Coaching Carousel '21
Richt, Mora, Petersen, Patterson fired as several Power 5 schools change head coaches; UConn hires Bill Belichick’s kid to usher in the ACC era
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A short time ago, UCLA was the new dynasty. After capturing consecutive national titles in 2015 and 2016, UCLA looked like the newest power in the college football world. Unfortunately, the good times would not last much longer, and head coach Jim Mora was fired after UCLA skidded to a 4-8 record in 2020.
Mora’s firing was one of several big-name swaps in this cycle. Georgia parted ways with Mark Richt after nineteen seasons at the helm. Despite landing several top prospects in recent years, the Bulldogs couldn’t quite put it all together and decided to go in a new direction. Georgia made a big splash, hiring former Utah head coach and current Oregon defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham to try and turn the blue-chips into a giant jackpot.
UConn made a flashy hire of their own, replacing Bob Diaco with Bill Belichick’s son Stephen, formerly the safeties coach of the New England Patriots. This is the 34-year old’s first head coaching job, and will be counted upon to usher UConn into the ACC with the same success that Diaco brought the program.
Elsewhere around the NCAA, TCU fired longtime coach Gary Patterson after consecutive 5-7 seasons and worsening relations with the athletic department. The Horned Frogs will look to keep the tradition of big offense alive with the hire of Oregon OC Andy Ludwig. Washington also fired Chris Petersen and Arizona fired Rich Rodriguez, while Illinois, Iowa State, Virginia and Boise State did the same, looking to right the ship and get their programs back on track. Other big news surrounded David Shaw, who resigned from the SEC Champion Vanderbilt Commodores, citing uncertainty in the A.D.'s office. He will be replaced by Dale Miller of UL Lafayette. Shaw will go to Houston.
Richt lands at UL Lafayette, and Rodriguez will be at Louisana Tech while Patterson will become the new defensive coordinator at Oregon. Indiana dipped into the NFL, luring Greg Schiano back into the college game to be their head coach.
A full list of head coach changes is down below!
| Team | Old Coach | Reason..Departure | New Coach | Previous Job |
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| Rich Rodriguez | Fired | Tom Herman | Houston HC |
| Bryan Harsin | Fired | Barry Odom | UConn DC |
| Jay Bateman | New Job | Dave Schramm | Fresno State OC |
| Scott Satterfield | Fired | Jon Tenuta | LSU DC |
| Mark Richt | Fired | Kyle Whittingham | Oregon DC |
 | Tom Herman | New Job | David Shaw | Vanderbilt HC |
| Tim Beckman | Fired | Tim Albin | Toledo HC |
| Bob Shoop | Fired | Greg Schiano | Tampa Bay Buccaneers HC |
 | Paul Rhoads | Fired | Jay Niemann | Air Force DC |
| Dan Enos | Fired | Rich Rodriguez | Arizona HC |
 | Brian Scott | New Job | Robert Anae | SMU HC |
| Bob Stitt | Resigned | Mick McCall | Northwestern OC |
| Luke Fickell | Fired | Nick Toth | Fresno State DC |
| James Coley | New Job | Tim Hauck | Old Dominion DC |
| Robert Anae | New Job | Jay Bateman | Colorado State HC |
| Gary Patterson | Fired | Andy Ludwig | Oregon OC |
| Tim Albin | New Job | Buddy Green | Navy DC |
| Willie Fritz | Resigned | Derek Mason | South Carolina DC |
| Bob Diaco | Resigned | Stephen Belichick | New England Patriots Safeties |
| Jim Mora | Fired | James Coley | Old Dominion HC |
| Dale Miller | New Job | Mark Richt | Georgia HC |
| David Shaw | Resigned | Dale Miller | Louisiana HC |
| Josh Conklin | Fired | Sonny Dyk-es | Arkansas State OC |
| Chris Petersen | Fired | Brian Scott | Mississippi State HC |
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In the CAC sphere
Only three of our CAC's changed jobs this year. Most notably, Dale Miller (glunsford) became the third CAC head coach in the Power 5, moving up from head coach of Louisiana to head coach of Vanderbilt, taking over the reigning SEC Champs after David Shaw’s resignation.
Additionally, offensive coordinators Laurence Gilbert (Mike7Vinas) and Brian Grant (LadiesAndEdelman) saw their contracts go unrenewed. Gilbert leaves Syracuse to go to Virginia, and Grant leaves New Mexico State after three seasons to go to Kent State. The two newest CAC fraternity members, Ricky Jacobsen (slicknick3822) and Richard Harrison (itsbigmike), have been hired by Iowa State and Western Michigan, respectively.
A full CAC outlook will come in a later post.
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