With 26 of the 27 college football vacancies to date being filled, it’s time to analyze who are the best hires.
I wrote “to date” because the NFL regular season ends this weekend, and some coaching changes will take place in that league. Some college coaches — ahem, Oregon’s Chip Kelly — might be tempted to join former colleagues Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh, who have experienced success in the NFL.
Here are the top five college coaching hires … to date.
1. Sonny Dykes, California — Dykes comes from a coaching pedigree, and he is a master at coaching a quick-tempo, pass-oriented offense that should rival other Pac-12 programs. The job he did as offensive coordinator at Arizona, which for most of its existence was known for its defense, landed him the job at Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs were not invited to a bowl despite winning nine games and taking Texas A&M to the wire. Dykes will not have that problem at Cal.
2. Mike MacIntyre, Colorado — MacIntyre was not on the sidelines when San Jose State beat Bowling Green in the Military Bowl, but he was responsible for the Spartans earning their school-record 11-win season. Just two years ago San Jose State was in Colorado’s shoes — 2-10 in MacIntyre’s first season. He was not a household name. Now, the college football world will learn more about MacIntyre while the Buffaloes experience a turnaround for themselves. Bill Parcells knows all about him. He hired MacIntyre as part of his staff when he coached the Dallas Cowboys.
The Buffs had a tortuous coaching search, but landed a good one.
3. Gary Andersen, Wisconsin — If Barry Alvarez loses in the Rose Bowl as Wisconsin’s coach against Stanford, he will still be a winner. Alvarez deserves credit as the Badgers’ athletic director for hiring Andersen (who comes from the Urban Meyer coaching tree) from Utah State while other programs could have — should have — come calling much earlier. Utah State was 11-2 and its losses were by a combined five points at Wisconsin (16-14) and at BYU (6-3). Alvarez placed a lot of importance in Utah State’s showing in Madison.
4. Darrell Hazell, Purdue — The Big Ten figures to get an upgrade with the addition of Andersen and Hazell, a former Ohio State assistant. Hazell coached Kent State to a school-record 11 victories and he is one of the most successful young recruiters in the game. Hazell has only two years of head-coaching experience with the Golden Flashes but is well-schooled as a coach under Jim Tressel. He did not recruit the upperclassmen that enjoyed Kent State’s success this season but he got them to buy into his system. The same should happen at Purdue, a bowl team that will not require an overhaul.
5. Willie Taggart, South Florida — Western Kentucky struggled down the stretch, losing four of its last six games with Taggart, and the Hilltoppers lost in the Little Caesars Bowl to Central Michigan without him. That does not take away from Taggart’s luster. In fact, it can be argued that Taggart could have landed a higher profile job, especially with the Big East on shaky ground. Keep in mind that Western Kentucky was at the cellar of college football before Taggart, a Jim Harbaugh protégé, started coaching there. The Hilltoppers were 4-32 in the four years before Taggart returned to his alma mater in 2010. They were 14-10 in the last two seasons.