5 New College Football Head Coaches Poised to Win Now

College football dreams are made in the coaching carousel. The sport’s hectic schedule creates a fascinating few weeks at the end of the regular season, during which myriad coaches are hired and fired, and new staffs get to work on building their rosters for the following season.

A coaching change traditionally provides a grace period of a year or two for coaches to reshape their programs before expectations are raised. The advent of the transfer portal has changed that, for better or worse. While coaches still get some early leeway, the sport has seen some impressive first-year turnarounds in recent seasons. In 2022, for example, first-year TCU coach Sonny Dykes brought the Horned Frogs to the College Football Playoff national championship, just a year after Gary Patterson left the program at midseason amid a 5-7 campaign.

That is too lofty an expectation for any coach, but the ability to immediately infuse a team with veteran talent through the portal and the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams change the equation a bit.

With all that in mind Athlon Sports identifies five coaches who are well positioned to succeed in their first year at a new program.

Alabama Crimson Tide — Kalen DeBoer

• 2023-24 Results: 14-1 at Washington, Pac-12 championship, CFP national championship game appearance
• Career Record: 104-12

DeBoer comes to Tuscaloosa as an outsider, and is in the unenviable position of replacing a legend. Nick Saban is arguably the greatest coach in the sport’s history after his tenure at Alabama, where he won six of his seven national championships.

What DeBoer lacks in SEC experience, he makes up for with an unimpeachable winning résumé. In five years as head coach at his alma mater, Division II Sioux Falls, he took home three national championships, with one title game loss and another trip to the semifinals. After years moving through the ranks as an assistant at the FCS and FBS levels, he re-emerged as a head coach at Fresno State in 2020, going 12-6 in two years. At Washington, he went 25-3, including last season’s 14-1 mark, which included an undefeated regular season, a Pac-12 title and a win over Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal before a loss to Michigan in the title game.

Alabama isn’t a plug-and-play program, though. Before Saban arrived, the team spent a decade in the wilderness, with Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione and Mike Shula combining to go 67-54 with a single conference championship and an NCAA scandal that cost the program numerous wins. That run of mediocrity on the field doesn’t even factor in the embarrassment that was the Mike Price scandal in 2003 .

However, DeBoer is well positioned for success. While he was brought on relatively late in the cycle after Saban’s retirement in mid-January, athletic director Greg Byrne mobilized quickly to hire him away from Washington. The team suffered some major losses in the transfer portal, as expected, but held onto starting quarterback Jalen Milroe and wound up bringing back starting offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor after he initially chose to transfer to Iowa. DeBoer also has assembled an impressive staff, poaching sitting head coaches Kane Wommack and Maurice Linguist from South Alabama and Buffalo, respectively, for assistant coaching roles.

There will almost certainly be growing pains after a significant coaching transition, but any coach worth his salt should have Alabama competing for national titles.

Arizona Wildcats — Brent Brennan

• 2023-24 Results: 7-6 at San José State, share of Mountain West title, Hawai’i Bowl appearance
• Career Record: 34-48

Brennan’s career mark won’t jump off the page, but the job he did at San José State is incredibly impressive.

The Spartans job is one of the most difficult in the Mountain West. The program reached just one bowl game in four years under Brennan’s predecessor, Ron Caragher, and had just 10 total bowl appearances in program history before Brennan arrived. The team bottomed out upon his arrival, going just 3-22 in his first two seasons (2017-18), but improved to 5-7 in ’19. SJSU broke out in 2020, going undefeated in the regular season and winning the Mountain West championship against Boise State before falling to Ball State in the Arizona Bowl. Despite the loss, the Spartans finished in the Top 25 for just the second time ever.

Brennan was up for the Arizona job after his impressive ’20 season, ultimately losing out to Jedd Fisch. He has a second chance at it four years later, and Fisch — now the coach at Washington — leaves an impressive stable of talent , which Brennan and his Arizona support staff deserve credit for retaining.

Quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan formed one of the Pac-12’s best pitch-and-catch duos last year, after Fifita, a freshman in 2023, came off the bench to win the starting job. Fifita completed over 72% of his throws, passing for 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions. McMillan led the team with 90 receptions and 1,402 yards, adding 10 touchdowns. With both staying in Tucson, Brennan inherits a duo that should be one of the most fearsome in the Big 12 right away. The team returns 13 total starters from last year’s 10-3 team, including most of its offensive line and leading tackler Jacob Manu, and should contend for the conference title in year one in the Big 12.

Michigan Wolverines — Sherrone Moore

• 2023-24 Results: 15-0, Big Ten championship, national championship as Michigan offensive coordinator/offensive line coach/interim head coach
• Career Record: 4-0 as interim/acting head coach in 2023

Moore’s work during the 2023 season might go down as the greatest interim head coaching run in college football history. Now, he’s tasked with proving he can run a program all his own, after Jim Harbaugh elected to return to the NFL by taking the Los Angeles Chargers job.

Michigan rotated through interim coaches for the first three games last season while Harbaugh was suspended, with Moore getting the reins for a 31-6 win over Bowling Green. His most impressive work came down the stretch, however. Harbaugh was kept off the sideline again for the Wolverines’ final three regular-season games amid the Connor Stalions scandal, with Moore serving as acting head coach during the games. Michigan went 3-0, with a gritty 24-15 road win at Penn State, a 31-24 win at Maryland and a 30-24 home win over archrival Ohio State.

Moore was the clear choice for the job with Harbaugh heading back to the pros, but he will have his work cut out for him with a significantly reworked roster. Michigan returns just one starter on offense . Gone to the NFL are quarterback J.J. McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, wide receivers Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson, and the entire starting offensive line.

It isn’t all bad news for Moore, however. Standout running back Donovan Edwards and All-Big Ten tight end Colston Loveland will give whomever ultimately lands the starting quarterback job a pair of valuable weapons. The other side of the ball also gives the Wolverines reason to be optimistic.

While the defense also deals with significant attrition, it returns a number of standout players, including All-America cornerback Will Johnson, explosive pass-rusher Derrick Moore and starting defensive tackle Mason Graham. Wink Martindale joins the staff as defensive coordinator after working under John Harbaugh as Baltimore Ravens linebackers coach (2012-17) and defensive coordinator (’18-21) and leading the New York Giants’ unit for the past two years.

View the original article to see embedded media.

The aforementioned quarterback battle likely will dictate just how good Michigan can be, and it may be the most wide-open QB competition in college football this year. Five players are competing for the job, with largely unproven junior Alex Orji likely leading the way after an impressive spring game. He is competing with grad student Jack Tuttle, a seventh-year player and Indiana transfer who missed the spring due to injury; senior Davis Warren, who started opposite Orji in the spring game and also impressed; junior Jayden Denegal and freshman Jadyn Davis.

The eventual starter likely will find himself in a similar role to J.J. McCarthy, the rare first-round pick at quarterback who was a collegiate game manager for the most part. Moore was instrumental in building the run-first attack that bulldozed the competition a year ago, and even with an all-new offensive line, the running game won’t be lacking for talent. Martindale is new to Ann Arbor but is a veteran in Harbaugh world, and should bring a familiar defensive strategy. The Wolverines may take a significant step back, but they remain in College Football Playoff contention all the same.

Syracuse Orange — Fran Brown

• 2023-24 Results: 13-1 at Georgia as defensive backs coach
  
• Career Record: 0-0

Syracuse took one of the biggest swings in the 2023 coaching carousel, hiring Brown, the 41-year-old Georgia defensive backs coach who has no previous experience as a head coach or coordinator, to jumpstart its NIL/transfer portal-era recruiting apparatus. So far, so good.

The Orange quietly made bowl games each of the past two seasons under former head coach Dino Babers (now the offensive coordinator at Arizona under Brennan), so the cupboard in Central New York was not bare. Brown, a New Jersey native who developed a reputation as an ace recruiter during stops at Georgia, Rutgers and Baylor, has impressed by hanging on to Syracuse’s top talent and adding a number of impactful transfers and high school recruits.

The headliner is former Ohio State starting quarterback Kyle McCord, a New Jersey native who threw for 3,170 yards, 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions a year ago. While he may have underwhelmed a bit in Columbus, he fills a big hole at quarterback for the Orange and should be the most talented Syracuse quarterback, on paper, in some time. He is joined by a pair of wide receivers that followed Brown from Georgia: Zeed Haynes and Jackson Meeks. The Orange also bring back All-ACC performers at running back and tight end with LeQuint Allen and Oronde Gadsden II, respectively.

The defense, now helmed by another top recruiter in former Texas A&M defensive line coach Elijah Robinson, brings back second-team All-ACC linebacker Marlowe Wax and veteran defensive backs Alijah Clark and Justin Barron. Duce Chestnut, a former standout cornerback for the Orange, returns to the program after a year at LSU. Robinson also brings former Aggies pass-rusher Fadil Diggs along as an impact transfer.

The on-field coaching will be a question for the Orange until play begins in the fall, but the schedule should allow the young staff to hit the ground running. Syracuse no longer has to face Clemson and Florida State every year, avoiding both in ’24. An Oct. 12 trip to NC State is the only game Syracuse has against a team in the top five of Athlon Sports ‘ post-spring ACC power rankings . This might not be a team making noise at the top of the conference this fall, but it should be squarely in contention for a solid bowl trip.

Tulane Green Wave — Jon Sumrall

• 2023-24 Results: 11-2 at Troy, Sun Belt championship
  
• Career Record: 23-4

Willie Fritz will go down as a crucial figure in Tulane football history. The veteran coach worked his way from the junior college ranks, through FCS into the FBS with Georgia Southern before taking over the struggling New Orleans-based program. He led the Green Wave to their first bowl game in five years in 2018, and after suffering a dip back down to 2-10 in 2021, broke out in a big way in ’22, winning 12 games and taking home the Cotton Bowl against USC. After back-to-back years of double-digit wins, Fritz left for the Houston job. To continue his success, Tulane tabbed someone who has matched his record over the past two seasons: Troy’s Jon Sumrall.

The Sumrall hire made incredible sense. The Alabama native and Kentucky grad had a previous stint in New Orleans, serving as co-defensive coordinator from 2012-14 before heading to Troy for an assistant job. He later made stops at Ole Miss and Kentucky before returning to Troy as head coach, turning the Trojans into a top-tier program in the Sun Belt. Now, he sets his sights on maintaining Tulane’s grip atop the AAC.

Sumrall has done an impressive job of maintaining Fritz’s roster while adding key transfers to fill in some of the gaps. None is bigger than at quarterback, after Michael Pratt parlayed an impressive four-year run under center into a spot in the Green Bay Packers draft class. Kai Horton, Pratt’s backup in ’23, will compete with Oregon transfer Ty Thompson, a former blue-chip high school recruit. Whichever quarterback wins the job will have an All-AAC performer in the backfield, with Makhi Hughes coming off of a 1,378-yard, seven-touchdown freshman season. The Green Wave also return three starters on the offensive line.

Defensively, Tulane returns the core of a front seven that was ranked 18th nationally in rushing yards allowed per game at 112.7 (five spots below Sumrall’s Troy team). That group includes Athlon Sports preseason first-team All-AAC selections Patrick Jenkins at defensive tackle and Jesus Machado at linebacker.

The Green Wave’s schedule is tough, with a home game against Big 12 contender Kansas State followed by a trip to Oklahoma in September. The AAC slate is workable though, with two of the toughest in-league games — South Florida on Sept. 28 and Memphis on Nov. 28 — coming at home. Sumrall proved he can engineer a quick turnaround, elevating Troy from five to 12 wins in his first year as head coach. If Tulane can get through a rough September, the Green Wave should compete for the AAC title once again. This year, that could mean a College Football Playoff berth, too.

Related: How College Football Would Look With an NFL-Style Schedule in 2024

Related: College Football Rankings: Projecting the Top 25 Teams for 2024

Related: Grading College Football's New Head Coach Hires for 2024