By Dylan Edelman From blitzes to bowl games, this year in college football has been an unexpected one. Whether it was through firing, retirement, or accepting a new position at another school, the influx of coaching changes shuffled about like a deck of cards in the hands of a blackjack dealer. Teams like LSU and Oregon, who were once powerhouses of their conferences, have fallen into lackluster performances. With 17 open positions, including several Power 5 slots, the hires seem more safe than sensational according to postgame.com. Baylor (7-6) faced a head coach loss at the beginning of the season, amid a sexual assault scandal involving multiple players. Seven year veteran Art Briles was fired and Matt Rhule was hired as interim coach. Rhule was the head coach for Temple, when the Owls were the American East Division champion in 2015.
Houston (9-3) was left high and dry at the end of the season when Tom Herman resigned after accepting a position from Texas. In his place, the Cougar’s offensive coordinator, Major Applewhite, was promoted to the head coach role. LSU (8-4) was also plagued with coaching problems at the onset of the season. Les Miles was fired four games in, when the Tigers had a 2-2 record. Initially hired as an interim coach, Ed Orgeron led the team on a 5-2 finish. Inevitably, LSU hired Orgeron for the 2017 season after they could not lure any big names for the job. Oregon (4-8) canned Mark Helfrich, a Chip Kelly protege, after a disappointing season. Though the Ducks tried to lure Kelly back, they opted to hire Willie Taggart- a former college player and previous colleague of Jim Harbaugh. Purdue (3-9) had coaching issues midway through the season, as Darrell Hazell was let go in week six when the Boilermakers were 3-3. Their interim coach, Gerad Parker, fared even worse, ending the season 0-6. Ultimately, Purdue needed a new vision. They hired Jeff Brohm a former college and NFL player. Texas (5-7) had a less than mediocre year. After a long standing reputation as being a powerhouse team, the Longhorns wanted visible results that did not seem to materialize. Charlie Strong was out, and Tom Herman accepted the helm. Though we are more than six months away from the 2017 college football season, it shall be interesting to see how successful these changes will be in the long run.
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Dylan EdelmanWilson Senior Archives
February 2020
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