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College football coaching hires ranked from best to worst. Where does Bill Belichick land?
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- College football coaching hires ranked from best to worst. Where does Bill Belichick land?
Bill Belichick has never coached in college football. North Carolina has never won in college football. In this case, nothing has to give.
But we'll all be watching. How the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach fares with the Tar Heels will be one of the dominant subplots of the 2025 season, drawing in believers, skeptics, curious bystanders and train-crash enthusiasts to witness whether a coaching style that had grown stale and unwanted in the NFL will be rejuvenated in the transition to the college game.
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There is no precedent for this type of move in coaching history — Don Shula didn't take the Mississippi State job in retirement, Jimmy Johnson didn't leave the Fox studio for Purdue and Bill Walsh … well, OK, Walsh did take the Stanford job in 1992, four years after handing over the keys to the San Francisco 49ers ' dynasty.
But this was Walsh's second go-round as the Cardinal's head coach, following a two-year stint from 1977-78, and Walsh began his coaching career with six seasons as a college assistant. To date, Belichick's closest brush with college coaching came when he'd attend practice with his father, Steve, a longtime assistant coach and scout at Vanderbilt, UNC and Navy.
Maybe Belichick rediscovers the knack that made him the near-consensus GOAT of NFL head coaches; maybe there's a reason the league has clearly moved on. An assessment of next season's new hires is dominated by his arrival in Chapel Hill. Will Belichick find the success that eluded him in the final stages of his NFL career?
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REPORT CARD: Letter grades for every first-year college football coach
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Beginning with the cycle's most logical hires, USA TODAY Sports traveled through next season's new coaches to evaluate each arrival by immediate fit and the chance for long-term success. As of now, Jacksonville State is the only position still unfilled.
1. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
Rodriguez returns to his home state 17 years after his abrupt departure for Michigan. Time has healed those wounds. While his three-year run with the Wolverines was a disaster and his largely successful run at Arizona ended in turmoil, Rodriguez proved over three seasons at Jacksonville State that he is uniquely equipped to bring West Virginia back to national prominence.
Jacksonville State coach Rich Rodriguez walks on the sideline during his team's game against Southern Mississippi at Burgess-Snow Field AmFirst Stadium.
2. Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State
Mendenhall only spent one season at New Mexico, but nearly leading the Lobos to bowl eligibility in the program's first five-win season since 2016 showed that there are few more consistently successful coaches in the Bowl Subdivision. There is almost no doubt Mendenhall will win at Utah State, and likely right from the start.
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3. Matt Entz, Fresno State
A two-time national champion at North Dakota State, Entz spent last season as an assistant coach at Southern California. Like former Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer, he brings along an established blueprint and an enviable track record of lower-level success. His predecessor at NDSU, Kansas State coach Chris Klieman, has shown how the program's ethos can translate seamlessly to the FBS.
4. Barry Odom, Purdue
Purdue will have to be patient as Odom does a bottom-up rebuild of what has in the two seasons since Jeff Brohm's departure been the worst program in the Power Four. On paper, though, Odom's experience at Missouri and historic success at UNLV makes him a home-run hire for the Boilermakers . What may ultimately determine his tenure is the direction he takes on offense.
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5. Charles Huff, Southern Mississippi
As with Odom and Purdue, the Golden Eagles will need to give Huff time to bring this proud program back to respectability. But Southern Mississippi will be the beneficiary of Huff's frayed relationship with the Marshall administration. He went 32-20 over four years with the Thundering Herd, capped by this year's Sun Belt championship.
6. Jake Dickert, Wake Forest
Wake Forest moved quickly to nab Dickert as Dave Clawson's successor. This hire works on multiple fronts. One major plus is Dickert's experience at Washington State, where he went 23-20 over three-plus years after being promoted midway through the 2021 season. This year's team went 8-4 and spent time in the US LBM Coaches Poll and the College Football Playoff rankings. Dickert also has hired very well, especially at offensive coordinator.
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7. Scott Frost, Central Florida
The other homecoming hire of this cycle finds Frost back in Orlando two years after his disappointing run at Nebraska ended three games into his fifth season. What Frost learned from that experience and ensuing time off the sidelines will determine whether he can recapture the magic from his previous stint with the Knights. Frost remains a gifted offensive mind who will be hungry to rebuild his reputation.
8. Dan Mullen, UNLV
Instead of scrapping over a second-tier Power Four opening, Mullen opted to step into a very strong situation as Odom's successor at UNLV. The administration has made significant investments in the program and will give Mullen the support he needs to maintain the Rebels' place near the top of the Mountain West.
Florida coach Dan Mullen watches his play against Missouri during their 2023 game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.
9. Bill Belichick, North Carolina
Whether this works depends on how we define what would constitute a successful tenure. If success is measured in bowl bids, there's no reason to think Belichick can't continue in Mack Brown's footsteps and win six or more games beginning in 2025. If the expectations are the playoff, the odds are low that a 72-year-old coach with no college experience can buck a century of UNC tradition and lead the Tar Heels to the pinnacle of the ACC.
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10. Willie Simmons, Florida International
This is a great hire for a program that is desperate for sustainable success. Most recently the running backs coach at Duke, Simmons went 66-24 as the head coach at Prairie View A&M and Florida A&M. He has a proven offensive system and is very dialed into the fertile recruiting bed surrounding the Panthers' campus.
11. K.C. Keeler, Temple
Keeler resembles Indiana coach Curt Cignetti in one impossible-to-ignore respect: he wins. The former Sam Houston State coach has just four losing seasons in his 31 years as a college head coach, including a pair of Championship Subdivision national titles. Pennsylvania-born and the former head at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, a stone's throw from Philadelphia, Keeler is also deeply familiar with the region.
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12. Tim Albin, Charlotte
Albin was ready for a step up the coaching ladder after leading Ohio to a combined 30 wins and a MAC championship in the past three seasons. He'll take over a program ranked near the bottom of the American Athletic but has the chops to get Charlotte into a bowl game in 2025.
13. Jason Eck, New Mexico
Eck arrives in Albuquerque after posting three winning seasons in a row at Idaho, something the Vandals hadn't accomplished in nearly two decades. He inherits a solid foundation from Mendenhall and could get the Lobos into the postseason in 2025. Eck's first full-time college position came with the Vandals from 2004-6, giving him some familiarity with the program.
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14. Blake Harrell, East Carolina
Starting the season at ECU as defensive coordinator, Harrell earned this promotion after leading the Pirates to four wins in five games and the Military Bowl as the interim coach. He will need to capitalize on this hot start and build some momentum as he continues to learn on the job.
15. Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic
Kittley's fast rise up the FBS coaching ranks includes assistant stops at Western Kentucky and Texas Tech. At each step up the ladder, Kittley's offenses have ranked among the nation's best. While he's 33 and has no experience as a head coach, his scheme will help give FAU an identity.
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16. Scott Abell, Rice
Abell is a nice fit for Rice given his small-school experience, most recently as the winningest coach in Davidson's history. That he's successfully applied his shotgun-based, triple-option offense at similarly academics-focused schools bodes well for his ability to adapt to the uniqueness of winning at Rice.
17. Brian Smith, Ohio
Ohio promoted Smith from offensive coordinator to replace Albin. Given the strong culture in place, staying the course and staying in house makes perfect sense for the program. Smith was hired in 2021 after two seasons at Washington State and two separate stints at Hawaii, his alma mater, and played a huge part in the recent run of success by the Bobcats.
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18. Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State
Loggains was an NFL offensive coordinator at four different stops before spending the past two years at the same position at South Carolina. The Gamecocks' physical running game could be a nice fit with the Mountaineers , who needed a change in voice and direction after trailing off the past few seasons.
19. Joe Harasymiak, Massachusetts
Harasymiak had a strong three-year run at the head coach at Maine from 2016-18 before leaving to become an assistant at Minnesota and then Rutgers. His defenses at Rutgers weren't very good, though the Scarlet Knights have reached the postseason the past two years. Knowing the New England landscape is a major bonus.
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20. Tony Gibson, Marshall
The Rich Rodriguez disciple was born in West Virginia, played defensive back at Glenville State and spent roughly half of his career as an assistant coach with the Mountaineers. While a first-time head coach, Gibson's experience and connections to the state make him an interesting fit with the defending Sun Belt champions. Making the right hire at offensive coordinator could make or break his tenure.
21. Matt Drinkall, Central Michigan
Drinkall developed one of the most explosive offenses across all levels of college football as the head coach at Kansas Wesleyan of the NAIA from 2014-18. Since then, he's risen the ranks under Jeff Monken at Army, spending the past two seasons in charge of the Black Knights' offensive line. This hire is a relative gamble for CMU that could pay off if Drinkall's scheme can fit into place.
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22. Phil Longo, Sam Houston State
Longo is a well-traveled offensive coordinator whose experience includes three years with the Bearkats from 2014-16. This familiarity with the program is a definite plus. And most of his coordinator work had been positive until his most recent stop at Wisconsin, which ended with Longo being fired in November. The big question is whether Longo is the best hire to build on the momentum the Bearkats developed under Keeler.
23. Jerry Mack, Kennesaw State
Mack earned a reputation as an elite recruiter while the running backs coach at Tennessee from 2021-23. But the most important stop during his well-traveled career was four years as the head coach at North Carolina Central from 2014-17, which saw the Eagles go 31-15 overall and 26-6 in MEAC play. As with Simmons at FIU, this HBCU experience is a major advantage for coaches embracing rebuilding projects at lower-tier FBS programs.
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24. Mike Uremovich, Ball State
This is a smart hire for Ball State given how Uremovich has turned around two struggling programs on the NAIA and FCS level, most recently posting three winning seasons in a row at Butler. He also has four years of experience as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois. Ball State is an exceedingly difficult place to win, though, and Uremovich will have to prove he can manufacture another turnaround in the MAC.
25. Tre Lamb, Tulsa
Lamb is a perplexing hire given his lack of any FBS experience, general lack of experience overall — the 35-year-old former Tennessee Tech quarterback has only been in coaching for about a decade — and the huge step up the ladder that comes with the leap from being the head coach at East Tennessee State to the American Athletic.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football coaching hires ranked. Where does Bill Belichick land?
