The Coaching Carousel 2015

All in all, not a bad year for college football head coaches; out of a total of 128 FBS football teams, only 15 will have a different head coach roaming the sidelines in 2015 than who they had to start the 2014 season. That is a very manageable 11.7% turnover.

Of those 15 schools with new head coaches:
• 9 teams are getting new, new Head Coaches
• 7 teams play in Power 5 Conferences
• 6 teams had winning records in 2014
• 2 bring in coaches from the NFL
• 1 brings in a Head Coach from a Division III program
• 1 brings in a Head Coach from a High School program
• 0 promoted from within

* First time Head Coach
** Head Coach at Div III

There are a few surprises, caused by the ripple effect of a few surprises. Although, it wasn’t a surprise that Bo Pelini was asked to depart the Nebraska job (some might question the soundness of that decision, but it was not a surprise that he was asked to step down), it was a mild surprise that Mike Riley, at 61 years of age, decided to fill that void. That move lead to an even bigger surprise when, after only 2 years, Gary Andersen decided to leave destination job, Wisconsin, for the spot Riley vacated in Oregon State. Time will tell whether or not Coach Andersen’s move was a good one for him, but, SOD is still shaking his head over that one. Patt Narduzzi fills in the spot at Pittsburgh ending that chain of events that put 3 teams on this list that might otherwise have not been there.

Jim Harbaugh comes back to the college football ranks after wearing out his welcome in San Francisco despite having some very successful years for that NFL franchise. Some suggest that Jim’s abrasive personality is better fit for college programs where the roster turns over every four to five years. By the time his players have grown tired of his antics, they are already moving along. There might be some validity to that. Without a doubt, however, Jim Harbaugh’s hiring makes the biggest splash and comes with the highest set of expectations. When you are the Head Coach at Michigan, splashes and high expectations are what you should get.

It will be interesting to see what Lance Leipold can do at Buffalo after having just a ridiculously successful time at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater, amassing a record of 109-6 with 6 National Championships in 8 years. Buffalo is a tough job; you might have wondered if Lance could have held out for a better first-time FBS gig, but this might just prove to be a nice stepping stone for Coach Leipold.

Central Michigan was a late-comer to this party after Head Coach Don Enos bolted for a spot on the Arkansas staff just two weeks before signing the incoming class of freshmen. That makes it rather difficult finding a quality Head Coach this late in the process, but the Chippewas found an alum in John Bonamego willing to take a chance at the Head Coach’s position coming from the Detroit Lions as their Special Teams Coach.

Exactly 0 coaches were promoted from within to fill the Head Coach vacancy at their school. I guess that can be expected when a coach is asked to leave the program, that sometimes tarnishes the whole staff, but when a coach leaves on his own choosing, it is sad to see that there is no natural progression to fill in his spot. Nonetheless, several well deserving Offensive/Defensive Coordinators are getting a chance to fulfill their Head Coaching dreams, albeit in new surroundings. Only Pat Narduzzi, Michigan State’s Defensive Coordinator in 2014, steps into a Head Coaching position at a program in a Power 5 Conference. The rest of the new, new head coaches will learn their trade outside of the Power 5 with, no doubts, dreams of coaching their way into a bigger program some day.

Good luck gentlemen, we will see you in the fall.

Trivia Tuesday – Power 5 Conferences

In recent years, there has been a lot of shuffling of College Football Conferences. And, if you believe Some Other Dude, there is more yet to come as we advance upon the age of the Mega-Conferences. But, SOD wonders, how well do you know the history of the current Power 5 Conferences?

THE TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Name the original teams in each of the current Power 5 Conferences.

THE BUFFER ZONE

THE ANSWERS

The Atlantic Coast Conference.  Even though we appear to be headed to 16 team Mega-Conferences, back in history there was an even mega-er conference; the Southern Conference.  The Southern Conference, at one time, consisted of 23 teams and eventually splintered into other, smaller conferences.  One of those splinter conferences was the ACC which officially formed as a conference in 1953.  The 7 charter members of the ACC were: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.  Only South Carolina no longer calls the ACC home as they eventually joined the other splinter conference with former Southern Conference brethren.  Link to information source.

The Big 12.  The history of the Big 12 is a little more convoluted than that of the other conferences.  The Big 12 itself wasn’t formed until 1994 when teams from the Big 8 merged with teams from the Southwest Conference.  The Big 8 Conference was originally chartered in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and eventually became known as the Big 6 and then grew up to become the Big 8.  The original members of this conference were: Iowa (two-timing with the Big Ten), Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington University in St. Louis.  Only Kansas remains as a current member of The Big 12.  Link to information source.  The Southwest Conference was first formed in 1912, consisting of: Arkansas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Rice, Texas and Texas A&M.  Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas remain as current members of the Big 12.  Link to information source.

The Big Ten.  The name “The Big Ten” was actually not officially incorporated until 1987, but the conference referred to as the Big Ten has been around since 1905.  The original conference was made up of 7 teams in what was known as the “Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association”.  In 1917, when the conference had expanded to 10 teams, it was labeled the “Big Ten” by members of the media.  The original members of this so-called Big Ten Conference were: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, University of Chicago and Wisconsin.  Only the University of Chicago is not a member of that conference today.  Link to information source.

The Pac 12.  The Pac 12 Conference started off as a little seedling conference that eventually grew up into the Pac 12.  Forming in 1916 as the Pacific Coast Conference, its original members stood at only 4 schools: California, Oregon, Oregon Agricultural College (later known as Oregon State) and Washington.  All four schools still remain in the conference today.  Interestingly, Idaho and Montana were one time members of this conference and the conference was disbanded and re-assembled in 1959 due to a pay-for-play scandal.  The re-formed conference was called the Athletic Association of Western Universities, commonly known as the Big 5. After growing once again, the conference started being referred to as the Pacific 8 in 1964 and officially became the Pacific 8 in 1968, the Pac 10 in 1978 and the Pac 12 in 2011.  Link to information source.

The SEC.  The SEC preceded the ACC in splintering away from the huge Southern Conference when 13 schools left in 1932 to form their own conference.  The 13 schools that made up the first version of the Southeastern Conference were: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Sewanee (University of the South), Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.  Georgia Tech now resides in the ACC; Tulane, although still an FBS school is no longer a member of a Power 5 Conference; and, Sewanee, after having decided to de-emphasize sports in 1940, currently competes in Division III athletics.  Link to information source.