1 week Ago By Morgan Moriarty
The 2024 college football carousel continues to spin as the calendar inches toward 2025. It appears as though this year may be a quieter coach hiring and firing season, as ESPN's Pete Thamel recently reported late last month. But there are still non-Power conference openings, like Southern Miss, Kennesaw State, East Carolina and Rice.
By season's end, there could be a number of openings across the sports. So who are some of the biggest names that will be mentioned in this year's coaching carousel cycle? Let's run through the ___ coaches who are expected to be hot commodities during the 2024 coaching carousel. Some of these guys will definitely be in the mix for both head coaching positions, as well as coordinator ones.
Ohio State OC Chip Kelly The Buckeyes have a loaded offense, featuring the likes of quarterback Will Howard, receivers Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka and running back Quinshon Judkins. But what Chip Kelly has done this season is impressive, and should put his name in the mix for some jobs this cycle. The Buckeyes are a Top-15 unit in both scoring and total offense, putting up 38.
6 points per game. Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki Penn State isn't putting up a ton of points (31.2 PPG), but how dominant the Nittany Lions' defense is means it doesn't really have to.
Nittany Lions offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has done a great job with Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, who is on-pace to have a career-best season in Happy Valley. So far this year, he's thrown for 2,006 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. His passer rating of 165.
3 is his best yet, too. PSU's rushing offense featuring backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton is second in the Big Ten, too. Nebraska OC Dana Holgerson The former West Virginia and Houston head coach was hired as an offensive consultant by the Cornhuskers earlier this month.
Just one week later, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule elevated Holgerson to offensive coordinator. "I think, you know, he has got a long history of success offensively, both as a head coach but certainly as a coordinator before that," Rhule said of Holgerson via On3 Sports. "I think he just kind of gives us a fresh perspective on looking at, kind of, what we're doing and who we're doing it with.
He was able to sort of say, 'Hey, lets kind of go in these directions over here.'" If Nebraska's last three games against USC, Wisconsin and Iowa go well on offense, that could be a great audition for him to go elsewhere. The Cornhuskers offense currently ranks 96th in total offense.
Georgia DC Glenn Schumann The Georgia native has been on-staff with Kirby Smart since 2016, and has been the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator since 2022. In his three seasons running Georgia's defense, the Bulldogs have finished as a Top-10 unit in total defense, currently sitting 13th in the metric. Oregon OC Will Stein Will Stein has been Oregon's offensive coordinator the last two seasons.
What's been particularly impressive is how in consecutive seasons, his units have dominated defenses, even with two different quarterbacks at the helm. Last season, Oregon finished 12-2, and the Ducks finished first in total offense, first in scoring under now Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. So far in 2024, Oregon 19th in scoring offense, averaging 35.
7 points per game, and 11th in total offense. Starter Dillon Gabriel leads the Big Ten in passing with 2,848 yards, 22 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Notre Dame OC Mike Denbrock Mike Denbrock spent the last two seasons at LSU, where he helped quarterback Jayden Daniels win the Heisman and become a No.
2 overall NFL Draft pick. At Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish are a Top-15 scoring offense, putting up 38.3 points per game.
Irish quarterback Riley Leonard is having a solid season, with 1,575 yards passing, nine touchdowns with three interceptions. He's on-pace for a career-high in rush yards, with 609 and 13 touchdowns on the ground so far this season. Clemson OC Garrett Riley Garrett Riley was hired by Dabo Swinney before the 2023 season, but the Tigers are hitting their stride on offense this season.
Clemson is a Top-15 scoring unit, and ranks seventh in total offense. Signal-caller Cade Klubnik is putting up career numbers, with 2,275 yards passing, 24 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He has a career-high 300 yards rushing with four touchdowns.
If the Tigers earn a playoff bid as expected, Riley should be an even hotter commodity. Indiana fans probably don't like people talking about their head coach for other jobs. But in just a single season, Cignetti has led the Hoosiers to 10-0 for the first time in school history.
Ranked fifth in the playoff, Indiana has a chance to play for a Big Ten title, as well. Bloomington, Ind. is his most recent stop, but the head coach has turned around virtually every program he's been at.
His previous schools like James Madison, Elon and Indiana University of Pennsylvania all had numerous losing records before Cignetti arrived. Indiana is Cignetti's first stop at a Power Conference school. With a 10-0 record, it's clear to see why the head coach will be mentioned for any future Power Four openings we have.
Sure, it's unlikely Cignetti leaves Indiana after just one season. But his immediate success means he'll be a target for plenty of schools in the carousels to come. Similar to Cignetti, it seems unlikely that Kiffin would leave Ole Miss anytime soon.
Especially given how much of his family is now living in Oxford, in addition to the Rebels being 10-2 and very much in the College Football Playoff hunt. But there's no question that whichever big Power conference job that opens up, Kiffin will be a prime candidate. He was linked to the open Auburn job two years ago, and has built something special at Ole Miss.
He is 42-17 overall at Ole Miss, including a first-ever 11-win season he gave the Rebels last season. Prior to his arrival at Ole Miss, he went 27-13 at Florida Atlantic, and led the Owls to an 11-win season his first year at FAU. The head coach has had a successful return to coaching after failed stints at USC, Tennessee and the Oakland Raiders.
Kiffin, who was at Alabama with Nick Saban from 2014-16, credits Saban for helping him rebuild his career. It may take a big opening for Kiffin to leave Ole Miss. But his name will likely be thrown around this coaching cycle, given his widespread success.
Barry Odom's first crack at being a head coach didn't work out so well. He was named the head coach in Columbia in Dec. 2015 after longtime Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel announced his retirement from coaching.
From 2016-19, he finished 25-25 as the Tigers' head coach, and was fired after finishing 6-6 overall. But in Odom's second crack at being a head coach, it's clear that he seems to be finding his stride at UNLV. The Rebels finished 9-5 last season, and even made it to the Mountain West conference title game.
The season marked the first time UNLV reached nine wins since the Rebels' 9-1 season in 1979. UNLV is in the middle of having yet another consecutively successful season under Odom. The Rebels are 7-2, and sitting in third place in the Mountain West standings.
If Colorado State stumbles in front of them, the Rebels could have a chance at a MWCCG rematch against Boise State. It seems like Odom has proved he's worthy of getting another shot at a power conference school. Another head coach that could be next in line for a Power conference job is Liberty's Jamey Chadwell.
Before arriving at Liberty, Chadwell had massive success at Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina. When then-Chanticleers head coach Joe Moglia stepped down due to health issues in 2017, Chadwell was named the interim head coach. Coastal Carolina finished 3-9, and Moglia returned to coach the team in 2018.
He stepped down in 2019, and the program was turned over full-time to Chadwell. Under his leadership, the Chanticleers had unprecedented success. Coastal Carolina finished 5-7 his first season in 2019, but then rattled off two consecutive 11-win seasons in 2020 and 2021.
His fourth and final season at Coastal Carolina, the Chanticleers finished 9-3. He was hired by Liberty in Dec. 2022.
His first season with the Flames was a massive success, finishing 13-0 in the regular season, including a 49-35 victory over New Mexico State in the C-USA title game. Liberty lost 45-6 to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, but it was still a great season in his Year One. So far in 2024, Liberty is 6-2 so far in 2024.
Although the Roadrunners are 4-5 so far this season, head coach Jeff Traylor has had solid seasons at UTSA, dating back to 2020. His first season at UTSA, the Roadrunners finished 7-5. He followed that up with consecutive double-digit seasons, going 12-2 in 2021, and 11-3 in 2022.
Impressively, he led the Roadrunners to back-to-back Conference-USA title game victories in both seasons, as well. UTSA finished 9-4 last season, capped off with a 35-17 Frisco Bowl victory over Marshall. Traylor has been in the mix for some other big jobs as well.
At the end of last season, Traylor reportedly interviewed for the Texas A&M job. The Aggies obviously ended up hiring Mike Elko, but I wouldn't be surprised if Traylor gets the next big job he interviews for. The Army Black Knights are sitting at 9-0 on the season, and first in the American Athletic Conference.
If Boise State stumbles in the Mountain West, Army could have a potential chance of crashing the CFP, as well. Monken has been at Army since 2014, and what he has done overall is pretty impressive. His overall record is 79-55.
Some of his best seasons came in 2018 and 2019, when the Black Knights finished with 10 and 11 wins, respectively, and won back-to-back Armed Forces bowls. Before the start of the 2023 season, Monken ditched his signature triple-option offense "We kind of limped through last season," Monken said via The Athletic of his team's 6-6 season in 2022. "I just didn't feel like it was sustainable.
And so I felt like we needed to make a change. "It's frustrating because for a team like us that isn't in the same recruiting conversations with everybody we play, there's an element to that offense that makes us relevant and gives us a chance to be competitive." Although the Black Knights finished 6-6 yet again last season, it appears as though undefeated Army has things figured out in 2024.
The job Monken has done overall should put his name in for plenty of openings in the years to come..
