There was a lot of security at the top in this coaching cycle.
Only five of the 27 coaching changes occurred at Power Four schools. Eighteen of the 27 are first-time FBS head coaches. That includes one 73-year-old at North Carolina with multiple Super Bowl rings.
Those five Power Four coaches who left: Neal Brown (West Virginia), Dave Clawson (Wake Forest), Ryan Walters (Purdue) Gus Malzahn (UCF) and Mack Brown (North Carolina) had 86 years of head coaching experience between them. Their replacements – Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia), Jake Dickert (Wake), Barry Odom (Purdue), Scott Frost (UCF) and that 73-year-old at Carolina – have a combined 72 years of head coaching experience.
Clawson bowed out as the only coach to win at least 10 games at four Division I schools: Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green and Wake Forest.
Brown and Walters couldn’t quite get it done. Gus may have lost his magic with the first two losing seasons of his career. He surfaced quickly as Florida State‘s new offensive coordinator.
Looming over the hiring cycle and the game itself is the The Coach Whose Name We Dare Not Speak.
Ah, what the heck. Bill Belichick is one of those five new Power Four coaches, as well as one of the 18 with no previous FBS head coaching experience.
For now, the carousel revolves around him as we grade the hires in the 2025 hiring cycle.
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