2025-26 College Football Coach Fired/Hired Thread

[MaxyJR1]

 

[Holy Man]

Is Shaka Smart sharing the flight?

 

[SkyGopher]

He has a slightly over .500 record and his program went off a cliff once Mike Hankwitz retired.

Amen. Some have said Hankwitz provided the toughness mojo for the program.
After Hank retired, Fitzgerald’s last two seasons in the Big Ten were a combined 2-16.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Crazy that SEC basically flipped 1/3 of coaches the day after the season.

B1G has multiple openings with nothing formally announced yet on hires.

The two leagues work on different calendars.

 

[howeda7]

Buyout $36 million due in 60 days. No offset. Ouch.

 

[Dave H]

We're not comparing every school. We're comparing MSU and NW.

And how is this different than the last few guys MSU has hired that almost everyone around here was sure were going to do great?

Resources aren't enough and Fitz went 1-8 in the conference 3 of the last 4 years he coached. (went 6-1 in 2020) He was 11 games under .500 overall in conference at Northwestern.

 

[Holy Man]

And how is this different than the last few guys MSU has hired that almost everyone around here was sure were going to do great?

Resources aren't enough and Fitz went 1-8 in the conference 3 of the last 4 years he coached. (went 6-1 in 2020) He was 11 games under .500 overall in conference at Northwestern.

Fits is a classic example of why most fan bases of non blue bloods would prefer swapping 1-8 records with 8-1 records rather that consistent 4-5, 5-4, maybe 6-3. Cats have been bad overall as numbers show but have enough time close to the top to remember the good and forget the bad.

I can’t be sure but I bet a lot of us would have taken a Rose Bowl appearance as a trade for the 5-4 type records were in now.

Fits has something to prove. I’m not so sure he will.

 

[Stuff]

Clark Lea staying put at Vanderbilt and flipping 5 star QB’s.

Is he willing to wait for Diego Pavia to retire from college football at age 40?

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Nice to see some fans still think Kiffin’s number 1

 

[50PoundHead]

Fits is a classic example of why most fan bases of non blue bloods would prefer swapping 1-8 records with 8-1 records rather that consistent 4-5, 5-4, maybe 6-3. Cats have been bad overall as numbers show but have enough time close to the top to remember the good and forget the bad.

I can’t be sure but I bet a lot of us would have taken a Rose Bowl appearance as a trade for the 5-4 type records were in now.

Fits has something to prove. I’m not so sure he will.

Totally agree. Pre-portal and to a great extent now, Northwestern keeps its players in the program and every now and then has a recruiting class that develops and puts up a stellar season (by their standards). They've been up and down, but they always play hard and smart. The consistent problem for them is landing above-average players at the skilled positions.

I've always thought Fitzgerald gets a pass from the jockocracy for some reason. Very good college player and energetic coach. Comes off as a good guy. He did get the Wildcats ranked in the Top 25 a number of times in his career, but things were bottoming out when he left.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Nice to see some fans still think Kiffin’s number 1

I would have appreciated him staying at Ole Miss and building them up. Even with this "super league" kinda feeling, they still seemed like the outsider that was able to crack the party.

 

[Gilthorp57]

Buyout $36 million due in 60 days. No offset. Ouch.

Lot of horse farm money.

 

[West Fargo Gopher Fan]

Remember when Glen Mason's 2.2 million buyout was alot of money?