The coaching carousel spins around and follows one of the wildest college football seasons of modern times. Does this mean a silly season is just around the corner?
There are 20 changes in the FBS after the regular season, but only four power conference jobs are open. It’s expected to be a historically slow cycle for the power conferences, but that won’t stop the AAC, perhaps the strongest non-power league, from shaking things up. Six programs made changes at the top to culminate a wild year in the conference that saw Army and Navy make headlines for their hot starts before first-year coach Jon Sumrall pushed Tulane to the conference title game to face the Black Knights.
On the Sunday after the regular season, there were few head coach changes, but not many surprises. The biggest shock was the resignation of UCF head coach Gus Malzahn, who left to become offensive coordinator at Florida State. It’s the rise of a new trend in sports: head coaches leaving for assistant coaching gigs. Chip Kelly did the same in 2023 when he left UCLA for Ohio State.
Two other coaches have retired with the departures of North Carolina’s Mack Brown and Central Michigan’s Jim McElwain.
The SEC remains the only power conference without a head coaching change, though the coaching carousel has only just begun to turn. Does this mean a big churn is coming for the league in 2025?
CBS Sports will track every move in the 2024-25 cycle and rate each hire below.