Coaching changes are inevitable. The many millions of dollars invested in college football programs — and produced by them — only heightens expectations, accelerating the perceived need for an alternative answer.
Rarely, though, has a new season started with so many nationally recognized names in new locations.
Here are the most intriguing hires in college football this season:
Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M)
Just four years after winning a national championship at Florida State, Fisher became the first coach in more than four decades to leave the program he took to the top of the sport. A 10-year, $75 million contract has that kind of impact. Texas A&M hasn’t won a national title since 1939, and Fisher, 52, will now have to lead the Aggies through the toughest division in college football (SEC West) just to have a shot at another one. Fisher probably could have stayed at Florida State as long as he wanted. Now, he faces the most pressure of his career in the biggest challenge he has ever encountered.
Chip Kelly (UCLA)
The coach most responsible for college football’s fast-paced revolution is back on a campus for the first time since 2012, following NFL gigs with the Eagles and 49ers. Kelly, 54, won three Pac-12 titles, and reached a national championship game in his four seasons at Oregon, but now has to contend with a slew of programs who have photocopied his style, while attempting to turn around a team which hasn’t won a conference title in nearly two decades. Luring elite talent to L.A. shouldn’t be hard.
Dan Mullen (Florida)
If Mullen could succeed at long-struggling Mississippi State, Gainesville should be no problem. After winning two national titles at Florida as an assistant under Urban Meyer, Mullen spent the past nine seasons in Starkville, where he posted a 69-46 record (they had won more than four games in a season only once in the nine years before he arrived) and led the Bulldogs to their first-ever No. 1 ranking in the nation. After reaching 22 straight bowl games, the Gators haven’t qualified for one in two of the past five years. Mullen, 46, should have far greater success, but it may not be enough for the massive increase in expectations waiting for him.
Willie Taggart (Florida State)
Despite a 47-50 career record as a head coach, the 41-year-old has elevated at breakneck speed, moving from Western Kentucky to South Florida to Oregon to Florida State in five years. Taggart takes over a Seminoles team coming off its worst season in a decade, but inherits incredible talent who should be a natural fit in his up-tempo offensive scheme, capable of challenging Clemson for the ACC crown.
It will be nearly impossible for Frost to top what he did in two seasons at Central Florida — turning an 0-12 laughingstock into a 13-0 national power. Already a legend at Nebraska for leading for the Cornuskers to the 1997 national title, Frost, 43, returns to Lincoln to try and turn his alma mater back into a contender. Since reaching the 2001 title game, Nebraska has never finished a season ranked in the Top 10.
Kevin Sumlin (Arizona)
Sumlin had a strong six-season run at Texas A&M, but could never reach the peaks of his first two years in College Station with Heisman winner Johnny Manziel under center. At Arizona, Sumlin, 54, joins forces with another electric dual-threat (Khalil Tate), who could also end up in Manhattan, accepting the sport’s most prized individual honor at the end of the season.
Herm Edwards (Arizona State)
Hello? It’s hard to understand how athletic director Ray Anderson is playing to win the game after hiring a 64-year-old who last coached in college in 1989, hasn’t been on a sideline in nine years and went 54-74 as an NFL coach. At the very least, Edwards will succeed in making press conferences more interesting.