College football coach carousel: Here are all the FBS coaching changes for 2020

Bill Bender

College football coach carousel: Here are all the FBS coaching changes for 2020 image

The 2019-20 college football coaching carousel never stops. 

Just when it looked like it did, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio stepped down and Colorado's Mel Tucker took the job. That continued a cycle where Washington's Chris Petersen resigned, Greg Schiano returned to Rutgers and Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach ended up at Ole Miss and Mississippi State, respectively. 

A total of 24 coaching jobs have changed with this cycle. Sporting News will track the new coaches here as that carousel continues to spin in the offseason. 

New FBS coaches for 2020 season  

Rutgers: Greg Schiano

Hired (Dec. 1):  Rutgers went back to Schiano, who had a 68-67 record with the school from 2001-11 before taking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job in the NFL. Schiano gained a better understanding about what it takes to win in the Big Ten East from a three-year stint as Ohio State's defensive coordinator from 2016-18, and he should be able to elevate the recruiting from the Scarlet Knights. This is a massive renovation project, but Rutgers can't complain. Since Schiano left, the Scarlet Knights are 36-63 the last eight seasons.

Washington: Jimmy Lake  

Hired (Dec. 2): Petersen's resignation came as a surprise to many, but the program maintained continuity with the immediate hire of Lake. Lake, 42, is a first-time head coach who served as the defensive coordinator the last four seasons under Petersen. Lake spent six seasons in the NFL as a defensive backs coach before joining Petersen at Boise State, and he should offer a fresh take on a system that has proven to work in the Pac-12 North.

Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin 

Hired (Dec. 7): Kiffin is back in the Power 5 after leading Florida Atlantic to a pair of Conference-USA championships in the last three seasons. Kiffin enjoyed that success with a high-scoring offense, and this is his third stint as a coach in a big conference. The Rebels are 11-14 since Hugh Freeze resigned, but Kiffin has the ability to lift this team back into the upper half of the SEC West. We know it's going to be fun to watch no matter what happens. 

Florida State: Mike Norvell

Hired (Dec. 7): Florida State hired Norvell after Memphis won the American Athletic Conference championship game. The 38 year old was among the most-coveted Group of 5 hires after a four-year stint with the Tigers that produced a 38-15 record. Memphis sent eight players to the NFL Draft the last four seasons, including four skill-position players. Look for Norvell to renovate the Seminoles' offense, too. 

Arkansas: Sam Pittman

Hired (Dec. 8) : Arkansas fills its vacant position left by Chad Morris with former Razorbacks assistant Sam Pittman. He was previously the associate head coach and offensive line coach at fellow SEC program Georgia. Pittman, 58, is regarded as a strong recruiter and was the highest-paid offensive line coach in FBS with a $900,000 annual salary. He was promoted to associate head coach at Georgia in February. This will be Pittman's first head-coaching position at the FBS level.

Missouri: Eli Drinkwitz

Hired (Dec. 8): Drinkwitz, 36, didn't take long to make an impact at Appalachian State. He guided the Mountaineers to a 12-1 record and Sun Belt championship, and that built on his reputation as a successful offensive coordinator at North Carolina State. He will take on the job at Missouri in the SEC East. The Tigers are 24-26 the last four seasons with a 11-21 record in conference play. 

Old Dominion: Ricky Rahne 

Hired (Dec. 9): Rhane, 39, has served as a Penn State assistant since 2014; mostly as a quarterbacks coach. He was the offensive coordinator the last two seasons, and the former Cornell quarterback makes the ascension to first-time head coach. The Monarchs have enjoyed flashes of success since moving up to the FBS, and Rahne should help push them back into bowl contention sooner rather than later. 

USF: Jeff Scott 

Hired (Dec. 9): Scott, 38, started out as a high school coach and worked his way up as an assisstant for Dabo Swinney the last 12 years at Clemson. He kept his job as a receivers coach and was the co-offensive coordinator the last five seasons. Scott should be able to apply those lessons in his first head-coaching job at South Florida. The Bulls slipped to 4-8 this year after four straight winning seasons. Scott, a Florida native, can help turn that around.

UTSA: Jeff Traylor 

Hired (Dec. 11): Traylor takes over after serving as Arkansas' associate head coach the last two seasons. Traylor is a native Texan who played at Austin Peay and was the head coach at Gilmer High School for 15 seasons before bumping up to FBS football. He was an assisant at Texas and SMU before the stint with the Razorbacks. Traylor should be able to work those in-state connections on the recruiting trail to bolster the UTSA program. 

UNLV: Marcus Arroyo

Hired (Dec. 11) : Arroyo, now the former Oregon offensive coordinator, is tabbed as the new UNLV head coach. At 39, Arroyo is picking up his first gig as a head coach after making several FBS stops, including San Jose State, Wyoming, Cal, Southern Miss and Oklahoma State. He also spent a season with the Buccaneers as a QB coach after being hired by Lovie Smith. Arroyo, a San Jose State grad, threw for 28 touchdowns and 28 interceptions over his four seasons with the Spartans between 1998 and 2002. He will look to a struggling UNLV program that has just one bowl appearance since 2001. 

Colorado State: Steve Addazio

Hired (Dec. 11) : Addazio's unemployment lasts less than two weeks. He was fired from Boston College on Dec. 1 and is now headed to Mountain West territory to take over the Colorado State position. This will be Addazio's third FBS head-coaching job, currently owning a 57-55 career record with Temple and Boston College and reaching bowl eligibility six times in nine seasons. Since winning nine games in his first season at Temple in 2011, Addazio has been unable to win more than seven games or finish above .500 in conference play. At 60, the longtime high-major assistant will look to rejuvenate a Colorado State program that has won seven total games over the last two years.

FAU: Willie Taggart

Hired (Dec. 11): Taggart did not take long to find a new coaching spot. He takes over at FAU after being fired by Florida State this season. This is Taggart's fifth head coaching job, and he has a 56-62 record through stops with Western Kentucky, South Florida, Oregon and Florida State. He will inherit a talented roster at FAU that will be ready to compete for the Conference-USA championship and perhaps a New Year's Day Six bowl bid. Expect Taggart to fare well with the Owls. 

Appalachian State: Shawn Clark 

Hired (Dec. 12): The Mountaineers are on their third coach in three years, but continuity has been the key to success and Clark should be able to keep that going. He played at Appalachian State, and has served as an offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator the past four seasons. Some programs would not be able to withstand that kind of turnover, but the Mountaineers should be fine. 

Boston College: Jeff Hafley 

Hired (Dec. 13): Hafley, 40, turned a one-year stint as a co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State into a head coaching job with Boston College. The Buckeyes ranked second in the FBS in pass defense this season with the help of Hafley, who was a secondary coach at both the college and NFL level before coming to Ohio State. The New Jersey native is back on the East Coast and should add a jolt to a Boston College program that hit the seven-win mark six times this decade. 

Memphis: Ryan Silverfield

Hired (Dec. 13): The Tigers promoted from within after Norvell took the Florida State job. Silverfield has been on the Tigers' staff the past four seasons and was a deputy head coach in 2019. Silverfield's background is mostly an offensive line coach, and he had two stops in the NFL with Minnesota and Detroit. Silverfield takes over a program that had a 38-15 record the last four seasons. 

Fresno State: Kalen DeBoer

Hired (Dec. 17): DeBoer was named Fresno State's head coach after a one-year stint as Indiana's offensive coordinator. He had previously served as the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator under Jeff Tedford from 2017-18. This is his second head-coaching stint. He won three NAIA national championships at Sioux Falls before making the climb up the FBS coaching ladder. 

New Mexico: Danny Gonzales 

Hired (Dec. 18): Gonzales returns to his alma mater, where he played safety and punter from 1994-98. He spent the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Arizona State, and the 43-year-old Albuquerque native has coaching experience in the Mountain West Conference and Pac-12 and should be able to use those experiences in recruiting. He should bring a fresh energy to a program that needs it, and the close-to-home-ties count for something. 

San Diego State: Brady Hoke 

Hired (Jan. 9): The Aztecs hired Hoke, who was the defensive line coach under Rocky Long this season. Hoke, of course, coached San Diego State from 2009-10 before a four-year stint at Michigan. Hoke has bounced around with jobs at Oregon, Tennessee and the Carolina Panthers since, but the move allows for continuity for one of the better Group of 5 programs in the FBS. 

Mississippi State: Mike Leach 

Hired (Jan. 10): Leach is finally taking his game to the SEC. Mississippi State made the biggest splash of the coaching carousel by bringing in Leach, who compiled a 139-90 record as a head coach in stops at Texas Tech and Washington State. Leach will bring that pass-every-down-offense to Starkville, and he's the perfect one-up-hire to Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin. We are already looking forward to SEC Media Days. 

Washington State: Nick Rolovich 

Hired (Jan. 13): Washington State filled Leach's position with Rolovich, who left his alma mater after a gradual four-season turnaround. The Warriors won 10 games in 2019. There should not be much of a philosophical shift given Rolovich's work with Cole McDonald at Hawaii, and the 40 year old might stick around in Pullman a little longer. Considering the way Leach left, this is a nice get. 

Baylor: Dave Aranda

Hired (Jan. 16): The Carolina Panthers plucked Matt Rhule away from Baylor on Jan. 7, and the Bears picked Dave Aranda as their new leader. Aranda is fresh off winning a national championship with LSU, where he was the defensive coordinator for the past four years. It's interesting to see Rhule replaced with a defensive mind, though Aranda is one of the best in the business. He's been an FBS defensive coordinator since 2010, and it's hardly surprising to see him get a chance to be a team's head coach.

Hawaii: Todd Graham 

Hired (Jan. 21): Graham takes over at Hawaii after taking the last two seasons off. Graham compiled a 95-61 record at his last four coaching stops at Rice, Tulsa, Pitt and Arizona State. He's led five 10-win seasons and should be able to build on what Nick Rolovich started wtih the Warriors. We'll see what Graham learned from the time off. 

Michigan State: Mel Tucker 

Hired (Feb. 12): Tucker, who served as a GA at Michigan State from 1997-98, is back in East Lansing. He led Colorado to a 5-7 record in 2019 and built on that with the No. 35 recruiting class in the FBS. Tucker takes over a Michigan State program looking to regain the competitive stability it had for most of the Mark Dantonio era. 

Colorado: Karl Dorrell 

Hired (Feb. 23): Colorado hired Dorrell to replace Tucker after a two-week search. Dorrell was the head coach at UCLA from 2003-07, and with the exception of a one-year stint as offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt in 2014 has spent his time as an asssistant in the NFL. Dorrell had a 35-27 record with the Bruins. 

2020 FBS coaching changes  

SCHOOL FORMER COACH NEW COACH
Rutgers Chris Ash Greg Schiano
Florida State Willie Taggart Mike Norvell
Arkansas Chad Morris Sam Pittman
New Mexico Bob Davie Danny Gonzales
UNLV Tony Sanchez Marcus Arroyo
Missouri Barry Odom Eli Drinkwitz
UTSA Frank Wilson Jeff Traylor
USF Charlie Strong Jeff Scott
Boston College Steve Addazio Jeff Hafley
Ole Miss Matt Luke Lane Kiffin
Old Dominion Bobby Wilder Ricky Rahne
Washington Chris Petersen Jimmy Lake
Colorado State Mike Bobo Steve Addazio
Fresno State Jeff Tedford Kalen DeBoer
FAU Lane Kiffin Willie Taggart
Memphis Mike Norvell Ryan Silverfield
Appalachian State Eli Drinkwitz Shawn Clark
Mississippi State Joe Moorhead Mike Leach
Baylor Matt Rhule Dave Aranda
San Diego State Rocky Long Brady Hoke
Washington State Mike Leach Nick Rolovich
Hawaii Nick Rolovich Todd Graham
Michigan State Mark Dantonio Mel Tucker
Colorado Mel Tucker Karl Dorrell

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.