Part of the magic of college football is the chaos of the "coaching carousel", a spinning wheel of coaches hired and fired every offseason that sends ripples throughout the college landscape.
Three of the four playoff teams from 2024 have new coaches. Over 500 coaches changed jobs this offseason, with 31 new head coaches being hired in this year's cycle.
Who are some of the newly hired head coaches to monitor this season for bigger jobs the next time the coaching carousel comes calling?
For this list, I'm focusing mainly on G5 coaches, but there are some Power 5 coaches sprinkled in throughout who I think could go on to bigger P5 jobs later on. Many of the game's best coaches are found at the lower level.
Bob Chesney, James Madison
He might not be a household name, but Chesney proved his ability as a winner while as the head coach of the Holy Cross Crusaders. Chesney rattled off five straight Patriot League titles. In 2022, he led the Crusaders to an undefeated record and an FCS playoff quarterfinal berth for the first time in almost 40 years.
As the head coach of Holy Cross, Chesney compiled a 44-21 record, with two of those losses by a combined six points to Boston College and Army in 2023.
Chesney has developed some of the best offenses in the FCS, as well as numerous talents on both sides of the ball. Last season, Holy Cross finished fourth in the FCS in total offense, led by a dynamic rushing attack that wracked up nearly 3,000 yards and averaged 6.32 yards per carry.
Chesney produced 82 all-conference selections over six seasons as head coach of Holy Cross. In 2023, quarterback Matt Sluka won Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and linebacker Jacob Dobbs was the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Chesney's Crusaders placed two finalists for the Walter Payton Award for the best FCS offensive player (Sluka & WR Jalen Coker).
James Madison lost a lot of talent from their impressive 11-2 squad in 2023, but Chesney has a proven history of being able to develop talent. Chesney hired coaches from across the FBS and FCS instead of simply bringing his Holy Cross staff with him, such as Lyle Hemphill (Duke co-DC/safeties) to serve as his defensive coordinator. He did bring offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy with him, but retained Dukes defensive backs coach Eddie Whitley Jr., a key cog in JMU's defensive dominance.
While it doesn't feel likely that he'll be able to get James Madison back to the dominance they had in 2023 immediately, Chesney brings in a tremendously talented group of transfers and has recruited James Madison's backyard well. He's had just one losing season as a head coach. If he keeps his track record of recruiting and development moving, Chesney's name will be up for bigger jobs in the future.
Sean Lewis, San Diego State
This one might be a bit controversial, given his inauspicious end at Colorado last season, but I have a hard time arguing all the things that went wrong at Colorado last season were his fault. Considering the offense went from averaging 32.1 points a game with him and posted three games without crossing 20 in the four games without, I feel comfortable with that call.
Lewis went 24-31 as the head coach of Kent State from 2018-2022, orchestrating one of college football's most innovative and exciting offenses over his tenure there. While 24-31 might not sound impressive, the most games a head coach has ever won at Kent State was 29, and that coach coached 27 more games than Lewis did.
Lewis led Kent State to two bowl games, doubling their program total, and led them to their first-ever bowl win, a 51–41 victory over Utah State in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl. Lewis also led Kent State to just their second MAC title appearance ever.
Over his 2021 season, the Golden Flashes had one of the best offenses in the entire country, tallying almost 500 yards and 30 points per game.
It doesn't feel likely that Lewis will take the Aztecs to quite the same dizzying outputs right away this year, but being able to recruit California athletes will be a boost to that timeline. Lewis hired a diverse, quality staff from across the country as well as retaining two key SDSU coaches in corners coach Demetrius Sumler and former OC Ryan Lindley, a good sign for his staff.
Jon Sumrall, Tulane
If you weren't paying attention to the Troy Trojans the last two seasons (shame on you), then you might not recognize Sumrall's name. It's been a fast track for Sumrall, who went from coaching linebackers at Kentucky to being the head coach at two different G5 programs within a span of three years.
Sumrall's turnaround of the Trojans is as impressive a feat as you'll see. The Trojans went three straight seasons winning five games under former head coach Chip Lindsey. In Sumrall's two seasons there, they won double-digit games both years, compiling a 23-4 record there. He won the Sun Belt (inarguably the best G5 conference last season) twice in a row and posted a dazzling 14-2 record in conference play.
Sumrall's defenses have been the catalyst for his success both years. Among all G5 schools, the Trojans had the third-best total defensive EPA, fourth-best defensive rushing EPA, and seventh-best defensive passing EPA. Troy finished 2023 top 10 in the country in scoring defense, 12th in rushing defense, and 30th in passing defense.
Now, he brings his style to a Tulane program fresh off of an 11-3 season. With access to better resources, it wouldn't surprise me to see Sumrall back in the SEC in a few years-this time as a head coach.
Bryant Vincent, Louisiana-Monroe
Vincent might be my personal favorite coaching hire of the cycle, simply because of his story.
He was hired to be UAB's offensive coordinator in 2014. After that season, the program shut down, only to be revived in 2018. Vincent got his job back as offensive coordinator that year and immediately hit the ground running. The Blazers set school records in scoring, total yards, and rushing yards on their way to an 11-3 record and their first conference title AND bowl game win in program history.
Over his years as the offensive coordinator, the UAB offense consistently altered its approach to great success. Vincent schemed up running back Spencer Brown to be UAB's all-time leading rusher and followed it up with helping DeWayne McBride run for the third-most yards and second-most touchdowns in a single season. Vincent also helped quarterback Dylan Hopkins finish fourth in school history in passing yards and fifth in passing touchdowns.
After Bill Clark stepped down as head coach of UAB, Vincent filled in as the interim head coach. Vincent guided the Blazers to a 7-6 record, winning the Bahamas Bowl. That year, UAB's offense led the C-USA in rushing, finishing eighth in the country in yards per game on the ground.
Despite his success that season, the administration didn't keep Vincent on as the head coach. After a...questionable coaching search (I use the term search very loosely), the Blazers hired former NFL quarterback and then high school coach Trent Dilfer to coach the team. This drew the protests of many UAB players, as Vincent was immensely popular among his players. UAB immediately suffered their first losing season since 2013, something I'm sure was a total coincidence.
Vincent departed and served as the offensive coordinator for the New Mexico Lobos in 2023. Predictably, he helped New Mexico win more games than they ever had under then-head coach Danny Gonzales. The Lobos also finished 19th in rushing offense and 11th in rushing EPA. Amazingly, New Mexico finished 51st in total offensive EPA, easily their highest mark in memory.
Now, he takes over a Louisiana-Monroe program that might be the most depressing in the FBS. The Warhawks haven't won more than six games since their 8-5 2012 season, and have just three winning seasons since they joined the FBS 38 years ago.
UL-Monroe's budget might as well be next to zero, but that didn't deter Vincent, who went out and brought in the Warhawks' highest-ranked recruiting class in years. They finished the 2024 cycle with the fourth-best class in the Sun Belt, taking in players from all across the country.
Who knows if Louisiana-Monroe will ever be able to seriously compete after spending decades being a doormat in an ever-improving conference. However, Vincent is taking the right steps to get there.
Scotty Walden, UTEP
UTEP football under Dina Dimel, quite frankly, stunk. UTEP is a difficult job to win at in general, but Dimel mustered just one season above five wins and finished just 20-49. The Miners, in an attempt to boost support, hired Texas youngster Scotty Walden.
Walden became the head coach of East Texas Baptist University, a D3 program, in 2016. Amazingly, Walden became the head coach at just 26 years old, perhaps a sign to come.
The team went 7-3 in his first year as head coach. Walden was quickly identified as a rising name and was immediately hired by Southern Miss to be their wide receivers coach the following year. As wide receivers coach, Walden sent two wide receivers to the pros in Quez Watkins and Tim Jones.
Walden quickly worked his way up with the Golden Eagles, becoming the co-OC (with current GT OC Buster Faulkner) in 2019 when Shannan Dawson (Miami OC) left. Walden took over as interim head coach in 2020 when Jay Hopson resigned and then resigned himself to take over as head coach at Austin Peay.
The Governors immediately hit success, with four straight winning seasons. Walden built up a 26-14 record, building one of the FCS's best offenses while at Austin Peay. Along the way, Walden coached 28 All-Conference players and four consensus All-Americans. Austin Peay played in three different conferences in Walden's three years there and won two of them during his tenure.
Walden is coming off of a 9-3 2023 season, with one of his losses coming against the Tennessee Volunteers in Week 2 (a game that was within one score at halftime) and another occurring in the playoffs 24-21.
UTEP's outlook will hinge on the quality of the transfers Walden brought in this offseason. He hit the portal hard to start, bringing in a slew of transfers on both sides of the ball. However, if Walden truly wants to turn UTEP around, he has to make those Texas connections count. Regardless, his offenses should easily make UTEP more watchable than they have been in recent years, and he might be the right culture fit to lead the Miners to competitiveness.
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