Grading College Football's Head Coach Hires for 2016
The 2015-16 college football coaching carousel was one of the busiest in recent memory. There were plenty of surprises along the way, including Steve Spurrier’s sudden retirement in October, the bizarre separation between USC and Steve Sarkisian, Todd Monken’s late departure to the NFL, Lovie Smith's late hire at Illinois and Bronco Mendenhall’s decision to leave BYU for Virginia. There were 28 programs that changed coaches in this carousel, which is the most since 31 teams changed coaches prior to the start of the 2013 season.
Virginia Tech, Miami, Tulane, Iowa State and Syracuse are just a few of the biggest winners in this carousel. On the other side, Power 5 programs like South Carolina, USC and Minnesota made curious hires.
Here’s a look at how Athlon Sports views, grades and ranks the 28 new coaches for 2016:
Grading College Football's New Coaching Hires for 2016
1. Virginia Tech, Justin Fuente
Previous Job: Memphis Head Coach
Career Record: 26-23 (2012-15 Memphis)
Replacing a coaching legend like Frank Beamer isn’t going to be easy. However, Virginia Tech moved quickly in its search, targeting and landing Justin Fuente from Memphis. Fuente was the engineer behind one of the nation’s biggest turnarounds, as he inherited a program that was arguably one of the worst and transformed the Tigers into a team that won 19 games from 2014-15. Making Fuente’s work at Memphis even more impressive was the shift to a different (and tougher) conference in the American Athletic, as well as the development of Paxton Lynch at quarterback. Prior to Memphis, Fuente worked on Gary Patterson’s staff at TCU and also spent time at Illinois State from 2001-06. Virginia Tech’s biggest need of improvement is its offense – that’s Fuente’s specialty. Additionally, keeping Bud Foster on as the defensive coordinator was a huge victory for the first-year coach. Fuente is a proven winner, has a strong track record on offense and seems to fit in well with the Blacksburg/Virginia Tech culture. This is the best hire of the coaching carousel for 2015-16.
Final Grade: A+
College Football Podcast: 2016 Coaching Carousel
Related: College Football's Top 50 Returning Players for 2016
2. Willie Fritz, Tulane
Previous Job: Georgia Southern Head Coach
Career Record: 154-69 (Central Missouri, SHSU, Georgia Southern)