2025 Coaching Carousel: Josh Pate names best 'pound for pound' hires of the cycle

With the 2025 college football coaching carousel coming to a close, Josh Pate gave his picks for the best hires. There was certainly no shortage to choose from after 30 FBS schools hired new coaches.

Some got the candidates they wanted while others had to settle for a second or third choice. Perhaps the biggest hire happened to be Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss after six seasons to take over LSU following the firing of Brian Kelly.

Surprsingly, Kiffin was not listed among the top hires for Pate. Instead, he opted to list four other names as his top hires of the cycle, and you can check it out below.

James Franklin, Virginia Tech

After Penn State fired Franklin, he fell into the lap of Virginia Tech. He went 104-45 in 12 years with the Nittany Lions and even led them to a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance in 2024. The Hokies haven’t reach 10 wins in almost a decade, but are in great shape to turn things around under a proven coach.

“Pound-for-pound, Virginia Tech nailed this coaching cycle better than anyone did,” Pate said. “Virginia Tech’s sitting there, season’s not going the way they want it to, they fire Brent Pry. Then out of nowhere, Penn State fires easily a top 15 caliber head coach. You are not a top 20 caliber program right now — Virginia Tech has not been a top 30 caliber program — and a top 15 head coach just falls in your lap and, by the way, the dude you just fired he hires as his defensive coordinator. …So Virginia Tech killed it. They crushed it.”

Matt Campbell, Penn State

Although he was against the firing of Franklin, Pate had to admit Penn State did well to find his replacement in Campbell. He takes over after 10 seasons at Iowa State, finishing above .500 eight times and winning the Fiesta Bowl in 2020. Pate sees this as being a great fit for both sides and predicts big success for Campbell.

“Because of a unique set of circumstances, an elite head coach tailor-made for the Penn State job happened to be available because the guy has refused to leave Iowa State for a long time,” he said. “…So Penn State made a move that I disagreed with, but most of the fans agreed needed to be made. They fired James Franklin and somehow just killed it by naming his replacement to the point where the history books are going to look back on this and probably the context will be lost to time. Penn State fans will remember it, but most people won’t remember what the 54 days between Franklin’s firing and Campbell’s hiring were like. They’ll just remember, ‘Man, they got rid of James Franklin and look what Matt Campbell went on to do.’ Because I think Matt Campbell is really special.”

Kyle Whittingham, Michigan

It was a whirlwind coaching search for the Wolverines after a fiasco with Sherrone Moore led to his firing in December. Less than a month later, Michigan had hired the longtime Utah coach in Whittingham. After 22 season with the Utes, he looks to bring stability to a program that needs it. But Pate believes he has a lot more to offer than that.

“Michigan has hired Kyle Whittingham, and the more I think about it, the more I just love it,” he said. “Pound-for-pound, to me, includes context, and the context at Michigan is, this was not a long coaching search with no strings attached. This was a coaching search that came out of nowhere because a scandal became a full-blown scandal. Became a fired-for-cause situation out of nowhere and then they had a coaching search dumped in their lap. …What did they do? They went and got the best head coach, pound-for-pound, out of the Big 12.

“…At the very least, it’s gonna steady the ship. It’s gonna inject a much-needed shot of solid football culture into the building. You could sell me that this is a short-term hire. You could ssell me that he’s gonna be there the next seven years. Could be either or. …Kyle Whittingham is there to win the Big Ten. He’s there to beat Ohio State. He’s there to compete in the playoff. And they can do that, because I think the full force of Michigan investment will be behind him. So there’s very little risk here.”

Alex Golesh, Auburn

Golesh might not have been the flashiest hire of the cycle, but Pate sees him as being a perfect fit for the Auburn job. The Tigers have been through a lot the past five seasons under Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze, but Golesh brings hope. He directed USF to a 9-3 finish this year after some big wins to start the year, and should fix one major issue that has plagued the Tigers of late.

“Alex Golesh at Auburn is one of the best hires of the cycle,” Pate said. “I thought Auburn was on the precipice of historically fumbling their coaching search. Then Alex Golesh was available and now he’s the head coach at Auburn and I think it’s a puzzle-piece fit. I just think it’s gonna work. All the intangibles plus the tangibles, not the least of which is quarterback recruiting and development. We went down a long list of quarterback inefficiencies that have plagued Auburn football. I don’t know if he’ll win 11 games a year there, but I doubt they’re gonna lose because they can’t get the quarterback figured out. I think he’s got the right kind of blend of new-school mentality but old-school values that will work there. I think he’ll fully embrace Auburn and I think Auburn will fully embrace him. I just think he’s gonna kill it there.”