2025-26 College Football Coach Fired/Hired Thread

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Random Guy 12 said:
that would honestly be one of the flat out worst hires of all time. Not that I'm against them suffering
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How would that be one of the worst hires of all time? Kelly has a very successful track record despite being a dick, and he has roots in the Northeast.
 

WAGopher said:
Agree. Coaching in the NFL is a very cushy job compared to Div I college coaching, where they work nearly every day of the year.
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NFL coaches work really hard but in the NFL there is structure and rules. In college right now it is the wild west and the landscape keeps changing all the time.

There was a college head coach from BC I think who left to be a position coach or coordinator in the NFL because he wanted to get back to coaching and to be able to stop dealing with all the BS of college athletics right now.
 



TNGophfan said:
I can't see Tomlin doing the college thing. If Steelers fire him, and history says they won't, he'll get other NFL offers.
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This. He doesn't seem like the type who would enjoy recruiting or schmoozing boosters for $$.
 



How much would it cost to convince Saban to come out of retirement?
 



MNVCGUY said:
NFL coaches work really hard but in the NFL there is structure and rules. In college right now it is the wild west and the landscape keeps changing all the time.

There was a college head coach from BC I think who left to be a position coach or coordinator in the NFL because he wanted to get back to coaching and to be able to stop dealing with all the BS of college athletics right now.
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I didn’t mean to imply that NFL coaches don’t work hard, because they do. But college coaches do everything they do, plus babysitting, recruiting, fund raising plus all the BS you described.
 


MNVCGUY said:
NFL coaches work really hard but in the NFL there is structure and rules. In college right now it is the wild west and the landscape keeps changing all the time.

There was a college head coach from BC I think who left to be a position coach or coordinator in the NFL because he wanted to get back to coaching and to be able to stop dealing with all the BS of college athletics right now.
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That was Jeff Hafley, who left as head coach at BC to become defensive coordinator for the Packers.
 

Gophers1992 said:
How would that be one of the worst hires of all time? Kelly has a very successful track record despite being a dick, and he has roots in the Northeast.
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He's 64 for starters. If it wasn't for Lane Kiffin he'd be the most disliked coach in the country, he probably had MORE resources at LSU and didn't have any more success there than Franklin did at PSU. I wouldn't want him here if Fleck left. Would you?
 



WAGopher said:
I didn’t mean to imply that NFL coaches don’t work hard, because they do. But college coaches do everything they do, plus babysitting, recruiting, fund raising plus all the BS you described.
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Definitely.......I'm sure NFL jobs have always been desirable but right now I would think that desire to get to the NFL would be at an all time high with all the BS in the college game.
 

Random Guy 12 said:
He's 64 for starters. If it wasn't for Lane Kiffin he'd be the most disliked coach in the country, he probably had MORE resources at LSU and didn't have any more success there than Franklin did at PSU. I wouldn't want him here if Fleck left. Would you?
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If PJ left we could do a hell of a lot worse than Kelly. The guy won 10 games in 7 of the last 8 full seasons he coached.

I strongly believe PSU was idiotic to fire Franklin, but at this point in time Kelly would be about the best hire they could realistically make.
 


I don't necessarily think Brian Kelly would be the worst hire for Penn State at this point. The only downside with him is probably his age at 64. But in terms of results, he's had success everywhere he's gone.

Through Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame, Kelly has managed to build successful programs. It may just be the case he wasn't the right fit at LSU. I think the problem with Kelly, and whatever coach out there, is the bar that's been set.

Getting 11 wins? Ranked finishes? Playoff berths? Penn State made it clear with Franklin that's not good enough. The pressure is going to be on for the next candidate to beat Ohio State and win a national title.
 



Gophers1992 said:
If PJ left we could do a hell of a lot worse than Kelly. The guy won 10 games in 7 of the last 8 full seasons he coached.

I strongly believe PSU was idiotic to fire Franklin, but at this point in time Kelly would be about the best hire they could realistically make.
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agree to disagree I guess. If we hired him here I'd expect same or worse results than we've had with PJ. Understand that he's been coaching at 2 schools with advantages over 95% of college football in terms of resources. Give him our funding and resources I'd say about 7-5 and us having to listen to him whine. I'd take PJ or another young coach over him any day.
 

Random Guy 12 said:
I believe he does. We shall see. He knows football. He's had success before in a tougher situation with fewer resources. I'm pretty sure he hasn't been living under a rock as far as changes are concerned with recruiting, portal, NIL, etc...... Perhaps MSU wouldn't be happy with Gopher type results but what if he produces teams like Illinois last year and Iowa this season. Let's face it, nobody is breaking into the top 4 without a huge investment or at least the planets aligning for 1 season.
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Fitz last had a winning season in 2020...college football has changed quite a bit since then.

And I am not convinced MSU is upper midpack spot with most coaches let alone a system guy whose system was fading.

But I don't care about MSU so for their sake I hope they get what they want. My guess is Fitzy isnt there in 5 years though.
 
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What a wild time to be a big time college football coach. If you have any kind of success, your agent lets a favorite "source" know that you're being considered for a high profile job and ba da bing, you get a few extra years on your contract and a million dollar raise. Or, you win a lot of games and a less than introspective AD pays you tens of millions of dollars to volunteer coach for a few years for your kids high school team. I think I'm going in to P4 coaching.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Will be interesting to see where PSU goes if he ends up staying put. Been a very quiet coaching search for such a high profile job that has been open as long as it has been.
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Wasnt the defense of firing Franklin when they did that it would give them a leg up on finding a coach?

Penn State is about to find out what Nebraska refuses to acknowledge...firing a successful coach is going to drag you down when you arent the creme de la creme...and PSU is not that.
 

Does PSU get desperate enough to take a flyer on a successful FCS coach like Brent Vigen or Tim Polasek? Its hard to imagine but if I'm a PSU fan, I think I'd rather try my luck with an unproven commodity at a relatively low cost (buyout) than a guy churning our 7 or 8 wins consistently in FBS.
 


Random Guy 12 said:
agree to disagree I guess. If we hired him here I'd expect same or worse results than we've had with PJ. Understand that he's been coaching at 2 schools with advantages over 95% of college football in terms of resources. Give him our funding and resources I'd say about 7-5 and us having to listen to him whine. I'd take PJ or another young coach over him any day.
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You could be right but that’s a far cry from “one of the worst hires of all time”
 


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