2023 Coaching Carousel Review – The Fine Nine
The coaching carousel of 2023 is still ongoing but these nine major jobs have been filled after a brief period of coming and goings. Who are these coaches? What kind of recruiters and developers are they? Who could be on their staff? How will they fare in 2024?
Duke
Duke was the last of the “Power 5” jobs to fill their vacancy with a high-profile name. Former Miami head coach Manny Diaz was hired to replace Mike Elko who left for Texas A&M. Diaz has extensive ties up and down the entire Atlantic Seaboard and South. He began his coaching career at Florida State in 1998 under the tutelage of all-time defensive mastermind Mickey Andrews. The new Dukie has had a sterling career littered with top-end defensive rankings. He has served as the defensive coordinator for Penn State for the past two seasons. The Nittany Lions’ defense flourished as a top twenty overall unit during his time there.
Recruiting is where Diaz earns his salary the most given his ties to the state of Florida and elsewhere in the South. It will be interesting to see how he does with a Blue Devil program that was left in good shape by Elko. If he can win a few occasional battles in the Sunshine State with the heavyweights, he can be successful in Durham. He will have to move quickly on filling his staff as ESD is coming up rapidly. Several Elko assistants have left for College Station as well. The OC hire will be the most critical as QB Riley Leonard is in the portal and likely to leave.
Duke did well to hire Diaz given his ties to the region and reputation as a developer of defensive talent plus recruiting ability.
GRADE: B
Houston
Insert fun offensive mind here and watch it go for Houston again. The 63-year-old coach has revived Tulane into a bowl contender after doing the same at Georgia Southern. Fritz led the Green Wave to a 23-4 record over the past two seasons and has a scintillating Cotton Bowl win over USC. Fritz’s story is one of a long journey to get a bigger job. He has won everywhere he’s been including the JUCO and Division II ranks. Houston is a good program that matches his profile with the program. Historically, they have trended towards offensive-minded hires and Fritz is in spades.
The Cougars need a makeover as they struggled in their Big 12 debut season. The rebuild might take a little bit to get going as they transition from the Air Raid to more of a spread under Fritz. Fortunately for them, they reside in a recruiting hotbed in a growing area of the state. While it’s not a true Year 0, it might be a Year 1 proof of concept season in 2024. To that end, Fritz brought several key assistants from New Orleans such as DC Shiel Wood, and DL coach Gerald Chatman. To replace Fritz, Tulane hired rising star Jon Sumrall from Troy.
GRADE: A
Indiana
The Hoosiers hired a rising superstar in the coaching ranks with Cignetti. He led the very successful transition to FBS for James Madison. Cignetti has made the FCS playoffs and has been very good while getting there throughout his career. He played collegiately at West Virginia and comes from a coaching family as Frank Cignetti Sr is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Brother Frank, Jr also coaches. While at JMU during the FCS playoffs, he has made it to at least the semifinal round every season.
The guy can coach a little bit given his success at every stop. Recruiting will surely improve for the Hoosiers as they begin the long road to relevance in the newly expanded Big Ten. To that end, he has made a lot of impactful hires including bringing over a lot of JMU coaches. Bob Bostad was retained to coach the offensive line. Before the start of his head coaching career, he was an assistant on Nick Saban’s first Alabama staff. Cignetti knows how to recruit as well given his resume at Alabama.
He has ties to up and down the Atlantic Seaboard and the Mid-Atlantic region so it will help Indiana’s recruiting base.
GRADE: A
Michigan State
Michigan State hired Coach Smith hours after November’s Civil War rivalry game against Oregon. He has a great reputation as a talent developer during his coaching stops. The OSU alum left for the greener pastures of the Big Ten after the Pac-12 imploded this fall. He is a former quarterback by trade and has played a part in developing numerous draft picks such as Isaiah Hodgins, Jermar Jefferson, Luke Musgrave, and Jake Luton in Corvallis. DJ Uiagaleilei also resurrected his stagnating career under Smith’s watch this season.
The recruiting game isn’t his greatest strength as a coach but with Spartan Green behind him, maybe that improves. He brought a lot of good coaches from his OSU staff as well, including Brian Lindgren (OC / QB), Brian Wozniak (TE), and Blue Adams (Secondary) among others. Smith recently hired a Big Ten veteran DC as well in Minnesota’s Joe Rossi. Smith will bring stability to a university that has seen a lot of scandal over the years. He knows what it takes to pluck a few wins over instate powerhouses.
You can find it here for a more in-depth look at what Smith brings to the table as a coach.
GRADE: B
Mississippi State
Lebby is the hire to replace the fired Zach Arnett, who had one of the shortest tenures in college football history. However, his hiring does not come without controversy as he was part of the Baylor sexual assault scandal. Lebby courted further scandal for the program employing him as the verboten Art Briles was seen on the field this past season in OU gear. Initially, he was steadfast in his defense of the act before he apologized for the gigantic misstep.
The new MSU coach started his coaching career at his alma mater, Oklahoma as a student assistant. He moved on to Baylor before the 2008 season to serve under his future father-in-law, Briles. Lebby was part of the staff for eight seasons before the ultimate decision to part ways with the scandalous Briles. During that time, he was alleged to have not reported an assault committed by a player. In addition to that horrific misstep, he was found to have made shirts in support of Briles. After being relieved of his duties, he landed at the NAIA program Southeastern for one season.
He was hired by former OU teammate Josh Heupel at UCF to direct a top-ten offense in 2017. Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss hired him in 2019 where he again succeded in calling a top-tier offense. Lebby was at OU for two seasons, leading to a top-15 offense. He has directed players like McKenzie Milton, Dillon Gabriel, Elijah Moore, and Marvin Mims to massive success.
Lebby should revive the Bulldogs offense but the defense remains a question mark as it stands. Can the Bulldogs succeed through yet another offensive philosophy markedly different than Mike Leach’s?
GRADE: B
Oregon State
Oregon State promoted Bray to head coach after Jonathan Smith left for the Michigan State job. Bray was the defensive coordinator before the promotion. OSU is already in a tough spot even without the Pac-2 issues staring them in the face. It remains to be seen how the court drama plays out but on the field, they have lost a lot to the portal. Bray is an alum so he should be in it for the long haul trying to maintain some semblance of consistency in these uncertain times. The staff was depleted also as Smith took a majority of the coaching staff and off-field personnel.
Bray has extensive ties to the school as he’s played and coached in Corvallis for most of his adult life. Outside of a three-year stint as an assistant at Nebraska, he’s been on the West Coast. His coaching CV is littered with serving under former OSU coaches at other stops like Dennis Erickson and Mike Riley. If there ever was a bigger supporter of the Beavs, Bray would be hard to top.
It remains to be seen what ultimately becomes of the program but they have the right guy to fortify the dam.
GRADE: B
San Diego State
Lewis was hired to replace the now-retired Brady Hoke. The coach was previously at Colorado as the offensive coordinator until his infamous demotion as the primary playcaller. He was the head coach at Kent State before leaving for Boulder. He led the Golden Flashes to two bowl appearances in five seasons, which is remarkable given the history of that program. His staff is coming together nicely with hires such as Rob Aurich (Idaho DC) and Eric Schmidt (Washington EDGE coach). The current Aztecs coach played collegiately for the University of Wisconsin as a tight end.
San Diego State is often a perennial contender for the MWC championship and is in a beautiful location. There’s a lot to sell for Lewis and his staff to prep and transfer recruits despite their G6 status. They are a solid middle-tier program with a strong legacy in the sport. If Lewis can get his players, the Aztecs could reach a higher plateau down the road. It’s a good fit for both the coach and the program in need of an offensive spark.
GRADE: B
Syracuse
Syracuse wanted some of that good magic that the reigning back-to-back national champions had when hiring Brown to replace the fired Dino Babers. Coach Brown has extensive ties to the Northeast as he began his collegiate coaching career at Temple, mostly under Matt Rhule. He played his college football at Western Carolina. The Jersey native served under Rhule at Baylor as DB coach and was in contention for the Temple head coaching job in 2018. The Owls had a weird offseason as Manny Diaz was hired for the job and then left for Miami in two weeks. Diaz’s replacement, Rod Carey retained Brown on staff with a co-DC title. He then left for Greg Schiano’s staff at Rutgers for two seasons before his Georgia stint.
He has developed numerous draft picks during his Baylor / Temple / Rutgers tenure. Draft picks include Jalen Pitre, Haason Reddick, Harrison Hand, Kelee Ringo, and Derion Kendrick.
In an upset over Mike Elko and Texas A&M, he recruited the Aggies’ interim head coach Elijah Robinson to be his defensive coordinator. Brown also has hired Nick Williams as the defensive ends coach. The trio is the elite of the elite recruiters in the country and should get the Orange going quickly in that regard. Brown’s reputation precedes him as a recruiter plus his ties to the region make him a good hire for the Orange.
GRADE: A
Texas A&M
The A&M coaching search was a wild ride not seen since the infamous Greg Schiano to Tennessee bonanza. Ultimately, they hired the best candidate in former Jimbo Fisher assistant and Duke head coach Mike Elko. However, the coach has some work to do in the roster management area as many past recruits have entered the portal. A change in coaching staff brings about changes in recruiting philosophy.
Elko has made several key hires like GM Derek Miller (Duke), OC Collin Klein (Kansas State), CBs Ish Aristide (Duke), OL Adam Cushing (Duke), and RB Trooper Taylor. Klein is the former 2012 Heisman Finalist and has been working his way up the ranks in Manhattan. Coach Aristide served as an assistant under Elko at A&M. Taylor brings an immense amount of SEC recruiting firepower on his CV and served as RB coach under Elko at Duke. DL coach Sean Spencer is another one who has SEC experience as well.
It remains to be seen how he can finish off the 2024 recruiting and portal cycle, Elko is known for being a great developer of talent. For more on Elko’s coaching and recruiting chops, you can read his profile by NDD here.
GRADE: A for the actual hire, C+ for the execution, so a B+ overall
Joseph is a veteran writer of many publications past and present. He is a long-time Tennessee Titans fan and draft scout/analyst, along with writing about the league is a passion project. Mr. Yun has been credentialed to the Senior Bowl multiple times. Readers will find he brings the juice with a scout’s eye and analytical mind. Follow me on Twitter @2Yoon2ZeroBlitz for more good stuff!