The Transfer Portal is here to keep you updated on any changes for the 2023 coaching cycle. From new hires to unexpected departures, this article brings you all the need-to-know details about the recent changes in the coaching landscape. Discover the reasons behind the shake-ups, the impact on the teams involved, and the potential outcomes of these bold moves.
Firings and Hirings
| Date | Team | Name | Position | Status | Change Date |
| November 19, 2023 | Syracuse | Dino Babers | Head Coach | Fired | Immediately |
| November 19, 2023 | Arkansas | Sam Pittman | Head Coach | Retained | Immediately |
| November 15, 2023 | Northwestern | David Braun | Interim Head Coach | Promoted | Immediately |
| November 13, 2023 | San Diego State | Brady Hoke | Head Coach | Retired | End of 2023 Season |
| November 13, 2023 | Mississippi State | Zach Arnett | Head Coach | Fired | Immediately |
| November 12, 2023 | Penn State | Mike Yurcich | Offensive Coordinator | Fired | Immediately |
| November 12, 2023 | Texas A&M | Jimbo Fisher | Head Coach | Fired | Immediately |
| November 12, 2023 | Boise State | Andy Avalos | Head Coach | Fired | Immediately |
| November 5, 2023 | USC | Alex Grinch | Defensive Coordinator | Fired | Immediately |
| November 3, 2023 | Colorado | Sean Lewis | Offensive Coordinator | Demoted | Immediately |
| October 30, 2023 | Iowa | Brian Ferentz | Offensive Coordinator | Fired | End of 2023 Season |
| October 22, 2023 | Arkansas | Dan Enos | Offensive Coordinator | Fired | Immediately |
| October 6, 2023 | Indiana | Rod Carey | Offensive Coordinator | Hired | Immediately |
| October 1, 2023 | Indiana | Walt Bell | Offensive Coordinator | Fired | Immediately |
| September 27, 2023 | Michigan State | Mel Tucker | Head Coach | Fired | Immediately |
| July 10, 2023 | Northwestern | Pat Fitzgerald | Head Coach | Fired | Immediately |
Head Coaching Openings
Syracuse
Dino Babers was fired from Syracuse on Nov. 19th with only one game remaining on the schedule for 2023. This doesn’t come as a surprise to many as Babers had long been a rumored subject to be on the hot seat. During his eight seasons in Syracuse, Babers was a collective 41-55 and led his team to a bowl twice. Assistant coach Nunzio Campile will coach the team against Wake Forest in their final game of the season as The Orange need one more win to become bowl eligible. No official names have been listed by the university or sources as actual candidates. Syracuse AD John Whidack has given some of his expectations for the next search, stating “finding a football coach with experience in the Northeast will be a critical factor when he hires the school’s next football coach.” Some potential options per the public are Jason Candle, Curt Cignetti, Sean Lewis, Doug Marrone, and Dan Mullen.
Texas A&M
Jimbo Fisher was officially relieved of his duties as the head coach in College Station on Nov. 12. The firing comes just one day after the Aggies became bowl-eligible by defeating Mississippi State 51-10 at Kyle Field, but this was no gut reaction dismissal of Fisher. According to sources, it was already written in stone that if Fisher did not win at least nine games this year he would be relieved of his duties. During his tenure, the Aggies have gone 45-25 overall, 10-15 against top 25 opponents, and 5-9 when facing a top 10 team. It’s going to be a costly parting for the university as it will honor the full buyout with Fisher set to be paid $7 million per year over the next eight years. The buyout of $77.6 million will crush the previous record holder for the largest buyout in FBS history when Auburn fired Gus Malzahn in 2020 for $21.4 million. At the end of the day, Texas A&M is flush with cash and will be totally fine to try to pursue whoever it wants while interim head coach Elijah Robinson finishes out the season. Currently Texas A&M holds the 10th-best recruiting class for 2024 so we will see in the coming weeks if the Aggies will try to land someone soon to hold as much of that together as they can or take their time in the search. No official names have been listed by the university or sources as actual candidates but popular names being floated as potential options for the job are Mike Elko, Dan Lanning, Lane Kiffin, Mike Norvell, Chris Klieman, Jeff Traylor, Glenn Schumann, Jonathan Smith, and Kalen DeBoer.
UPDATE 11/21: Jeff Traylor interviewed for the open head coaching position at Texas A&M, according to a report from CBS Sports. It’s not a surprise that Traylor was interviewed due to his background as a high school and college coach in the state of Texas. It seems for the moment that Traylor would like to focus on his current task at hand, getting the UTSA Roadrunners a victory over Tulane to secure a spot in the AAC Championship Game.
Boise State
Andy Avalos’ tenure at Boise State officially came to an end on Nov. 12 just a few hours after the Jimbo Fisher news broke. Much like the A&M news, the fire came a day after a large victory. The decision may come as a shock to some as Avalos is one year removed from being named the Mountain West Coach of the Year, but Boise State currently sits at 5-5 and is a program that has not had a losing season in over 25 years. According to Sportico, Boise State currently has a higher revenue and spending budget than any of its conference members by a wide margin, so of course the expectation is to win… win right now and win every game. Avalos, a former Broncos player under Dan Hawkins, was called to come home after a one-year stint at Oregon where he improved the defense from 49th to 10th in total defense. One can only assume he will return as a defensive coordinator position at a large program again, and he deserves that opportunity. But what’s next for Boise State? No official names have been listed by the program as candidates, but many public outlets have listed Bryan Harsin and Chris Petersen as options. The four previous Broncos head coaches helped the program reach new heights with a combined record of 240-53 between 1998 and 2020. During that time, they won the Big West, WAC, or Mountain West 14 different times and went to a BCS bowl game twice and a New Year’s Six bowl game one time. Other potential candidates mentioned frequently are former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore, Texas co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate, Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore, Colorado offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, and Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.
Mississippi State
News broke Nov. 13 that Zach Arnett would no longer resume his head coaching duties in Starkville. The tragic passing of Mike Leach saw Arnett promoted from defensive coordinator, and he received a tryout as head coach. I write tryout because there’s no other way to put it when you receive the smallest contract in the SEC that was highly incentive-based and offsets any money he would receive if he were to sign with another school. The Bulldogs currently sit at 4-6 with only one win in conference, and the offense has fallen completely flat after the staff decided to change it from the Air Raid style run in years past. Drastic change to a program coming off a 9-4 record in 2022 was a risk going into 2023, especially considering how much of a veteran group returned. It just didn’t pay off, but Arnett is still only 37 years old and has a ton of coaching left in him. This is probably the second-hardest job in the SEC; with it only getting tougher, we will see what Zac Selmon will do with his first hire as athletic director. No official candidates have been released but some potential names to keep an eye out for are Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell, Tulane head coach Willie Fritz, Marshall head coach Charles Huff, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, Troy head coach Jon Sumrall, and SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee.
UPDATE 11/21: Jamey Chadwell has been confirmed to be the top target for Mississippi State, according to a report from John Brice at FootballScoop. Chadwell has Liberty undefeated and the Flames have secured a spot in the Conference USA Championship Game. According to Brice, some other targets include Rich Rodriguez, Barry Odom, and Jeff Lebby.
San Diego State
Brady Hoke will retire at the end of the season. Currently in his second stint as the Aztecs head coach, Hoke has led the team to a 3-7 record in 2023 and a 39-30 record overall, including a 12-win season in 2021. In 2010, Hoke led San Diego State to its first bowl game since 1998 and the program has been to a bowl game every year since (aside from the COVID-19 2020 season). Despite the lack of success this year, he can definitely be credited for his part in turning the program around. No official candidates have been released and San Diego State will head up a national search for its next head coach. Some rumored names with San Diego State ties are Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White, San Diego State offensive coordinator Ryan Lindley, and former San Diego State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett.
UPDATE 11/21: San Diego State has contacted Tony White about the head coaching vacancy, according to a report from The San Diego Union-Tribune. White, currently the defensive coordinator at Nebraska comes from the 3-3-5 coaching tree of former San Diego State head coach Rocky Long. In his first season at Nebraska, White has helped the Cornhuskers achieve a top 25 defense just one year after they finished 2022 ranked 100th.
Michigan State
Mel Tucker was fired with cause on Sept. 27 from Michigan State University. No interviews have officially taken place, but the school has confirmed a list of candidates that it will now try to make contact with. Try to ignore any chatter related to job interviews as many agents will try to associate a candidate’s name with the job even if they won’t be brought in for an interview. No official list has been released and contains a “higher than usual” number of candidates but the hopeful timeline for a new head coach to be announced will be soon after the last game of the year against Penn State.
UPDATE 11/21: Four candidates have been confirmed to move on to the second round of interviews to be the next Michigan State head coach, according to a report from Spartans Illustrated. The four candidates are Jonathan Smith, Jed Fisch, Jason Candle, and Mike Elko. Even though these four have been confirmed, there is no indication that these are the only four candidates being interviewed.
Northwestern
Pat Fitzgerald was fired on July 10 and is in the process of suing Northwestern for $130 million in damages and wrongful termination. David Braun has stepped up as the interim and done a hell of a job. Northwestern has racked up wins against Wisconsin, Maryland, and Minnesota. The Wildcats have also only lost to fellow Big Ten West foes Iowa and Nebraska by a combined 11 points. It’s not an easy job by any means, and someone will have to build the program from the ground up. The only confirmed candidate that the school is currently looking at right now is former Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst.
UPDATE 11/21: David Braun had his interim tag removed and became the full-time head coach of Northwestern on November 15th. The Wildcats won their sixth game of 2023 to become bowl eligible against Purdue in his first game since being named the head coach. Northwestern will look for it’s seventh win of the season against in-state opponent Illinois.
Assistant Coach Openings
USC Defensive Coordinator
Lincoln Riley finally made the hard decision and fired Alex Grinch after giving up 52 points in a loss to Washington. USC currently ranks 123rd in total defense and was ranked 106th in 2022. Grinch followed Riley from Oklahoma, where defense was always a big question for the Sooners under Riley as well. In their time together, Grinch only put together one top 50 defense when Oklahoma ranked 29th in 2020. In the past 10 years, USC has only fielded a top 50 defense four times, with its highest ranked defense coming in 2016 where it ranked 38th under Clancy Pendergast.
Arkansas Offensive Coordinator
It was hard to watch the offensive woes for the Razorbacks in what was expected to be KJ Jefferson’s last season as the Arkansas quarterback. Dan Enos took over after Kendal Briles left for the opening at TCU, which isn’t going great for him either but focus here. The Razorbacks saw a decline from the 15th total offense in 2022 to 113th in 2023. The more alarming decline is that under Pittman, a offensive line-centric coach, the rushing offense declined from seventh in 2022 all the way to 101st in 2023. It won’t come cheap either as Enos is due the full buyout on his contract of $2.8 million.
Penn State Offensive Coordinator
You could see the collective groan as Penn State once again was unable to win a game against a top 10 team last weekend against Michigan. The firing was a little surprising, but after the second time this year of not being able to put up points, James Franklin pulled the trigger. Mike Yurcich did great things in his tenures at Oklahoma State, Ohio State, and Texas but just couldn’t get over the hump in State College. Franklin has hit a home run with Manny Diaz on the defensive side of the ball and has all the resources in the world for his assistant’s pool. Keep an eye out for this one as it’s absolutely going to be a big name hire.
Head Coaches Still on the Hot Seat
| Conference | Team | Head Coach | Total Record (Current Role) | 2023 Record | Hot Seat Scale |
| MAC | Akron | Joe Moorhead | 4-19 | 2-9 | On Fire |
| Big 12 | Baylor | Dave Aranda | 23-23 | 3-8 | On Fire |
| SEC | Florida | Billy Napier | 11-13 | 5-6 | On Fire |
| Big 12 | Houston | Dana Holgorsen | 31-27 | 4-7 | On Fire |
| Big Ten | Indiana | Tom Allen | 33-48 | 3-8 | On Fire |
| Conference USA | Louisiana Tech | Sonny Cumbie | 6-16 | 3-8 | On Fire |
| Mountain West | Nevada | Ken Wilson | 4-19 | 2-9 | On Fire |
| Mountain West | New Mexico | Danny Gonzales | 11-31 | 4-7 | On Fire |
| American | Temple | Stan Drayton | 6-17 | 3-8 | On Fire |
| Pac-12 | UCLA | Chip Kelly | 34-33 | 7-4 | On Fire |
| Sun Belt | UL-Monroe | Terry Bowden | 10-25 | 2-9 | On Fire |
| Conference USA | UTEP | Dana Dimel | 20-48 | 3-8 | On Fire |
| Sun Belt | Arkansas State | Butch Jones | 11-24 | 6-5 | Hot |
| MAC | Buffalo | Maurice Linguist | 14-22 | 3-8 | Hot |
| Pac-12 | Cal | Justin Wilcox | 35-32 | 5-6 | Hot |
| MAC | Northern Illinois | Thomas Hammock | 22-33 | 5-6 | Hot |
| Sun Belt | Old Dominion | Ricky Rahne | 13-22 | 5-6 | Hot |
| ACC | Pitt | Pat Narduzzi | 65-48 | 3-8 | Hot |
| ACC | Virginia | Tony Elliott | 6-15 | 3-8 | Hot |
| MAC | Ball State | Mike Neu | 37-55 | 4-7 | Warm |
| American | East Carolina | Mike Houston | 23-32 | 3-8 | Warm |
| Big Ten | Minnesota | PJ Fleck | 49-33 | 5-6 | Warm |
| ACC | Pitt | Pat Narduzzi | 65-48 | 3-8 | Warm |
| Sun Belt | Southern Miss | Will Hall | 13-23 | 3-8 | Warm |
