College Football Head Coaching Chaos

There are 134 head coaches in the FBS, and there will be some new faces joining the club next season. College football’s head coach hunt for the 2024-25 season became active in late-October, when Rice fired Mike Bloomgren on Oct. 27.

Here are the major programs that have fired their head coaches and their potential new candidates/new hires:

UCF

In one of the more unexpected moves late in the season, UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn announced he was stepping away as head coach at UCF to become the offensive coordinator at FSU. The News broke right before the Seminoles lost 31-11 to the Gators, their 10th loss of the season. At 4-8, this was by far Malzahn’s most disappointing season in Orlando.

Potential Candidates

• Tim Harris Jr., 39, Offensive Coordinator, UCF
• Jon Sumrall, 42, Head Coach, Tulane
• Andy Kotelnicki, 43, Offensive Coordinator, Penn State
• Dan Mullen, 52, Former Florida/Mississippi State Head Coach
• Jim Mora, 63, Head Coach, UConn
• Barry Odom, 48, Head Coach, UNLV
• Scott Frost, 49, Former UCF/Nebraska Head Coach

UCF Head Coach Hot Board via @Andy_Staples

Top candidates to replace Gus Malzahn after resigning to become Florida State’s next offensive coordinator

View: https://t.co/ugY6MKHG66 pic.twitter.com/6eZ2ewwdZq

— On3 (@On3sports) November 30, 2024

North Carolina

North Carolina fired coach Mack Brown on Nov. 26, and are the only Power Five team with a head coaching vacancy at the moment.  The last game he ever coached for the Tarheels was last week, in a 35-30 loss to NC State. The 73-year-old Brown spent 16 seasons in two stints with the Tar Heels, finishing with a 113-79-1 record. He was one of three FBS coaches with a national championship under his belt.