Coaching Carousel Rumblings: The latest hirings, firings, news and intel from a busy Black Sunday
Black Sunday has delivered a couple of notable surprises, namely no news out of Auburn (yet) and Luke Fickell coming off the top rope to poach the Wisconsin job away from beloved son Jim Leonhard.
In the latest Coaching Carousel Rumblings, here’s an update on all the hirings and firings, plus scuttle on some potential upcoming coaching decisions.
HIRINGS
In a legit surprise, Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell decided Wisconsin was the Big Ten job he’d been holding out for, as the veteran Bearcats program was named the Badgers’ next head coach Sunday.
In six seasons with Cincy, Fickell was 57-18, taking the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff last season, and now he returns to his Big Ten roots where he played and coached at Ohio State.
Most believed Badgers interim head coach and former All-Big Ten safety Jim Leonhard was a shoo-in for the job after they fired Paul Chryst so early in the season, but after losing two of their last three games, Wisconsin believed the stability and track record of Fickell topped Leonhard’s potential upside.
“Fickell’s attraction to the Badgers brass, along with his record and roots in the league, is his ability to build a program,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.
“Fickell turned Cincinnati into one of the country’s best development programs, taking modest recruits and consistently churning out strong teams.”
Reportedly, Fickell will make around $6.5 annually at Wisconsin.
While the Sun Devils’ search was considered a “who’s in charge here?” Battle between AD Ray Anderson and a recently-hired search firm, they managed to somehow land on a quality candidate, bringing home Kenny Dillingham.
Dillingham instantly becomes the youngest Power 5 coach in America, and while Arizona State is taking a bit of a risk here — the Oregon offensive coordinator doesn’t have the track record of other ASU candidates like Tom Herman — the 32-year-old Arizona native and ASU alum offers the program tremendous upside, potential and ability to grow into the head coaching role.
He’s well-known in the high school circles in Arizona. As a lead assistant, he’s coached in the SEC, ACC and Pac-12 already in his young career, developing Bo Nix into a darkhorse Heisman Trophy contender this season.
With looming NCAA sanctions, the Sun Devils were desperate for some fun in the desert, and Dillingham’s offense should provide plenty of Pac-12 After Dark fireworks.
Dillingham can also really recruit, and already has smartly retained interim head coach Shaun Aguano, who also is very popular among Arizona high school coaches.
The Cornhuskers hired Matt Rhule on Saturday, giving the former Carolina Panthers head coach $72 million over eight years to return their fading brand back to relevancy.
I detailed in a column yesterday just how Rhule might get started on his latest turnaround job.
FIRINGS/OPENINGS
We mentioned a few days ago that the David Shaw situation was one to watch, and sure enough, after the Cardinal dropped their regular-season finale to BYU late Saturday night the 12-year coach stepped down.
Stanford, which has gone 3-9 in two straight seasons, becomes a fascinating opening now. It has prestige and history, but it’s also a very difficult job now in changing landscape of the transfer portal and NIL.
Shaw struggled to battle Early Signing Day hurdles with the school’s academic calendar, and that problem has only become exacerbated for Stanford’s next head coach.
It’s an opening that will require lots of patience and a very dogged and detailed plan on how to overcome numerous obstacles.
Early names in mix, per CBS Sports, are former Stanford assistants Mike Bloomgren, now at Rice, and Oklahoma State DC Derek Mason.
Ex-head coaches and current talking heads Chris Peterson and Bronco Mendenhall make some sense for the Cardinal, too. A wild card candidate to watch is Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor, who has extensive experience coaching on the West Coast. Taylor is a former Utah OC, and is 29-7 — including 11-0 this season — in three years with the Hornets.
After three straight disappointing seasons, Willie Taggart is out at FAU.
The well-traveled coach didn’t make a bowl game the last two seasons in Boca Raton — a major no-no for a program that recently won a pair of conference titles under Lane Kiffin.
Per insiders, early candidates for FAU include former Owls assistants under Kiffin — his brother Chris Kiffin, now the Cleveland Browns’ DL coach, and Ole Miss OC Charlie Weis Jr.
Others in the mix to watch are Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins.
As expected, the Bobcats moved on from Jake Spavital following four disappointing seasons in San Marcos.
The former Texas A&M OC was just 13-35 in his first go-round as a head coach.
After a 5-7 season in 2022, the Golden Hurricanes opted to move on from veteran head coach Philip Montgomery on Sunday.
The former Baylor OC was 43-53 in eight seasons at Tulsa, his best showing coming in Year 2 with a 10-3 showing. The Golden Hurricanes have losing seasons in four of the last six years, though, and have become a bottom-feeder in the AAC.
Immediately upon the news of the opening, former Tulsa QB G.J. Kinnie, the head coach at Incarnate Word, was among the most mentioned potential candidates in coaching circles. Former Va. Tech head coach Justin Fuente is someone else who is also seen as a potential fit for the job.
MORE COACHING CAROUSEL RUMBLINGS…
Like the Jim Leonhard situation at Wisconsin, it’s no longer a formality that Hugh Freeze becomes the next head coach at Auburn. Liberty’s head coach remains a candidate, but there’s been significant pushback — from fans and those in and around the search — surrounding Freeze’s candidacy. I’ve long voiced my skepticism that new AD John Cohen would be comfortable hiring Freeze, and the latest reports also echo a similar trepidation from new school president Chris Roberts. As of publishing this afternoon, it’s legitimately quiet on the Plains, which means the search could go in a number of directions. If not Freeze, who else is in contention for Auburn’s opening? Former Florida OC and current Philadelphia Eagles QB Brian Johnson is a new name around the search, while Cohen could also take a big swing at Penn State’s James Franklin or TCU’s Sonny Dykes. Baylor OC Jeff Grimes, a former AU assistant, is also a candidate popularly mentioned. … Likewise, Georgia Tech has not made a hiring yet Sunday, but the feeling around the Yellow Jackets’ opening continues to center around Tulane’s Willie Fritz. … Colorado, per Bruce Feldman at Fox Sports, offered Deion Sanders its opening but it’s unclear how interested Jackson State’s head coach is taking over such a massive rebuild — even though he openly wants a Power 5 job.