The 2021-22 coaching carousel was one of the wildest in college football history, but 2025-26 could perhaps surpass it, with a dozen changes made before the start of November. It’s a good time to look back four years at that 2021 carousel and regrade the hires. (We’ve previously regraded the 2016, 2017 and 2019 cycles).

There were 29 coaching hires in 2021-22. Of those, 21 received at least one A-range grade from The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel, ESPN or CBS Sports. On a regrade, only nine received a grade in the A range. Six left for other jobs or retired, eight were fired and 15 are still in their current roles.

Coaching hires rarely work out as anticipated. Eighty-one of 136 current FBS head coaches have been at their school for three years or fewer, making this class relatively successful despite some high-profile misses.

Before we move into the heart of coaching carousel season, let’s take a look back.

Power 5Duke

Out: David Cutcliffe
In: Mike Elko

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: A
CBS Sports: C+

Regrade: B+

David Cutcliffe had brought Duke its best run of success — six bowls in seven years — before falling back to five wins over his final two seasons. Enter Elko, coming from Texas A&M as defensive coordinator. He brought the program back up, with a 16-9 record in just two seasons, before returning to Texas A&M as head coach. This tenure would probably get a higher grade if it lasted more than two years.

Florida

Out: Dan Mullen
In: Billy Napier

Original grades
The Athletic: A
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: A

Regrade: D+

A championship-winning Group of 5 head coach with an Alabama and Clemson background, Napier looked like a brilliant hire at the time. But it went terribly. Mullen had gone 34-15 in four seasons, with three top-15 finishes, and was fired with a 5-6 record in Year 4. Napier was worse, going 22-23 in four seasons with one winning season. He was also fired in Year 4. The two coaches combined for the first run of three consecutive losing seasons at Florida since 1948.

This grade is kept from being an F because the Gators at least remained in regular bowl contention, and Napier did improve recruiting late in his tenure. The next coach will have a chance to keep talented players like D.J. Lagway, Jadan Baugh and Dallas Wilson.

LSU

Out: Ed Orgeron
In: Brian Kelly

Original grades
The Athletic: A-
ESPN: B+
CBS Sports: A

Regrade: C

Kelly was hired with a massive 10-year contract and expected to win a national championship. He didn’t get close, and that failure will now cost LSU as much as $53 million, the second-largest buyout ever. His hire was a stunning coup at the time; no sitting head coach had left Notre Dame for another job in more than a century. The previous three LSU head coaches had won national titles, including Ed Orgeron, who was fired less than two years after his title. That was the bar.

Kelly won games, with a 34-14 record in four seasons and one SEC Championship Game appearance, and produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Jayden Daniels. But he never won the SEC, made the College Football Playoff or finished in the top 10, which are the expectations. It would’ve been considered a perfectly fine run at most jobs but not at LSU, which also tripled its roster spending to $18 million for this year’s team, only to get the same middling results. Kelly fixed the broken defense only to then find a broken offense, and he ran out of time and patience. Kelly’s failure to meet the expectations also brought down his athletic director, Scott Woodward, and sent the school into a tailspin in which the governor of Louisiana got himself involved.

Miami

Out: Manny Diaz
In: Mario Cristobal

Original grades
The Athletic: A
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: A

Regrade: B+

Cristobal has been given more money for staff and players than Miami had ever spent before. The results have included notable improvement but also frustration. After two middling seasons, Miami went 10-2 in 2024 and missed the Playoff. This year’s team reached No. 2 in the polls but took two upset losses once again and now sits on the CFP bubble at 6-2. Cristobal has lost four games as a multi-score betting favorite in the last two years, and his teams’ continued management and discipline problems could cost the Canes another chance at the CFP.

Last year was just Miami’s second 10-win season since 2003, and this year could still end with double-digit victories. The program is most certainly better under Cristobal. But the case can also be made that it has fallen short of its talent level, including with a future No. 1 pick at quarterback lack year. Four years without an ACC Championship Game appearance was not the expectation when he got the job. Cristobal has done better than Miami’s recent history but not as well as expected.

Mario Cristobal regrades slightly below his 2021 average. (Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)

Notre Dame

Out: Brian Kelly
In: Marcus Freeman

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: A

Kelly left to win a national championship, but it was Freeman who reached last year’s national championship after two top-20 seasons. Freeman is 39-12 since being promoted to the job, and Notre Dame has upgraded the program infrastructure in all kinds of ways. When Kelly left, people wondered whether Notre Dame had a ceiling in the modern game. Freeman showed that’s not the case after all.

Oklahoma

Out: Lincoln Riley
In: Brent Venables

Original grades
The Athletic: A-
ESPN: B+
CBS Sports: B-

Regrade: C+

Venables has led Oklahoma to its only two losing seasons of the 2000s, and his teams have failed to score a touchdown against Texas three times in four years. At the same time, he has a 10-win season in 2023, and this year’s group is a top-15 outfit on the CFP bubble.

He took over a program that was accustomed to conference titles and CFP appearances, even if it was starting to slip under Riley. He had to reorient the Sooners around a rebuild, and the move to the SEC made that tougher. Ten-win seasons won’t be a given like they used to be, but there are too many holes in Year 4, like the offensive line, to call things a success so far. Still, things are trending upward again, and a strong finish this season could get this up in the B-range. A poor finish could put Venables back on the hot seat.

Oregon

Out: Mario Cristobal
In: Dan Lanning

Original grades
The Athletic: B
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: A

Lanning was a bit of an unknown when Oregon hired him, but he’s 42-7 and posted an undefeated regular season with a Big Ten title last year. Six of those seven losses are to eventual/current top-10 teams, which is the only knock against his tenure. Oregon is still trying to get over that final hump to a national title, but it has one of the best coaches in the country. Lanning isn’t leaving anytime soon, either, with a very school-friendly buyout of at least $20 million.

TCU

Out: Gary Patterson
In: Sonny Dykes

Original grades
The Athletic: B
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: A-

The Horned Frogs hovering around .500 in Gary Patterson’s last four years. Dykes arrived from across town and immediately took TCU to a national championship game appearance, including a CFP semifinal win against Michigan. That was followed by a 5-7 season, but the Frogs rebounded with nine wins last year and a 6-2 start this year. Dykes’ tenure has been inconsistent, but undoubtedly an improvement. TCU is back on track to regular winning, and its magical 2022 run drives this grade.

Texas Tech

Out: Matt Wells
In: Joey McGuire

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: B+

McGuire was hired in early November 2021, much earlier than a typical hire. He became the second Texas Tech head coach to reach a bowl game in each of his first three years, and this year’s team has hovered in the top 15, currently 8-1. How much credit should a coach get for a very public spending spree on players? It’s hard to say, but McGuire has done a solid job regardless.

USC

Out: Clay Helton
In: Lincoln Riley

Original grades
The Athletic: A+
ESPN: A
CBS Sports: A+

Regrade: B-

Riley’s shocking move made him the first Oklahoma coach to leave for another college job in 75 years. He showed up at USC, took over a four-win team and immediately won 11 games, only missing the Playoff because of a Pac-12 title game loss. The Trojans dropped to 8-5 and 7-6 over the next two years and are currently 6-2 and in the top 20. Helton made two New Year’s Six games in his first two seasons. Riley has made one. He did bring this program back from the doldrums, but it’s far from the championship level that was expected. Still, things are generally trending upward this year, including a 2026 recruiting class that currently ranks No. 1.

Lincoln Riley’s program appears to be on the right track after some ho-hum seasons in Los Angeles. (Kirby Lee / USA Today Sports via Imagn Images)

Virginia

Out: Bronco Mendenhall
In: Tony Elliott

Original grades
The Athletic: B
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: C+

Mendenhall shockingly stepped away after five consecutive seasons of .500 ball or better, including an Orange Bowl appearance. Elliott was hired from Clemson with a championship pedigree. UVA went 11-23 in his first three seasons, but the Cavaliers stepped up their player spending and are 8-1 this season with legitimate ACC championship and CFP possibilities. A strong finish to 2025 would push this grade higher.

Virginia Tech

Out: Justin Fuente
In: Brent Pry

Original grades
The Athletic: B
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: D

It seemed like an obvious fit: a good coordinator with previous Virginia Tech experience under Frank Beamer. But Pry’s tenure went as poorly as the end of his predecessor’s. He reached two bowl games but never had a winning regular season in three-plus years, getting fired after an 0-3 start to 2025. Pry’s first game and his last game were both losses to Old Dominion.

Washington

Out: Jimmy Lake
In: Kalen DeBoer

Original grades
The Athletic: B-
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: A+

Lake didn’t make it two full seasons, getting fired with a 7-6 record. In came DeBoer and players like Michael Penix Jr. The Huskies went 25-3 in DeBoer’s two seasons, reaching the 2023 national championship and going 3-0 against Oregon. But after two years, DeBoer decamped for Alabama to replace Nick Saban.

Washington State

Out: Nick Rolovich
In: Jake Dickert

Original grades
The Athletic: B-
ESPN: B+
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: B+

Dickert was promoted to head coach after Rolovich was fired over state laws requiring a COVID-19 vaccine. Dickert did pretty well, going 23-20 with two bowl appearances, even as the Pac-12 fell apart and Washington State saw quarterbacks Cam Ward and John Mateer transfer elsewhere. His tenure saw a decent amount of success amid all kinds of outside drama. Dickert himself left for Wake Forest last offseason.

Jake Dickert left behind the shell of the Pac-12 for the ACC last offseason. (Craig Strobeck / Imagn Images)

Group of 5Akron

Out: Tom Arth
In: Joe Moorhead

Original grades
The Athletic: A
ESPN: A
CBS Sports: A-

Regrade: C-

Akron has had one winning season in the last 20 years, so the bar is low. When Moorhead left the Oregon offensive coordinator job for Akron, it was a surprising step down for someone who could’ve gotten a better job. He took over a program with three total wins over three seasons and has won 11 games over three-plus seasons, so it’s a modest improvement. The program is serving a bowl ban this year due to academics, though making a bowl game seemed unlikely anyway.

Colorado State

Out: Steve Addazio
In: Jay Norvell

Original grades
The Athletic: A
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: A-

Regrade: C

Norvell made the rare move between Mountain West schools, leaving a good run at Nevada for a program with more resources, and it was celebrated by the graders as such. Norvell went 18-26 with one winning season before getting fired after a 2-5 start this year. That eight-win season in 2024 was the program’s most wins since 2014, but not much else went well.

FIU

Out: Butch Davis
In: Mike MacIntyre

Original grades
The Athletic: A
ESPN: B-
CBS Sports: D-

Regrade: C-

MacIntyre had previously turned San Jose State and Colorado from nothing into something, so he got the benefit of the doubt in the grades. He took over an FIU program that was 1-16 in the previous two seasons and posted three 4-8 records. It was an improvement, but not anything notable.

Fresno State

Out: Kalen DeBoer
In: Jeff Tedford

Original grades
The Athletic: A-
ESPN: B-
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: A-

Tedford had done well in his stint at Fresno State from 2017 to ’19 before stepping down due to health reasons to give way to DeBoer. He returned when DeBoer left and again did well, with an 18-8 record and Mountain West championship game appearance in 2022 plus an AP Top 25 finish. But he stepped down once again after two seasons due to health issues.

Georgia Southern

Out: Chad Lunsford
In: Clay Helton

Original grades
The Athletic: C
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: A+

Regrade: B-

Helton got the Georgia Southern job in early November after his early-season firing at USC. He reached bowl games in each of his first three seasons and is 3-5 this year. This is a place that expects to compete for Sun Belt championships and hasn’t, but his run hasn’t been a disaster, either.

Hawaii

Out: Todd Graham
In: Timmy Chang

Original grades
The Athletic: A-
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: N/A

Regrade: C+

Graham was forced out in January 2022 amid allegations of player mistreatment and a mass exodus, so the school brought in a former record-breaking Hawaii quarterback in Chang. He’s 19-27 in three-plus seasons after being tasked with a rebuild, but the Rainbow Warriors are 6-3 this year and trending upward.

Louisiana

Out: Billy Napier
In: Michael Desormeaux

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: B

Desormeaux was promoted from within to replace Napier, who had won 34 games in the previous three years and took numerous good players to Florida with him. The Cajuns have played in three consecutive bowls, including a 10-4 season with a Sun Belt West championship last year, but this year’s team is 3-6 and dealing with costly injuries.

Louisiana Tech

Out: Skip Holtz
In: Sonny Cumbie

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: B+
CBS Sports: B

Regrade: D+

Skip Holtz had reached seven consecutive bowl games but was fired after one 3-9 season. Cumbie comes from the Mike Leach tree and had done well as Texas Tech’s interim head coach in 2021, earning a head coaching shot. But he didn’t win more than five games in any of his first three seasons. This year’s team is 5-3 with a stout defense, so a bowl trip and grade upgrade look possible.

Can Louisiana Tech get to a bowl game under Cumbie this season? (Stephen Lew / Imagn Images)

Nevada

Out: Jay Norvell
In: Kevin Wilson

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: C+

Regrade: F

Wilson was a longtime Nevada assistant who’d done a good job coaching Oregon’s linebackers. It seemed like a natural fit, but he posted consecutive 2-10 seasons and was fired after two years.

New Mexico State

Out: Doug Martin
In: Jerry Kill

Original grades
The Athletic: B-
ESPN: B
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: A+

Kill stepped down as Minnesota head coach in 2015 due to health issues but stuck around as an assistant at various places. He got the NMSU job and did what he’s always done: Create a winner. The Aggies had played in one bowl game in the previous 60 years, but Kill (and quarterback Diego Pavia) reached two bowls in two seasons, including 10 wins in 2023, before Kill again stepped down as a head coach due to health concerns. He and Pavia are now at Vanderbilt.

SMU

Out: Sonny Dykes
In: Rhett Lashlee

Original grades
The Athletic: B
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: A-

Regrade: A

When Dykes left for TCU, SMU turned to his former offensive coordinator. The Mustangs won the American Conference in 2023, their first conference title in 40 years, and then reached the ACC Championship Game and the CFP last year in their first ACC season. Lashlee inherited a program in good shape and made it better by fixing the defense and the late-season swoons.

Temple

Out: Rod Carey
In: Stan Drayton

Original grades
The Athletic: A
ESPN: B-
CBS Sports: C+

Regrade: F

A program that became a Group of 5 winner in the mid-2010s had fallen back, so in came Drayton from Texas, with a pre-existing relationship with Temple’s AD. Drayton inherited a 3-9 team and posted three 3-win seasons himself before getting fired last year.

Troy

Out: Chip Lindsey
In: Jon Sumrall

Original grades
The Athletic: B+
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: C+

Regrade: A+

A former Troy assistant, Sumrall came in, took over a program that had posted three consecutive five-win seasons and changed it instantly. Sumrall went 23-4 with two Sun Belt championships in two years before leaving for Tulane.

UConn

Out: Randy Edsall
In: Jim Mora

Original grades
The Athletic: C+
ESPN: B+
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: A-

When Edsall was fired, some wondered what the point of UConn football even was anymore, especially after conference realignment and seven out of eight seasons with three wins or fewer. Hiring Mora, who’d had a moderately successful run at UCLA, was a splash. To everyone’s credit, Mora is 24-23 in four seasons, and UConn is one win away from a third bowl appearance in four years.

UMass

Out: Walt Bell
In: Don Brown

Original grades
The Athletic: B
ESPN: A-
CBS Sports: B+

Regrade: F

Brown inherited a bottomed-out UMass program he’d once led to an FCS national championship game but didn’t do much the second time around, going 6-28 in three seasons before getting fired.