Here’s a rundown of the coaching carousel to this point:
ACC
North Carolina – Plagued by scandal, North Carolina fired coach Butch Davis prior to the start of the season and named defensive coordinator Everett Withers interim head coach. The Tar Heels started the year strong under Withers, going 5-1, but collapsed down the stretch and finished 7-5. The school has announced that it will hire Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora, pending approval by the board of trustees.
Fedora had an overall record of 33-19 at Southern Miss and led the Golden Eagles to an 11-2 record and first Conference USA title since 2003. Southern Miss upset previously undefeated Houston in the conference title game.
Big 12
Kansas – The Jayhawks were one of the worst, if not the worst, football teams in the country in 2011, and coach Turner Gill was fired as a result. In only two seasons in charge, Gill posted records of 3-9 and 2-10. This year, the Jayhawks finished dead-last in points against, giving up an average of 43.8 points per game. The school announced that it has hired Florida offensive coordinator and former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis to replace Gill.
Weis made his mark in the NFL as a member of Bill Belichick’s staff with the New England Patriots. He helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls and was then named the head coach at Notre Dame, his alma mater. His inaugural season was a great success, but he never managed to live up to lofty expectations afterwards. He was fired with six years remaining on a ten-year extension. Weis regularly boasted some of the top recruiting classes in the country but failed to translate that into on-field success.
Texas A&M – After a disappointing 6-6 season that began with the Aggies ranked in the top ten and harboring national championship hopes, Texas A&M fired head coach Mike Sherman. In his four years leading the Aggies, Sherman went 25-25. His beat year was 2010 when the Aggies went 9-4. That led to high expectations for 2011, but the Aggies blew big second-half leads in several of their losses and were a huge disappointment. Kevin Sumlin is rumored to be the leading candidate, and it was reported that Air Force coach Troy Calhoun interviewed for the job, but as of yet, Texas A&M has not named a new head coach.
Big Ten
Illinois – Ron Zook was fired, ending an up-and-down tenure with the Illini. He took Illinois to the Rose Bowl in his third season but followed it up with back-to-back losing seasons. He was widely thought to be on the hot seat, but a 7-6 campaign and bowl win over Baylor in 2010 saved his job. The Illini started the year 6-0 but lost their final 6 games, becoming the first team in history to do so. Overall, Zook was just 34-51 in 7 years at Illinois. No replacement has been announced, although it is expected that the school will name Toledo head coach Tim Beckman as its new coach.
Ohio State – Another school rocked by scandal, Ohio State fired coach Jim Tressel after it was discovered he lied about knowing some of players had received improper benefits. Defensive coordinator Luke Fickell took over the reins for 2011 and guided the Buckeyes to a 6-6 record. The school hired a little-known coach named Urban Meyer to take over the program.
Urban Meyer has a career record of 104-23 with stops at Bowling Green (17-6), Utah (22-2), and Florida (65-15). While he was at Utah, the Utes became the first school from outside the BCS conferences to play in a BCS bowl. He won two national championships at Florida before retiring after the 2010 season because of health issues, stress, and a stated desire to spend more time with his family.
Penn State – Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several weeks, you know what happened at Penn State. Coach Joe Paterno was forced out amidst a sordid child sex abuse scandal involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who allegedly raped at least one child on school grounds. Several administrators, including the university president and athletic director, have been suspended or fired for their part in the affair. Current defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has taken over as interim head coach. No head coach has been announced, but Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen is the subject of many rumors.
Conference USA
Memphis – The Tigers ousted head coach Larry Porter after just two years. During that time, he compiled a measly 3-21 record. Memphis was 115th in the nation in points for, averaging just 16.3 per game, and was an equally dreadful 106th in points against, giving up 35.1 per game. Only 2,500 people turned out for the final home game of the season this year.
The school hired TCU co-offensive coordinator Justin Fuente to replace Porter. TCU is known for its vaunted defense, but its offense has become a highly-capable unit under Fuente. Former quarterback Andy Dalton set school records under Fuente’s tutelage and is now an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Horned Frogs currently boast the ninth-best scoring offense in the country, putting up 41.7 points a game.
Southern Miss – Head coach Larry Fedora has left to take the vacant Ole Miss coaching job, and the Golden Eagles have yet to name a successor. Southern Miss went 11-2 and defeated undefeated Houston in the Conference USA championship game to win its first conference title in eight years.
Tulane – Head coach Bob Toledo resigned in mid-October after a 2-5 start, and offensive line coach Mark Hutson was named interim coach. Toledo was just 15-40 in over four years with the Green Wave. New Orleans Saints wide receivers coach and New Orleans native Curtis Johnson was tapped by Tulane to be its next football coach. Despite lacking marquee receivers, the Saints have one of the most explosive and prolific passing attacks in the NFL.
UAB – The University of Alabama-Birmingham fired Neil Callaway after he went 18-42 in five seasons. The Blazers haven’t had a winning season since going 7-5 in 2004 and ended 2011 by losing to previously winless FAU. UAB hired Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee as its new coach. Arkansas boasts one of the top offenses in the SEC, ranking 13th in the country in passing yards and 15th overall in points per game.
MAC
Akron – Rob Ianello was fired after posting a record of 2-22 and generally being non-competitive in the MAC during his two seasons at the helm of the Zips. Only one of those wins came against a Division I school, and one of the 22 losses came at the hands of a Division I-AA school (Gardner-Webb in 2010). The school has yet to name a replacement.
Massachusetts – The Minutemen are making the jump from Division I-AA to Division I and have hired Notre Dame offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Charley Molnar to replace the fired Kevin Morris. UMass joins the MAC next year but will not be eligible for a bowl game conference championship until 2013.
Mountain West
Colorado State – The past few years have not been kind to Colorado State, my alma mater. In 2007, legendary Rams coach Sonny Lubick was forced out. Fairchild, a former CSU quarterback and offensive coordinator under Lubick prior to coaching in the NFL, was hired to replace the legend and experienced immediate success. Fairchild took the team from 3-9 to 7-6 and capped the season off with a win in the New Mexico Bowl over Fresno State, a game in which running back Gartrell Johnson III set an NCAA record for yards from scrimmage with 375. His 285 rushing yards were the second-most in a bowl game in NCAA history.
It was all downhill from there, though, as the Rams suffered three straight 3-9 seasons. Fairchild could never translate recruiting success to the field, going just 16-33 with a 7-24 record in the Mountain West. Colorado State has not hired a new coach as of yet.
Fresno State* – Longtime coach Pat Hill was fired after Fresno State finished the year 4-9, its worst season in 15 years under Hill. The Bulldogs were largely successful under Hill, adopting his “anybody, anytime, anywhere” mantra and regularly pulling off upsets of BCS conference teams. He led Fresno to a 112-80 record and went 78-40 in WAC play. However, the Bulldogs were only able to win the WAC once, in 1999, and could never get past conference foe Boise State. Fresno State had begun to slip in the past few seasons. No replacement has been named.
New Mexico – The surprise wasn’t that Mike Locksley was fired but that it took this long. In just over two seasons, the Lobos were an abysmal 2-26 under Locksley. His first two seasons culminated in identical 1-11 records, and he was fired this year after starting the season 0-4 and losing to Division I-AA Sam Houston State. If that weren’t enough, Locksley was at the center of several scandals. He was suspended for a game for punching an assistant coach, sued for sexual harassment by a former employee, and a 19-year-old teen was arrested for a DWI after almost hitting a pedestrian while driving a car registered to Locksley’s wife and son. Defensive coordinator George Barlow was named interim head coach for the rest of the season.
New Mexico has hired Bob Davie, ESPN analyst and former head coach at Notre Dame, to replace Locksley. Davie was named coach of the Fighting Irish after Lou Holtz retired and went 35-25 in South Bend.
*Fresno State will be joining the Mountain West in 2012 along with Nevada. Hawai’i will join in 2013 for football only.
Pac-12
Arizona – The Wildcats fired Mike Stoops on October 10, naming defensive coordinator Tim Kish as interim head coach. Stoops led Arizona to bowl games each of the past three years and were ranked in the top ten at one point last year, but the Wildcats could never get over the hump. Stoops was 41-50 overall but only 27-38 within the Pac-10/12 conference. The Wildcats stumbled out of the gate to a 1-5 start, with the only win over Division I-AA Northern Arizona. Of course, having to play Oklahoma State, Stanford, Oregon, and USC in consecutive weeks didn’t help.
Arizona has hired former West Virginia and Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez to replace Stoops. Rodriguez was wildly successful at West Virginia, leading the Mountaineers to several BCS bowls. He had them on the cusp of playing for a national title before being upset by Pittsburgh in 2007. However, Rodriguez was less-than-successful at Michigan, winning less than half his games. His tenure was also marred by NCAA rules violations.
Arizona State – Not to be outdone by their rivals to the south, the Arizona State Sun Devils also are in need of a new coach for the 2012 season. Dennis Erickson will no not be retained as the school’s head coach. His first year was a great success, as the Sun Devils were in the top five at one point, but he was not able to sustain it. In his five years at the helm, Erickson could never get ASU, long considered a sleeping giant, into the upper echelon of the Pac-10/12. His teams were plagued by poor discipline and untimely penalties went a mediocre 31-30 under Erickson with one bowl game remaining. The Sun Devils started the season 6-2, giving Oregon a scare, and appeared to be a lock for the Pac-12 South title, but they collapsed down the stretch and lost 4 straight games.
Erickson will coach ASU in its bowl game against #7 Boise State, and the team has yet to hire a replacement. There are reports that June Jones was close to reaching an agreement with the school before negotiations broke down. ASU is a high-profile job with a lot to offer: great location and facilities, close to fertile recruiting grounds, and a lot of talent returning for next year in quarterback Brock Osweiler and linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
UCLA – The Bruins fired Rick Neuheisel prior to the inaugural Pac-12 championship game. He went 21-28 in four years at his alma mater and failed to show improvement. Worse, the gap between UCLA and crosstown rival USC appeared to widen despite NCAA sanctions leveled on the Trojans. UCLA managed to go 6-6 and capture the Pac-12 South title (due to USC being ineligible), but after suffering a 50-0 drubbing at the hands of the Trojans, UCLA decided it had seen enough. The vacancy is still open, and the Bruins have reportedly been turned down by Boise State’s Chris Petersen and Miami’s Al Golden.
Washington State – Like their brethren in Los Angeles, the Cougars dismissed a coach who was an alumnus and former player. Paul Wulff went a dismal 9-40 in Pullman with a record of 4-34 in conference games. In four years with Washington State, his best season was 2011 when the Cougars finished only 4-8.
Washington State made perhaps the biggest coaching splash this year when it hired former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach to turn around its football program. Leach was controversially fired by Texas Tech after it was alleged he had mistreated receiver Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, who had suffered a concussion. Leach claims the allegations are false and that he was fired as part of a power play by administrators who disliked his candor and wanted to avoid paying him. He has lawsuits pending against both Texas Tech and ESPN.
Leach went 84-43 at Texas Tech and took the Red Raiders to ten straight bowl games. He received national coach of the year honors in 2008 when the Red Raiders knocked off Texas and were undefeated and #2 in the BCS standings before losing to Oklahoma.
SEC
Mississippi – Head coach Houston Nutt was forced to resign, effective at the end of the year, after Ole Miss struggled to a 2-10 finish this season. Nutt’s tenure started great: the Rebels went 9-4 in 2008, upsetting a Tim Tebow-led Florida team that would go on to win the national championship and pummeling #7 Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. The 2009 campaign resulted in another 9-4 finish, but things went downhill after that. In 2010, the Rebels opened the year by losing in double overtime to Division I-AA Jacksonville State and ended up going 4-8. Ole Miss went winless in SEC play this season and has lost 14 straight SEC games. Arkansas State head coach Hugh Freeze has been hired to take over for Nutt.
Sun Belt
Arkansas State – For the second year in a row, the Red Wolves will be searching for a new head coach. Hugh Freeze guided the Red Wolves their first outright Sun Belt title and first 10-win season since 1986. Arkansas State went from 4-8 to 10-2 under Freeze’s watch. Freeze left Arkansas State to accept the head coaching vacancy at Mississippi. Arkansas State has yet to hire a replacement.
Florida Atlantic – Legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger, who led Miami to the 1983 national title and has coached the FAU program since its inception back in 2001, announced back in August that he would retire at the end of this season. He was 58-74 at FAU and went 2-0 in bowl games with the Owls. Florida Atlantic went 1-11 this year and has hired Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pellini to succeed Schnellenberger.
WAC
Hawai’i – On December 5, head coach Greg McMackin announced his retirement. McMackin was promoted to head coach from defensive coordinator after June Jones left the program to take over head coaching duties at SMU after leading the Warriors to the 2007 Sugar Bowl. McMackin went just 29-25, including 18-13 in the WAC, but led the Warriors to a share of the WAC championship last year with a 10-4 record (7-1 WAC). Hopes were high this year, especially with Nevada rebuilding and Boise State off to the Mountain West, but Hawai’i stumbled to a 5-8 mark. The school has not hired a new coach.
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