Checking in on the first-year Power Five coaches
On Wednesday, Rivals looked at coaches on the hot seat. Today, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney takes a look at how first-year coaches are performing across the country:
HEAT CHECK: How toasty are some coaches' seats getting?
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Zach Arnett, Mississippi State
Taking over for Mike Leach after his untimely passing was a difficult proposition in every way imaginable. On the field, the roster was built to run the Air Raid offense and Arnett decided to implement a more pro-style system. In 2022, Mississippi State threw the ball 634 times and ran it 295. So far this season, the Bulldogs are far more balanced with 190 runs and 182 passes.
So far, Mississippi State has beaten three non-conference teams in Southeastern Louisiana, Arizona and Western Michigan but lost to all three SEC opponents – LSU, South Carolina and Alabama. All the remaining games except for Southern Miss are conference foes so Arnett needs to find ways to turn that trend around fast. Playing .500 ball in the SEC won’t cut it. The Bulldogs are No. 12 in the SEC recruiting rankings with five four-star commits.
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Jeff Brohm, Louisville
Things could not be going better for Brohm in his first season back at his alma mater and some are whispering that the Cardinals could be this year’s version of TCU, which made it to the national title game last season. First things first, though, as Louisville is coming off a convincing win over Notre Dame, remains undefeated and is now ranked No. 14 nationally.
Brohm turned things around in his final two seasons at Purdue before coming back to the Cardinals and Louisville could win the remainder of its games if it continues to play so well, averaging more than 36 points per game and giving up 17.6. Despite the early success, recruiting has not taken off yet as Louisville is No. 12 in the ACC team rankings.
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Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
It has been a challenging time at Arizona State as Dillingham took over following the Herm Edwards debacle and the surprising thing so far is that the Sun Devils’ offense has been stuck in neutral. The cupboards are definitely not stocked with playmakers but quarterback has been an issue for the 1-5 Sun Devils and that one win was a three-point decision over Southern Utah.
The last two weeks have been close losses to Cal and Colorado (which required a 96-yard drive in the final minutes before giving up a game-winning field goal) but the toughest part of the schedule is really coming up as Arizona State closes with Washington, Washington State, Utah, UCLA, Oregon and Arizona. The Sun Devils are fifth in the Pac-12 team rankings with three four-star pledges.
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Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Fickell just knows how to win football games even as he’s transitioning the Badgers into a more pass-friendly offense, Wisconsin is still predominantly running the ball and crafting its play-calling around its current roster. Fickell’s record is 57-11 and he’s 4-1 this season at Wisconsin with a quarterback who hasn’t been lighting it up yet.
The schedule is incredibly favorable for the Badgers down the stretch as Iowa and Ohio State are by far the toughest opponents and then every other game should be a convincing win. A stumble in Pullman, Wash., earlier this season is Wisconsin’s only loss as Fickell is doing a great job – unsurprisingly – so far. Wisconsin also sits fourth in the Big Ten recruiting rankings behind only Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State with 10 four-stars – nearly half the class.
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Hugh Freeze, Auburn
Auburn was an unmitigated disaster under former coach Bryan Harsin and Freeze has quickly injected life and excitement into the program. The Tigers battled back-to-back national champs Georgia to the end. The Tigers’ only other loss came at Texas A&M as they’re now 3-2 heading into a bye week.
On top of being better on the field with an offense that can’t yet kick into high gear because it’s void of playmakers at key positions, recruiting is going extraordinarily well. Two of the top four prospects in the Alabama state rankings are committed to the Tigers and both Demarcus Riddick (Georgia) and Perry Thompson (Alabama) are flips. Nearly every top prospect in the recruiting class is from the state or from neighboring Georgia. Ranked seventh in the SEC team standings, 16 of 18 commits are four-stars.
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Brent Key, Georgia Tech
Key finished out the 2022 season with a respectable 4-4 record following the firing of Geoff Collins and the Yellow Jackets are now 3-3 with a bad loss to Bowling Green and some luck on their side when Miami stupidly did not kneel down to end the game, fumbled and then Georgia Tech scored to win it.
Always a tough place to win, Georgia Tech was mired in three-win seasons under Collins as he tried to evolve from Paul Johnson’s quirky offense and it didn’t work. Key is finding more early success but the remaining schedule is challenging. Georgia Tech is recruiting well sitting sixth in the ACC team rankings but only two of 25 commits are four-stars.
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Matt Rhule, Nebraska
Rhule has a history of turning around programs at Temple and Baylor and this is another challenge – maybe his toughest yet – as the Huskers have endured six straight losing seasons and the Big Ten is getting stronger. Still, there are some green shoots that Rhule can utilize to keep the program going in the right direction.
Nebraska is 3-3 with wins over Northern Illinois, Louisiana Tech and Illinois but reality hit in a close loss to Minnesota and then blowouts to Colorado and Michigan. The schedule does lighten up in the next few weeks before a challenging close.
Nebraska is doing well on the recruiting front as well ranked fifth in the Big Ten but only five of 26 commits are four-stars. A lot of talent is needed on the roster and that could come from the high school and transfer portal ranks.
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Deion Sanders, Colorado
In 16 of the last 17 seasons, Colorado has had a losing record. That’s the reality Sanders dealt with coming into his first season and what he’s done almost instantaneously in Boulder has been incredible. He revamped the roster through the transfer portal. He breathed life – and expectations – into the program. CU expects to win now so even when it slipped by Arizona State over the weekend, Sanders sounded disappointed that it didn’t play better.
After getting blown out by Oregon, Colorado fought back the following week and challenged USC late. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders is a Heisman contender and has first-round NFL Draft prospects. Before his injury against Colorado State, Travis Hunter was one of the best players in the country. The entire college football world has been enthralled by what Sanders has already accomplished there. The team is 3-2 but after Stanford this weekend the schedule does not get much easier in a loaded Pac-12.
Recruiting has been slow with only 10 commits but one wonders if Sanders is trying to strike a balance between high school players and more transfer guys soon.
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Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
Following in the success of Luke Fickell and making the transition to the Big 12 is not easy and there have been some hiccups early this season. After starting with wins over Eastern Kentucky and Pitt, the Bearcats have lost to Miami (Ohio), Oklahoma and BYU before starting back up again this weekend against Iowa State.
Recruiting has been going OK as Cincinnati finds itself in seventh place in the Big 12 standings but among 21 commitments there are no four-stars. There are also no more out-of-conference games as the Bearcats close with seven straight weeks of Big 12 opponents.
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Troy Taylor, Stanford
Stanford ran out of gas in the final years of the David Shaw era. He had a phenomenal reputation as a coach in the early years, but then went 4-8, 3-9 and 3-9 in his final three seasons before resigning. Taylor is looking at a complete rebuild and refocus as the pass-happy coach is looking to change the offense and bring Stanford back to its winning ways.
It’s been a slog so far as the Cardinal is 1-4 this season – including blowouts to USC and Oregon, a one-point loss to Arizona and an inexcusable loss to Taylor’s former team, Sacramento State. Through this, recruiting has gone extraordinarily well. Stanford is second in the Pac-12 team recruiting rankings with seven of 27 pledges rated as four-star prospects.
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Ryan Walters, Purdue
Purdue is coming off nine- and eight-win seasons under former coach Jeff Brohm and the Boilermakers find themselves at 2-4 now and a matchup against Ohio State coming up this weekend. Walters is known as a fantastic, young defensive mind with the bona fides to now run his own program. There have been some highs and lows early in this season.
As for recruiting Purdue finds itself sixth in the Big Ten as three of 23 commits are four-star prospects. Walters and his staff have also done well in the transfer portal landing some elite players but more are needed to keep building this program.