Nearly a quarter of all FBS coaching jobs were open this college football cycle

Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer looks on during the Sugar Bowl CFP NCAA semifinal college football game against Texas, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, in New Orleans.

The college football coaching industry is more volatile than ever.

A profession already beset by frequent change dealt with the most it has in more than a decade during the 2023-24 season and the immediate offseason.

All told, 31 FBS jobs opened up, including 13 Power 4 jobs. Percentage wise, 23% of all FBS head coaching jobs needed to be filled this cycle.

That is the most openings, according to Football Scoop’s Doug Samuels, since 2012 when 31 FBS jobs also opened.

The most openings in the last five years, prior to this cycle, was in 2021, when there were 29 openings.

There is a chance the current cycle becomes the most volatile ever too, as the Georgia State head coaching job is open after the unexpected departure of Shawn Elliott to South Carolina.

If a sitting FBS coach takes that job there won’t have been a more volatile coaching cycle than the current one, at least not in the last decade-plus.

“So much for projections of it being a ‘slow’ coaching cycle,” Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger wrote on X.

A breakdown of the job openings shows a lot of dissatisfaction with previous coaches.

All told, 12 of the coaching changes were due to the termination of coaches. There were also four resignations/retirements, with the remaining 15 openings coming about after coaches moved on to perceived better jobs, which in more than a few cases meant coordinator jobs at bigger programs (or in one case the NFL).

Broken down between the Power conferences (Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC) and the Group of Five conferences (Mountain West, Sun Belt, American Athletic, Mid-American and Conference USA), no conference was harder hit than the MW, which lost six coaches in total, and seven if you consider Oregon State a de facto member going forward.

If UCLA and Washington are included in the Big Ten, a league they will begin competing in next fall, then that league also had six openings, foremost among them being at national champion Michigan.

Conference USA was hit with four openings and the Sun Belt had three, as did the SEC and the ACC.

The turnover wasn’t limited to just the FBS ranks either. There were 27 job openings at the FCS level, meaning there were 58 Division I football head coaching jobs open.

Below is a complete list of all the FBS coaching movement this cycle.

Alabama

• Nick Saban (retired); Kalen DeBoer (hired from Washington).

Arizona

• Jedd Fisch (left for Washington); Brent Brennan (hired from San Jose State).

Boise State

• Andy Avalos (fired); Spencer Danielson (hired after successful stint as interim head coach).

Boston College

• Jeff Hafley (left to be Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator), Bill O’Brien (hired after agreeing to be Ohio State’s offensive coordinator).

Buffalo

• Maurice Linguist (left to become co-defensive coordinator at Alabama); Pete Lembo (hired from South Carolina where he was special teams coordinator).

Duke

• Mike Elko (left for Texas A&M); Manny Diaz (hired after successful stint as Penn State defensive coordinator).

Georgia State

• Shawn Elliott (left to become tight ends coach at South Carolina).

Houston

• Dana Holgorsen (fired); Willie Fritz (hired from Tulane).

Indiana

• Tom Allen (fired); Curt Cignetti (hired from James Madison).

James Madison

• Curt Cignetti (left for Indiana); Bob Chesney (hired from Holy Cross).

Louisiana-Monroe

• Terry Bowden (fired); Bryant Vincent (hired from New Mexico, where he was the offensive coordinator).

Middle Tennessee State

• Rick Stockstill (fired); Derek Mason (hired after stint as analyst on SEC Network).

Michigan

• Jim Harbaugh (left of Los Angeles Chargers job); Sherrone Moore (promoted from offensive coordinator role).

Michigan State

• Mel Tucker (fired); Harlon Barnett (interim head coach, not retained); Jonathan Smith (hired from Oregon State).

Mississippi State

• Zach Arnett (fired); Jeff Lebby (hired from Oklahoma, where he was offensive coordinator).

Nevada

• Ken Wilson (fired); Jeff Choate (hired from Texas, where he was co-defensive coordinator).

New Mexico

• Danny Gonzales (fired); Bronco Mendenhall (hired from retirement).

New Mexico State

• Jerry Kill (resigned); Tony Sanchez (promoted after two years as wide receivers coach).

Northwestern

• Pat Fitzgerald (fired); David Braun (promoted to head coach after successful season as interim).

Oregon State

• Jonathan Smith (left for Michigan State); Trent Bray (promoted from defensive coordinator role).

San Diego State

Brady Hoke (retired); Sean Lewis (hired from Colorado, where he was offensive coordinator).

San Jose State

• Brent Brennan (left for Arizona); Ken Nuimatalolo (hired from UCLA where he was director of leadership and briefly tight ends coach).

South Alabama

• Kane Wommack (left for Alabama, to be co-defensive coordinator); Major Applewhite (promoted from offensive coordinator role).

Syracuse

• Dino Babers (fired); Fran Brown (hired from Georgia, where he was defensive backs coach).

Texas A&M

• Jimbo Fisher (fired); Mike Elko (hired from Duke).

Troy

• Jon Sumrall (left for Tulane); Gerad Parker (hired from Notre Dame, where he was offensive coordinator).

Tulane

• Willie Fritz (left for Houston); Jon Sumrall (hired from Troy).

UCLA

• Chip Kelly (left for Ohio State, to be offensive coordinator); DeShaun Foster (promoted from running backs coach).

UTEP

• Dana Dimel (fired); Scotty Walden (hired from Austin Peay).

Washington

• Kalen DeBoer (left for Alabama); Jedd Fisch (hired from Arizona).

Wyoming

• Craig Bohl (retired); Jay Sawvel (promoted from defensive coordinator).