Hire to Fire: A look at Historic 2025 Coaching Carousel
Let’s start with a game. What college athletic director said the following after firing their football coach this season?
- “We hold all our programs to the highest standards in our shared pursuit of excellence.”
- “Ultimately, the success at the level that [our school] demands simply did not materialize.”
- “It ultimately did not translate into the level of success we expect on the field.”
The answer: three different Power Four program leaders. Penn State’s Pat Kraft, LSU’s Scott Woodward and Florida’s Scott Stricklin have each mastered the same corporate messaging as to why it was time to cut ties. But what is the “standard” of which they speak?
Fans don’t need to be an analyst to realize just how dramatic the 2025 college football coaching carousel has become. This year’s 12 coaches is the greatest number unemployed before November in the last 10 years.
On any given Sunday, a fan could be topping off their morning coffee when groundbreaking news from a top program wakes them up instead.
It’s become the new norm. Athletic directors are quicker than a Soprano’s character to pull the trigger on someone they once trusted. Only this time getting whacked comes with a hefty buyout. The three quotes above cost a combined $124 million in contract buyouts.
And as the paychecks grow, so do the demands and expectations set by schools and fans in modern college football.
James Franklin was a field goal away from a national championship appearance and rebuilt Penn State into a powerhouse. But then he loses three games in a row, and he’s gone.
Brian Kelly got beat by one of the greatest teams Texas A&M’s has had. Next day: he’s done.
Billy Napier went on the road to No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Miami and the No. 5 Aggies, losing each in competitive fashion. Then he wins Homecoming against Mississippi State. 12 hours later: bye.
In the era of NIL and the portal, games are harder to predict. More schools can field well-rounded teams with the balance brought to the sport through a combination of NIL, revenue sharing and the transfer portal.
Yet ambitious athletic directors look like they still want complete dominance every season, similar to the likes of the Georgia’s and Alabama’s of yesteryear. What those dynasties didn’t have was players leaving for paychecks at smaller programs, meaningful depth transferring for playing time or arguments with agents over multi-million dollar contracts.
The percent increase of college football players entering the portal since 2021: 431%, according to the On3 transfer portal database. It’s hard to build a dominant program when a coach faces droves of players coming and going every offseason.
Nico Iamaleava is a prime example. A guy who’s the starting quarterback for a College Football Playoff team — Tennessee — leaves for UCLA, struggling in a historically weaker conference. Pre-NIL, that decision gets him labeled as clinically insane.
So, for Penn State, Florida, LSU and a variety of programs without head coaches, there may be no answer. At any time a coach can make a run to win a championship, but expecting dynasties in today’s game can’t be the waterline for success.
Standards are changing, and some schools are struggling to realize.
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, SEC
