CFB coaching carousel

Every year, the end of the regular season of college football brings multiple coaching searches and plenty of chaos and speculation. While this year’s wasn’t as wild as last year’s, it involved plenty of big names and surprises.

North Carolina: Bill Belichick

Imagine telling someone during last year’s NFL season that before the next one was over, Bill Belichick would be named the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.

This was a result of anything but your normal coaching search. It was a power struggle between the administration and the board of trustees. Bill Belichick was not the administration’s choice. Jon Sumrall from Tulane was.

The problem was, that the administration knew it would get the investment it needed and that the new coach would want unless it was Bill Belichick. As a result, arguably the greatest coach in NFL history will be on the sidelines for the Tar Heels.

West Virginia: Rich Rodriguez

Another unexpected headline was that Rich Rod would be returning to Morgantown after 17 years. Rodriguez had the Mountaineers as one of the best programs in the country in the 2000s, including a Sugar Bowl victory in 2005, before departing for Michigan in 2007 before West Virginia would win the Fiesta Bowl.

After a letdown at Michigan, Rodriguez went to Arizona for six years. He then made a few stops as an assistant coach before spending three years at Jacksonville State, where he won nine games each year.

Bringing Rodriguez back has brought excitement back to Morgantown which has seen an at best stagnant and underperforming program. Will it bring back the winning culture the fan base is dying for?

UCF: Scott Frost

UCF is another program bringing back a familiar face. After Gus Malzahn resigned to be the offensive coordinator at Florida State, they brought back the man who led them to a 13-0 season in 2017 which included a victory over Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers, and created controversy over their place in the college football playoff rankings.

Frost came to UCF as one of the hottest rising offensive minds in the country in 2016. He left after that 2017 season to coach his alma mater, Nebraska. He was unable to replicate his success as he went 16-31 and 5-22 in one-score games over five seasons.

Will his second opportunity at UCF resurrect his career, or will he be unable to recover from his fall from grace?

Purdue: Barry Odom

Odom was a hot name being thrown around to elevate from the Group of Five to the Power Four after leading UNLV to two straight Mountain West Championship Games and a 10-win season this year.

He’s inheriting a Purdue program that won five games in two years under Ryan Walters. They are at the bottom of a now 18-team Big Ten that had four teams make the playoff this year. Purdue has a steep hill to climb under Odom.

This is his second chance at a Power Four job, as he was the head coach at Missouri from 2016-19, going 25-25. Did he learn the necessary lessons to make the jump and be successful this time?

UNLV: Dan Mullen

Mullen has sat in an ESPN studio for a job for the last few years after being fired from Florida. Since then, his reputation has only grown, and it has long been questioned if and when he would go back to coaching.

Mullen was at Mississippi State and led them to only their third 10-win season in school history before leaving for Florida. He was 29-9 through three years before a 5-6 season in 2021 that resulted in his firing.

Mullen is still considered a high-level coach. What did the tough years at Mississippi State and Florida teach him, and can he use it to be a more consistent winner than he was?

Jacob Rudy is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jar7371@psu.edu.