College Football Coaching Carousel – Alumni Style
College Athletic Directors are free to hire anyone they feel is qualified enough to run their football programs.
But what if that wasn’t the case? What if college ADs could ONLY hire qualified coaches who are an alum of the school?
In this hypothetical world, here is how the college football landscape would look.
Note – priority 1 is current college head coaches (over assistants or NFL coaches). Tried to use active coaches as best as I could. Current school coaches take precedence over hypothetical coaches.
ACC
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Boston College | Brian Flores | Former Miami Dolphins head coach |
| Clemson | Tony Elliott | Current Virginia head coach and former Clemson OC |
| Duke | Bill Poggi | Current (new) Charlotte head coach |
| Georgia Tech | Brent Key* | Current Georgia Tech head coach |
| Florida State | Deion Sanders | Current Colorado head coach |
| Louisville | Jeff Brohm* | Current Louisville head coach |
| Miami | Mario Cristobol* | Current Miami head coach |
| NC State | Bill Cowher | Former Steelers head coach 1992-2006 and current CBS NFL analyst |
| North Carolina | Kevin Wilson | Current Tulsa head coach and former Indiana coach |
| Pittsburgh | Matt Campbell | Current Iowa State head coach |
| Syracuse | Randy Edsall | Former UConn head coach |
| Virginia | Derek Dooley | Former head coach at Tennessee |
| Virginia Tech | Shane Beamer | Current South Carolina head coach |
| Wake Forest | Josh Gattis | Current Maryland offensive coordinator |
Notes:
- Clemson – current OC Tony Elliott
- Randy Edsall over Doug Marrone because Marrone previously coached Syracuse and opted to leave for NFL
- Current Titans HC Arthur Smith is a UNC alum
- Virginia Tech – current Bucs head coach Bruce Arians
Big Ten
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Illinois | N/A | |
| Indiana | Rod Carey | Current Indiana OL coach and former Temple (and Northern Illinois) head coach |
| Iowa | Mark Stoops | Current Kentucky head coach |
| Maryland | Frank Reich | Current Carolina Panthers head coach |
| Michigan | Jim Harbaugh* | Current Michigan head coach |
| Michigan State | Pat Shurmur | Former NY Giants head coach |
| Minnesota | Marc Trestman | Former Chicago Bears, CFL and XFL head coach |
| Nebraska | Scott Frost | Former Nebraska coach |
| Northwestern | Pat Fitzgerald* | Current Northwestern coach |
| Ohio State | Luke Fickell | Former Cincinnati Bearcats head coach and former OSU Defensive Coordinator |
| Penn State | Matt Rhule | Current Nebraska head coach and former Baylor coach |
| Purdue | Kevin Sumlin | Former Arizona and Texas A&M head coach |
| Rutgers | Stephen Belichick | Current New England Patriots defensive assistant |
| Wisconsin | Mel Tucker | Current Michigan State head coach |
Notes:
- Iowa – former Oklahoma HC Bob Stoops, current Illinois coach Bret Bielema, Nevada coach Jay Norvell
- Les Miles is also a Michigan man
- Michigan State – former Jets HC Adam Gase, Maryland OC Dan Enos
- Ohio State – Titans HC Mike Vrabel
- Wisconsin – Mich St HC Mel Tucker
Big 12
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Baylor | Blake Anderson | Current Utah State head coach (previously at Arkansas St) |
| BYU | Kalani Sitake* | Current BYU head coach |
| Cincinnati | Urban Meyer | Former Ohio State head coach |
| Iowa State | Chris Ash | Former Rutgers Head Coach |
| Kansas | Charlie Weis Jr | Current Ole Miss OC |
| Kansas State | Brent Venables | Current Oklahoma head coach |
| Houston | Clay Helton | Current Georgia Southern HC and former USC coach |
| Oklahoma | Josh Heupel | Current Tennessee head coach and former UCF coach |
| Oklahoma State | Mike Gundy* | Current Oklahoma State head coach since 2005 |
| TCU | Dan Sharpe | Current TCU defensive coordinator |
| Texas | Major Applewhite | Former Houston Head Coach and current South Alabama OC |
| Texas Tech | Lincoln Riley | Current USC head coach |
| UCF | Tim Beck | Current Coastal Carolina head coach |
| West Virginia | Terry Bowden | Current Louisiana-Monroe head coach |
|
Notes:
PAC-12 |
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Arizona | Antonio Pierce | Current Arizona St LB Coach |
| Arizona State | Kenny Dillingham* | Current Arizona State head coach |
| California | Ron Rivera | Current Washington Commanders head coach |
| Colorado | Ryan Walters | Current Illinois head coach |
| Oregon | Justin Wilcox | Current Cal head coach |
| Oregon State | Jonathan Smith | Current Oregon State head coach |
| Stanford | David Shaw | Current Stanford head coach |
| UCLA | Karl Dorrell | Current Colorado head coach |
| USC | Jack Del Rio | Former Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders head coach |
| Utah | Gary Anderson | Former Utah State, Wisconsin, Oregon St head coach |
| Washington | Jim Mora Jr | Current UConn head coach |
| Washington St | N/A |
Notes:
- UCLA – SJ St coach Brent Brennan
- Oregon State – Virginia coach Broncos Mendenhall
SEC
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Alabama | Dabo Swinney | Current Clemson head coach |
| Arkansas | Gus Malzahn | Current UCF head coach and former Auburn coach |
| Auburn | Tony Levine | Former Houston head coach |
| Florida | Jedd Fisch | Current Arizona head coach |
| Georgia | Kirby Smart* | Current Georgia head coach |
| Kentucky | Jon Sumrall | Current Troy head coach |
| LSU | N/A | |
| Missouri | Jim Leavitt | Former USF head coach |
| Mississippi St | Joe Judge | Former NY Giants head coach |
| Ole Miss | Jay Hopson | Former Southern Miss head coach |
| South Carolina | Mark Dantonio | Former Michigan St head coach |
| Tennessee | Tee Martin | Current Tennessee offensive assistant |
| Texas A&M | Dan Campbell | Current Detroit Lions head coach |
| Vanderbilt | Clark Lea* | Current Vanderbilt head coach; previously Notre Dame defensive coordinator |
Notes:
- Alabama – Duke head coach David Cutcliffe
- Arkansas – current FIU coach Butch Davis
- Florida – former Auburn coach Gene Chizik
- Texas A&M – former Broncos and Texans head coach Gary Kubiak and former Arkansas head coach Chad Morris
- Vanderbilt – former Texans head coach David Culley, current UNC coach Mack Brown
AAC
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Cincinnati | Urban Meyer | Former Ohio State and Florida head coach |
| East Carolina | Ruffin McNeil | Former ECU head coach and current Oklahoma defensive assistant |
| Houston | Clay Helton | Former USC head coach |
| Memphis | Keith Butler | Current Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator |
| Navy | Tom O’Brien | Former Boston College and NC St head coach |
| Temple | Todd Bowles | Current TB Bucs head coach |
| Tulane | N/A | |
| Tulsa | GJ Kinne | Current Texas State head coach |
| UCF | Tim Beck | Current Coastal Carolina head coach |
| UConn | Kirk Ferentz | Current Iowa head coach |
| USF | N/A |
Independents
Army: Mike Sullivan (Most recently Denver Broncos QB Coach)
Notre Dame: Skip Holtz (Current Louisiana Tech head coach)
BYU: Kalani Sitake (Current BYU head coach since 2016).
Other options include Miss St coach Mike Leach, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian
Mountain West
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Air Force | Troy Calhoun* | Current Air Force head coach |
| Boise State | Andy Avalos* | Current Boise State head coach |
| Fresno State | Lane Kiffin | Current head coach at Ole Miss |
| Hawaii | Ken Niumatalolo | Former Navy head coach |
| New Mexico | Danny Gonzales* | Current New Mexico head coach |
| San Diego State | Herm Edwards | Former Arizona St head coach |
| San Jose State | Marcus Arroyo | Current UNLV head coach |
| UNLV | Shane Steichen | Current Indianapolis Colts head coach |
| Utah State | Matt Wells | Former Utah St and Texas Tech head coach |
| Wyoming | Chuck Pagano | Former Indianapolis Colts head coach |
Notes:
- Boise St – former coach and current Auburn coach Bryan Harsin, current Minnesota OC Mike Sanford Jr, current Cowboys OC Kellen Moore
- Hawaii – Syracuse coach Dino Babers
Conference USA
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Marshall | Byron Leftwich | Former TB Bucs offensive coordinator |
| Middle Tennessee State | Walt Bell | Former UMass head coach |
| Rice | Jeremy Bates | Former NY Jets offensive coordinator |
| Southern Miss | Hugh Freeze | Current Auburn head coach |
| Western Kentucky | Willie Taggart | Former FAU head coach |
N/A: Florida International, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Old Dominion
MAC
| School | New Coach | Current/previous jobs |
| Akron | Charlie Frye | Current FAU OC |
| Ball State | Mike Neu* | Current Ball State head coach |
| Bowling Green | Dean Pees | Former Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator |
| Buffalo | Brent Pry | Current Virginia Tech head coach |
| Central Michigan | John Bonamego | Former Central Michigan head coach |
| Kent State | Nick Saban | GOAT |
| Miami Ohio | Sean McVay | Current LA Rams head coach |
| Northern Illinois | Thomas Hammock* | Current Northern Illinois coach |
| Toledo | Matt Eberflus | Current Chicago Bears head coach |
| Western Michigan | Tim Lester | Former WMU head coach |
Notes:
- Ball St – SD St coach Brady Hoke
- Miami Ohio – Ravens coach John Harbaugh
- NIU – Minnesota coach PJ Fleck
Sun Belt
Appalachian St: Shawn Clark*, Current Appalachian State head coach
Other options include Scott Satterfield (current Louisville and previous App St head coach) Paul Johnson (former Georgia Tech Head Coach) Steve Wilks, (long time NFL defensive assistant) Ron Prince (former Kansas St and current Howard head coach)
Louisiana-Lafayette: Michael Desormeaux*. Current Louisiana head coach
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