College Coaching Changes

There were 17 FBS head coaching vacancies following the close of the 2016 regular season. All 17 have been filled.

Team	2016 Coach		2017 Coach
Baylor	Jim Grobe (Interim)		Mark Ruhle
Cincinnati	Tommy Tuberville		Luke Fickell
Florida Atlantic	Charlie Partridge		Lane Kiffin
Florida International	Ron Turner		Butch Davis
Fresno State	Tim DeRuyter		Jeff Tedford
Georgia State	Trent Miles		Shawn Elliott
Houston	Tom Herman		Major Applewhite
Indiana	Kevin Wilson		Tom Allen
LSU	Les Miles		Ed Orgeron
Nevada	Brian Polian		Jay Norvell
Oregon	Mark Helfrich		Willie Taggart
Purdue	Darrell Hazell		Jeff Brohm
San Jose State	Ron Caragher		Brent Brennan
South Florida	Willie Taggart		Charlie Strong
Temple	Mark Ruhle		Geoff Collins
Texas	Charlie Strong		Tom Herman
Western Kentucky	Jeff Brohm		Mike Sanford

It's a real shame that the typical college coaching change occurs between the end of the season and before the bowl games. Major Applewhite coached a Houston team that he barely knew in the Las Vegas Bowl this past Saturday. It showed. The coach that did know that Houston team is now preparing/recruiting at Texas. The Cougars didn't look anything like the team that Tom Herman had coached when they played against San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Like Houston, Temple and Western Kentucky will be playing in bowl games without the head coach that got them there. Unlike Houston, Temple and Western Kentucky will be going the interim head coach route. That seems like the better move. A coaching change with a game still to play disrupts everything for college football players. Despite the recent decisions of Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey, bowl games are important and tremendous experiences and opportunities for most of these student athletes. The ridiculous timing of college coaching changes makes light of all the work that these kids put in to get to these bowl games. How can they not feel used? A few of the players see college football like the coaches that lead them. A step in the process to a paying job. Or a better paying job. For the vast majority of the players a bowl game is probably the biggest football game they ever see. The least that can be done for them is to have a coach that knows them.

Best of luck to the new head coaches and head coaches in new jobs.

As for the coaches in new places that intrigue me most, I'd have to go with Willie Taggart at Oregon, Jeff Brohm at Purdue, Mike Sanford at Western Kentucky, and of course Jeff Tedford at Fresno State. I'll always appreciate Tedford for making Cal football relevant again. He returns to where college football started for him.