock when he was fired as the Golden Eagles started off last year at 1-6. In comes Charles Huff who left Marshal as a Sun Belt Champion. Huff has a huge job ahead of him. The Eagles finished 1-11 last year with not much talent on the roster. Huff will also be handicapped by a very small NIL budget. However, as long Louisiana-Monroe is in the Sun Belt, the Eagles should avoid the cellar in the league.
The Beehive State and The Land of Enchantment
Utah State
OUT: Blake Anderson
IN: Bronco Mendenhall
Blake Anderson was fired in a wave of scandal after he was found by a school fact-finding commission that he did his own investigations of sexual harassment and domestic violence claims about his players rather than turn the claims over to the university for immediate investigation. So, into the breach steps Bronco Mendenhall. Mendenhall had a successful run at BYU that lasted 13 years as both an assistant and the HC. He then decided he needed to be in the ACC and bolted for Virginia. After six years and a 36-38 record with the Wahoos, he resigned from his post stating that he was basically burnt out after 31 years as a player/coach. Last year he jumped back into the fray and paced the sidelines as the HC at New Mexico. After a 5-7 season, which was the Lobos best in almost a decade, he then returned to the land of no caffeine with the Aggies. This could end up being a great era for Aggie football. He knows the league, the area and still has deep ties to acquire talent in the region.
New Mexico
OUT: Bronco Mendenhall
IN: Jason Eck
With Mendenhall heading off to Utah State, UNM needed something good to happen. Pundits think they may have gotten it in the hiring of Jason Eck. Eck was the headman at Idaho the last three years in the powerful Big Sky Conference of the FCS. Eck led the Vandals to three straight appearances in the FCS playoffs reaching the quarterfinal round the last two years. Then man is an OL line lifer. He played on the OL at Wisconsin and spent almost his entire career as an OL coach. The knock one Eck is that almost all of his experience comes from the FCS ranks. That probably won't matter as the Lobos have looked like an FCS squad for years.
The MAC Quartet and a Southern Detour
Kent State (12th in the MAC in 2024)
OUT: Kenni Burns
IN: Mark Carney
This is how Kenni Burns got fired from Kent State. One, he went 1-23 as the HC with the one win coming in 2023 against FCS doormat Central Connecticut. Two he was investigated by the Ohio State AG office for misuse of his university issued purchasing card which included allegations of unnecessary expenses, improper loans made from the cards and gifts purchased for team vendors. Burns wasn't fired until late April of this year, so the admin scrambled for a new HC and installed Carney as the interim HC for 2025 season. Carney was the OC for Burns so this truly just a stop gap measure barring some miracle season from Carney's kids. Most likely another 1-11 or -12 season is in the way for Nick Saban's alma mater.
Ball State (11th in the MAC in 2024)
OUT: Mike Neu
IN: Mike Uremovich
When Mike Neu was hired in Muncie, hopes were high that the up and coming coach who had walked the sidelines all the way from D-III to the Arena League to the FBS and even the NFL. Neu came home to his alma mater of Ball State and in nine seasons went 40-63 with his best year being the COVID year of 2020 with a 7-1 record that included a 34-13 win over San Jose State in the Arizona Bowl. In his place comes Mike Uremovich from right down the road in Indianapolis where he was the HC at Butler University where he guided the Bulldogs to a 23-11 record over three seasons. Uremovich is a true lifer to the Indiana-Illinois area. His only job not in either state was a a three year stint at Temple where he was the Co-OC/TE coach from 2019-21. Turning the Cardinals fortunes around may be hard. A dearth of skill position players will make for a punchless offense. That and a pourous defense will keep this team hanging around the MAC cellar in 2025.
Central Michigan (10th in the MAC in 2024)
OUT: Jim McElwain
IN: Matt Drinkall
Part of the fallout of the Connor Stallions signal stealing scandal in 2023 ended up being the "retirement" of Jim McElwain in 2024. It didn't help that McElwain's squads were getting worse as his tenure wore on, posting 4-9, 5-7 , and 4-8 records over the last three seasons. He left the program a week after an NCAA investigation was announced into the Stallions matter. In comes Matt Drinkall where he spent the last five seasons at Army as primarily the OL coach for the Black Knights of the Hudson. He's a good hire for the Chippewas as on the heels of an NCAA investigation. CMU gets an academy coach who is used to rigorous academic standards and working with less in the talent department. He is also a midwestern kid who played his college ball at Iowa. One thing CMU is sure to get with Drinkall, they will run the ball well.
Ohio (2nd in the MAC in 2024)
OUT: Tim Alban
IN: Brian Smith
Tim Albin took over an Ohio Bobcat team that fell off at the end of the Frank Solich era and went 33-19 with three straight 10 win seasons and a pair of bowl victories. He parlayed those wins and Ohio U's first MAC title since 1968 into a the HC job at Charlotte in the Sun Belt which many see as a steppingstone to the SEC. The Ohio U. admin did not look far for Alban's replacement. They hired Albin's OC Brian Smith. Smith is a California kid who has landed smack dab in the middle of Ohio. Most of Smith's resume includes three stints at Hawaii where coached everything on the offensive side ball except QBs.. He also had jobs at Wazzu and Cal Lutheran along with being the LB coach at Occidental from 2015-17. Albin coaxed him to Ohio in 2022 as the PGC and RB coach. Smith could have been a HC sooner as he was considered for the HC job at Hawaii when Nick Rolovich left the islands for the Wazzu job back in 2017. Smith's Ohio team returns a ton of skill position talent, but will be thin in the trenches. That lack of trench talent means another 10-win season may not be in the cards for the Bobcats in 2025.
Charlotte
OUT: Biff Poggi
IN: Tim Albin
Jim Harbaugh's buddy and former Michigan assistant Biff Poggi posted a 6-16 record in two seasons punctuated with discipline problems and an enough personal fouls on the field to make the 1976 Raiders proud. Biff was shown the door and Tim Albin took his place. You've just read about Albin's Ohio U. success, but most of his other success came from the NAIA level where way back in 1999 he led his alma mater of Northwestern Oklahoma State to the a National Title. Can he win at Charlotte? Nobody really has, hard to think he'll be the first one to do so.
Sunshine State Sideliners
Jacksonville State
OUT: Rich Rodriguez
IN: Charles Kelly
RichRod's exit form J-State for a shot to prove that a man can go home again paved the way for Charles Kelly to return home as well. After his college playing days at Auburn as a DB from 1996-99, his first stop as a college coach was a five year run at J-State where he coached RBs, DBs and served as the DC and OC during that span. He made his FBS debut in 2006 as the special teams coach at Georgia Tech. From there he won a pair of national titles on the staffs of Florida State in 2013 and Alabama in 2020. His last two jobs were as the DC of Colorado in 2023 and the same position at Auburn in 2024. The guy knows his football, knows the territory and is being handed a C-USA Conference Champion squad to coach. Not a lot of starters return for the Gamecocks but the talent is there to make another run at the C-USA crown in his first year at the helm.
Fun Fact: Once the 2025 season starts Charles Kelly will have been a coach at Jacksonville State when the school was playing on the D-II, FCS and FBS levels.
Florida International
OUT: Mike MacIntyre
IN: Willie Simmons
We remember Mike MacIntyre from his days at Colorado where he had the Buffaloes on the brink of a Rose Bowl berth back in 2016. MacIntyre couldn't work that same magic at FIU and was let go after going 12-24 overall and just 6-18 in C-USA play with the Panthers. The man picked to now lead the Panthers, Willie Simmons comes across the state from Florida A&M where he led the Rattlers to a 45-13 record from 2018-2023. Last season he was the RB coach at Duke. His most impressive feat maybe be from his first HC job where he lead Prairie View A&M to three straight winning seasons from 2015-17. Simmons gets a far different team in FIU as opposed to the aforementioned Jackson State. The consensus is the Panthers will finish last in C-USA with most of their top players gone to either graduation or the transfer portal. It will one a large task for Simmons to keep his string alive of never having a losing season as a HC.
Florida Atlantic
OUT: Tom Herman
IN: Zach Kittley
Remember when Tom Herman was billed as the next great HC? That seems so long ago when he was the OC/QB Coach at TheeeOSU for Urban Meyer. Herman took the HC job at Texas and he went 32-18 with four bowl wins. He was the fired by Texas because they thought he had reached his ceiling and could never lead the Longhorns to the promised land. Herman then served as an offensive analyst for the Chicago Bears for a year before getting a second chance to lead a team at FAU. In two seasons the Owls went 6-16. He was fired 10 games into the 2024 season with the team sporting a 2-8 overall record and 0-6 in AAC play. The FAU admin decided that their next HC would just throw the crap out of the ball. They hired Texas Tech OC Zach Kittley. The 33-year old Kittley has spent most of his brief career with Texas Tech. The FAU admin wants high octane offense and big scoring games. High scoring may happen with the Owls finishing on the wrong end of most of those scores. They are picked to be a tailender of the AAC.
UCF
OUT: Gus Malzahn
IN: Scott Frost
Well, Ol' Gus saw the writing on the wall after his four seasons at UCF produced a 28-24 record with steadily downwardly trending win totals and only one bowl win. He resigned last December and ran over to Tallahassee to be the OC at Florida State. In his stead, Scott Frost returns to the UCF sidelines. Remember Scott Frost? The guy who was a star Nebraska QB, then as an up and coming HC led UCF to an undefeated 2017 season. That season then served as a springboard for Frost to comeback and restore the Cornhuskers to the kind of glory days not seen since some guy named Tom Osborne roamed the sidelines of Lincoln. Well, it just didn't happen that way. Frost went 16-31 at Nebraska and was fired three games into the 2022 season. After taking 2023 off, Frost was a Senior Analyst for the Los Angeles Rams in 2024. When the UCF job became open again after Malzahn's resignation, Frost jumped a the chance for reunion and redemption with the Golden Knights. However, a far different landscape awaits him upon his return. His old UCF squad played in the AAC. The Golden Knights are now fighting up in weight class in the Big XII. That's a big deal. Frost has returned, but can he win like he did before? UConn, Temple and Austin Peay won't be on the schedule this time around.
Texas Two Step and a Trip to Philly
Rice
OUT: Mike Bloomgren
IN: Scott Abell
Mike Bloomgren led the Fighting White Owls in both C-USA and AAC play and his teams stunk in both leagues. He never sported a wining record despite having two teams go on to lose bowl games. Rice basically made of those games at 5-7 with a great APR score to go with not enough teams at 6-6 or better to qualify for a bowl. When the Owls started at 2-6 last year, Rice AD Tommy McClelland had seen enough and Bloomgren was canned. In an athletic department word salad of a statement McClelland said, "As I evaluated and compared our current and desired trajectory, I determined that new leadership is necessary to guide us into the future." After a "nationwide search" McClelland hired Scott Abell. The 55-year old Abell comes to Rice from Davidson College where held the Wildcats to a 47-28 record over the last seven season and three FCS playoff berths. Before that he was the HC at Washington & Lee where he led the Generals to a 39-24 record and three D-III playoff berths. Abell's biography does have an interesting twist as he never played the game on the college or pro level. He was a three sport star in his prep years but played baseball in college at Longwood University as a catcher and third baseman. After college he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and was a farmhand in the Royals system for a couple years before hanging up his bat and glove and beginning his career as a football coach at Albermarle High in Virginia in 1993. Abell will install the option offense at Rice out of the pistol formation. Basically it looks like an offshoot of former Rice, Arkansas and Clemson HC Ken Hatfield's Flexbone offense of the 1980's-'90s. An old school option in todays's game is a tough way to win games. Good luck, Coach Abell.
Sam Houston State
OUT: K.C. Keeler
IN: Phil Longo
K.C. Keeler led Sam Houston from the Southland Conference in the FCS to the FCS version of the WAC to the FBS in C-USA. There were a couple of bumps for the Bearkats in the transition to the FBS but Keeler did lead his squad to a New Orleans Bowl berth last year and 97-39 mark in 11 years at the helm. Keeler left SHSU for Temple in a move seems like a head scratcher. As for Phil Longo, he was the OC at Wisconsin who was fired in the middle of last season as the heat under Badger HC Luke Fickell's seat increased game by game. Longo, the New Jersey native is actually returning to Sam Houston after being there from 2014-16 as the OC/QB coach under the man who just left the Bearkats, K.C. Keeler. The 57-year old Longo gets his chance to be a HC for the first time in his life. Longo said all the right things at his introductory press conference, including this classic boilerplate statement about returning to SHSU, "My Family and I feel that a part of us has never left Sam Houston and it feels like we are returning home. I am elated and honored to become the next head football coach at Sam Houston State University. " I now add a word caution for Phil. Dude, your once and present home can become pretty inhospitable with a few losses.
Temple
OUT: Stan Drayton
IN: K.C. Keeler
One would think in passing that Keeler's move to Philadelphia's Temple University seems to mirror the Friday Night Lights TV show's HC Eric Taylor's move from Texas to Philadelphia at the end of the show's run. It really doesn't. Whereas the Taylor character was a true man of Texas, Keller is a born and bred Pennsylvanian. He hails from Emmaus, PA and was such a good linebacker in high school that he played in the prestigious Pennsylvania Big 33 All-Star Game. He played his college ball at Delaware before starting his coaching career at Amherst as a GA in 1981. Most of his coaching career has been spent in the northeast as the HC of Rowan and Delaware before taking the Sam Houston job in 2014. However, like the fictional coach Taylor, he comes into a mess at his new job. Previous HC Stan Drayton posted a 9-25 mark before being shown the door with two games left in the 2024 season. The Owls are picked to be a cellar dweller in the AAC this year and have not a lot of talent at all positions. Gonna be tough year for Keeler and his Owls.
The Rest
Massachusetts
OUT: Don Brown
IN: Joe Harasymiak
UMass is a college football graveyard. This program makes Louisiana-Monroe look good. After Don Brown became the latest former Umass coach to fail in a return to the school that has a high water mark of four wins in a season since they became an FBS school. The latest brave soul to take the HC job here is Rutgers DC Joe Harasymiak. Harasymiak is a man of the northeast. He's from New Jersey, played his college ball at Springfield (MA) College, and spent most of his coaching career in Maine at Maine Maritime and at the University of Maine. His whole career as been on the defensive side of things. DBs and LBs mainly with a couple of DC stints along the way. Most notably the last three years at Rutgers for HC Greg Schiano. The skinny is that this job is a career killer. If Harasymiak turns this place around, he'll be able to pick his next HC job like Pete Mitchell at the end of Top Gun.
Kennesaw State
OUT: Brian Bohannon
IN: Jerry Mack
So, this is the third school with an owl for a mascot to fire their HC last year. While other schools made a big splash and looked good making the transition to the FBS from the FCS, KSU most definitely did not. Bria Bohannon was canned after a 1-8 start and the team limped the rest of the way to a 2-10 finish. In for Bohannon steps Jerry Mack. Mack has long career with a lot of stops, but his only HC experience comes from 2014-17 where he was the HC of North Carolina Central. He went 31-15 overall at the HBCU including an appearance in the Celebration Bowl. Can he make KSU a winner? Transitoning to the FBS is always a challenge and is more so with an Owls team that picked to circle the drain in C-USA this year.
Tulsa
OUT: Kevin Wilson
IN: Tre Lamb
Nobody really needs to live on Tulsa time unless you really want to be the HC of the FBS school. Tulsa gave the controversial Kevin Wilson a shot at redemption after he "resigned" at Indiana after multiple investigations into he and his staff's mistreatment of players in Hoosierland. Wilson's Golden Hurricane squads turned out to be a Golden Drizzle, going 7-16 over a two year span. He was let go for the second time and his now just down the road in Norman as an assistant for Brent Venables at Oklahoma. In Wilson's place comes in Tre Lamb. Lamb sports just a 27-25 overall record as the HC at both Gardner-Webb and Tennessee State. However, he fit Tulsa's search criteria perfectly. He is eager and he came cheap. It really looks like Tulsa will be joining the ranks of UMass and Louisiana-Moroe as the worst jobs in the country.
Appalachian State:
OUT: Shawn Clark
IN: Dowell Loggains
2024 marked Shawn Clark's first losing season in six seasons on the sidelines of the school located in Boone, NC. He was promptly fired. The admin thinks they should contend or win the Sun Belt Conference every year, so they took a gamble on a man that they think will do just that in Dowell Loggains. Loggains played his college ball at Arkansas, but spent all of his coaching career in the NFL with Tennessee, Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, and the New York Jets before coming back to Arkansas as their TE coach from 2021-22. The last two years he has been the OC at South Carolina. He has no HC experience and has mostly been an OC and a QB coach. The Mountaineers have enough talent to contend for the Sun Belt crown if a couple things break their way this season. That makes me think Loggians may be on the hot seat from day one with the Black and Gold.
Until next time folks remember, all coaching hires can't truly be evaluated until several years down the road.
-The Commissioner
