Coaching Carousel, 2010 Edition

So, the season is fast approaching and it's time to get a little bile out. The preseason magazines are out, spring games are long since past, and the prospect of stadiums filled to capacity with screaming fans is tantalizingly close. But this blog isn't about the glories and revelry of sport. If it were, I'd be employed as a legitimate writer. And, as my bowl fiasco proved, this blog isn't very good at predicting outcomes of games of any sort.

No, this blog is about being angry about minuscule details regarding the second most popular form of football in the country. And the easiest targets for anger are (you guessed it!) coaches. So without further ado, here's an overview of all 22 coaching changes in college football between the end(-ish) of the 2009 season and the beginning of the 2010 season, each one with a prediction of how much more successful the new guy will be than his predecessor...

Akron
Departing Coach: J.D. Brookhart
Arriving Coach: Rob Ianello

Review: I have no idea why the heck I'm reviewing this one, though it's first because the list I found on wikipedia is listed in alphabetical order by school. Akron is barely a blip on the college football radar screen, whose last winning season came 5 years ago. The Zips play in the MAC, a conference with minimal importance, and they have the misfortune of being located in the gargantuan pit that is the state of Ohio. The advantage of the job? If the coach is a colossal failure, no one outside of Akron will care. Actually, since LeBron James bolted Ohio, no one in Akron will care either.

Likelihood of Success: Slim. Akron's not a Mecca for football fans anywhere, but improving on a 3-9 season might not be too rough, especially with Syracuse and Gardner-Webb to open the season. As stated above, however, even if he doesn't improve, no one will care.

Buffalo
Departing Coach: Turner Gill
Arriving Coach: Jeff Quinn

Review: It's good to see Turner Gill get a big time job, especially after he turned the Buffalo Bulls program around. It'll be interesting to see if Jeff Quinn can continue that level of success in the frozen north. Quinn's an interesting example. The guy has coached a grand total of 2 games: both of them bowl games coached in the wake of Brian Kelly leaving the school where he and Quinn were stationed. In fact, this will be the first season in 6 years where Kelly and Quinn aren't at the same school. Quinn's big problem, as near as I can tell, will be getting halfway decent players up to Buffalo. Turner Gill won more games in his last 3 seasons (18) than the team had won in the previous 9 years, and I have an unsettling feeling that hiring an offensive coordinator as the new head coach will hurt the Bulls. After all, last season they scored at least 17 points in all but three games, but they still finished 5-7. In other words, offense wasn't the problem, defense was. And, as experience has proven time and time again, offensive coordinators don't run good defenses. Duh.

Likelihood of Success: Again, slim. Buffalo, like Akron is obscure enough that a flameout here won't really condemn Quinn to a life of middling coaching jobs, but success will propel him to new heights (see Turner Gill). Once again on the bright side, Buffalo's not going to attract too much of a spotlight, so if Quinn crashes and burns there won't be a major amount of fallout on a national level.

Central Michigan
Departing Coach: Butch Jones
Arriving Coach: Dan Enos

Review: For its second straight coaching change Cincinnati has purloined a Central Michigan coach. Central Michigan really didn't suffer mightily after Brian Kelly left them, as Butch Jones led them to 3 straight winning seasons. Central Michigan has had winning seasons every year since 2005, which is a fairly major thing when one considers that they play in a non-major conference and they don't get much pull from the national media like Boise State and TCU. In all fairness, part of their lack of press is due to a lackluster schedule year in and year out, coupled with the fact that they do not dominate their conference every year like Boise does. Still, this school's in better shape than many of the others on this list, largely because of the fact that they aren't getting a new coach because they sucked last season. They're getting a new coach because they did well for three years (and because Brian Kelly exhibited loyalty to Cincinnati at a similar level that Benedict Arnold exhibited loyalty to America).

Likelihood of Success: Relatively high. Look for a dip in performance this season because of a lack of Dan LeFevour, the do-it-all quarterback who holds the NCAA record for touchdowns scored by a single player. Still, proper management coupled with a fan base that might just be tolerant enough to see a coach through a bad season or two means that CMU could very well stay near the top of the MAC in the coming years. This review, however, contained actual analysis, no cynicism, and almost no trace of anger. No worries, though, Cincinnati's next...

Cincinnati
Departing Coach: Brian Kelly
Arriving Coach: Butch Jones

Review: For every dynasty in college football there are at least 3 mini-dynasties who briefly take their place during down years. Michigan, Southern Cal, Notre Dame, Florida, etc. are examples of true dynasties. Hawaii's brief flareup at the top in 2007, those years where BYU was considered a legitimate National Championship contender, Georgia Tech once every 20 years (cheap shot!), and now Cincinnati. Cincy has done quite well in recent years, winning their pathetic little conference twice in a row. Prior to that win streak, however, the Bearcats were not just a middling team but, until 2004, they were a middling team in the non-BCS Conference USA. This past year Cincinnati came one second away from playing in the National Title game. It's fair to say that, along with that '07 Hawaii team, the 2009 Bearcats were among the most overrated teams in recent college football history, and if you'd like to argue that point with me, I will gently inform you that Cincy failed to go undefeated without the help of the officials and that they got skulled by Florida in their bowl game. I will also inform you that a pretty underwhelming Virginia Tech team beat the 2008 Big East Champion Bearcats in their bowl the previous season. So, frankly, it's around that time for the Bearcats to begin slowing down. Especially since the guy who led them to the top of their conference is gone for greener pastures (Ha ha it is a pun ha ha).

Likelihood of success: Moderate. Butch Jones is taking over a program that's had a good run, and it's hard to knock a pattern, since the same situation basically presented itself at Central Michigan around 3 years ago. Still, the temptation is there to say that Cincinnati, being in a conference that is in the BCS, will go downward. I'm not sure Jones is going to set the world aflame, and I have real problems believing that the Bearcats will compete once again for the National Title. Then again, they ARE in the Big East. So, flip a coin. Heads, Cincinnati's good, tails Cincinnati's bad.

East Carolina
Departing Coach: Skip Holtz
Arriving Coach: Ruffin McNeil

Review: It's always sad to see a coach leave the team he lead to national prominence. Case in point: ECU. This team was pretty much a backwater hole in the ground (much like Greenville, NC, which the Pirates are forced to call home) where coaches' careers went to die prior to Skip Holtz's arrival. Sure, it's fair to say that the Pirates had a comparatively down year in 2009 in light of the 2008 campaign where they beat #17 Virginia Tech and #8 West Virginia. But I don't think people in Greenville will be happy to see Skip leave. The guy left the school in a much better position than he found it in when he arrived in 2004, and I think he'll help out quite a bit at South Florida (more to come).

Likelihood of success: Well, it's hard to say. ECU has been boom and bust when it comes to coaches. The coach before Holtz was a nightmarishly bad coach. The coach before him led the Pirates to several upsets and more than a few bowl games. If the pattern holds, then ECU might be poised for a fall. Still, it's tough to argue that a team with 4 straight bowl appearances (not that that means much anymore) will be poised for a hard fall.

Florida State
Departing Coach: Bobby Bowden
Arriving Coach: Jimbo Fisher

Review: It's impossible to review the scope and scale of Bobby Bowden's coaching career. He deserved better than the end his career ultimately had, and he certainly deserves more than a few sentences on one of the 10 most unimportant blogs on the internet. (Least important blog on the Internet can be found here: link) Suffice it to say that Bowden's head coaching career started the year my mother was born, and he started coaching at Florida State in 1976, 10 years before my birth. Bowden's career did have some ups and downs, and the fact that he was fired after 2 National Championships, a bowl streak stretching back to 1981, and a string of winning seasons going back to 1977 is only indicative that he might have set the bar too high. Yes, his last few years were nowhere near as great as the highs of the 1990s. Yes, his teams often had all the discipline of a psych ward at San Quentin. Yes, he was forced to vacate 12 wins and his dream of defeating the corpse of Joe Paterno in the all-time wins category, but come on! Bowden's the last of a dying breed! Here we have a coach who spent 34 seasons in the same place! Some coaches (I am looking at you, pretty boy) have trouble staying anywhere for one season. So, seriously, hats off to Coach Bowden. For better or worse, the game won't be the same without one of the greats.

Likelihood of success: After all the oozing and gushing and sucking up to Bobby Bowden I just did, allow me to temper that with some good ol' fashioned hypocrisy. Because even though Bobby Bowden was one of the greats, he hasn't really been in charge down in Tallahassee for a few years. Sure, Bowden at least kept the illusion of coaching by wearing a headset, unlike Paterno, who wanders the sidelines (or booth) like an escapee from a retirement home. Someone should really reign him in before he breaks a hip. Oh, wait...

Hm. I had a point in here somewhere. Oh, yeah, Florida State. Look, Jimbo Fisher's been running that team for at least 3 years, ever since the time he was announced as "head coach in waiting." Thus, the "likelihood of success" is more of the same. There's an off chance that we'll see improvement in the Seminole program since the facade of Coach Bobby is gone. Look for a pickup in wins during the 2011 season, especially since the better teams in the ACC are senior heavy this year. So, I'm of the opinion that Florida State will be back atop the ACC shortly. As a Virginia Tech fan, however, I wouldn't complain if I was wrong. As a blogger, I won't complain if I'm right. Ha! I win either way! Moving on...

Kansas
Departing Coach: Mark Mangino
Arriving Coach: Turner Gill

Review: So Mark Mangino departed from Kansas, eh? I've mentioned my issues with Mangino being called out now instead of during the 12-1, Orange Bowl winning, 2007 season. In retrospect, it would seem that firing an abusive coach after his record went south on him was a theme this year (see also: Texas Tech) (It's further down the page, genius). Look, if abuse is happening at Virginia Tech, Florida, Alabama, Texas, etc. I want to know now. Because the reality of the situation is that most of the players on the field on Saturday will not spend their lives playing football at the professional level. College football is a game. And having a 12-1 record or even a National Championship while abusing players who aren't being paid to play is totally unacceptable. Nothing is worth the well-being of young men, many of whom wouldn't be in college if they couldn't run really fast while holding an oblong object in their right hand.

Coach Mangino apparently had a history of abusive behavior, a history that Kansas was apparently willing to ignore (or that players/boosters were unwilling to report) during the years he was bringing in $17 million in BCS money. I guess I should look on the bright side: he didn't eat anyone.

Likelihood of success: Turner Gill really turned around the Buffalo program, and it makes sense to think that he can succeed at Kansas. It will be interesting to see how he does with a program in a major conference, especially since (after this season) he won't have to worry about playing his old school Nebraska. Still, the key for Gill will be defeating the two giants of the Big 12: Texas and Oklahoma. The great news for Kansas? The only way they'll play OU or Texas is if they go to the Big 12 Championship game. This season's an excellent year for Kansas to try and find its groove under Turner Gill, especially since they only have Georgia Tech and Nebraska as major hurdles. To be fair, they're also coming off a year where they went 5-7 with a 1-7 record in conference play. And yet, in an uncharacteristic fit of optimism, I am ready to declare that Kansas will have a better year than last. There, I said it.

Kentucky
Departing Coach: Rich Brooks
Arriving Coach: Joker Phillips

Review: You know, it's hard to take a school that willingly hires a man named "Joker" to lead its football program seriously. It's also hard to take the whole "Head Coach in Waiting" thing seriously. If I were a coach in waiting who happened to be, say, an offensive coordinator at the school that was going to let me coach, I'd tank at my job so that I could be head coach sooner. Yes, this might backfire, but I have no idea why you'd tell a guy "Hey, you'll be head coach once this guy wrecks the program enough to get fired or decides to resign, the likelihood of which is fairly slim."

That said, Rich Brooks is leaving a program that's in reasonably good shape. They've made a bowl for the past 4 years, and Brooks has taken an historical loser and made it a, well, still nowhere near championship caliber team, but better than Vandy.

Likelihood of success: Here's the thing: Kentucky could magically become twice as good as they currently are and still not win their conference. Kentucky's in the SEC, a conference with more than its fair share of good teams. Add that to the fact that Kentucky's not in great recruiting territory and you have an ideal recipe for things to stay just the way they are...Yee-haw

OK, done with some of the big schools. Let's fast forward things a bit:

Louisiana-Lafayette
Departing Coach: Charlie Weatherbie
Arriving Coach: Todd Berry

Review: ULL is...bad. That's really the only way to describe them. They're even bad for a Sun Belt team, which is actually sort of an accomplishment.

Likelihood of success: They just hired a guy who went 5-36 in 3 and a half seasons at Army. You draw your own conclusions. The only good news is that no one expects anything.

Louisiana Tech
Departing Coach: Derek Dooley
Arriving Coach: Sonny Dykes

Review: Louisiana Tech isn't great, nor is it a great spot to try and pull in recruits, considering that only kids who couldn't get into a Big 12 or SEC school will consider playing for the Bulldogs. Plus, LTU has to compete with the elephant in the conference that is Boise State. Dooley did a decent job of holding the Bulldogs together, but aside from scaring LSU last season, there wasn't much worthy of note about LTU's 2008 season.

Likelihood of success: Considering that the only way to really be considered successful in a conference as tiny/obscure as the WAC is to either turn around a perpetual loser or win the conference championship, then the likelihood of success is quite slim here. LTU isn't the pit of awfulness, but they also have basically no chance of winning the WAC championship. So...enjoy your obscurity Coach Dykes.

Louisville
Departing Coach: Steve Kragthorpe
Arriving Coach: Charlie Strong

Review: Louisville's another one of those little mini-dynasties mentioned above. The Cardinals were one field goal away from being undefeated in 2006. That season seems light years away after 3 horrific seasons under Kragthorpe, whose last name I will really miss, as it sounds and looks like a name from some cheap Star Wars knockoff. But, to be frank, Louisville doesn't interest me that much, so let's just keep cruising right along to the stupid "likelihood of success" section, like I have any freakin' idea of what's going to happen.

Likelihood of success: Well, Bobby Petrino proved that Louisville can climb to great heights, especially in a conference with an automatic BCS berth and no great team. Mind you, Bobby Petrino is a backstabbing son of a you-know-what who probably sold his soul to the devil for that 2006 season and whose "payment" for his soul was that horrible season with the Falcons and an eternity of mediocrity at Arkansas. Oh, and I think that Charlie Strong can't do any worse than Kragthorpe did at Louisville, so I believe that if you define "success" as "a better season than the last 3" then the likelihood of success here is high. Just don't look for some sort of mega-season with a great run leading to a national title. That'd be absurd.

Marshall
Departing Coach: Mark Snyder
Arriving Coach: Doc Holliday

Review: This is going to sound harsh, but most college students these days would not know anything at all about Marshall football were it not for the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people, 35 of whom were members of the team. Actually, thanks to the general stupidity, hedonism, and ignorance that have gripped American collegiate culture in recent years, I think it's actually more fair to say that most college students wouldn't know about Marshall football were it not for the movie about the 1970 plane crash. Marshall, after some serious success in the early 1990s, moved up to D-1A and, thus, obscurity, in 1997. Since then they've had some decent seasons, but the overall theme (especially in recent years) has been mediocrity. Snyder lost his job mostly due to his overall record (22-37) rather than a particularly bad 2009 season. Oh, wait, he "resigned." And if you buy that, then I've got some great beachfront property in North Dakota that I would love to sell you.

Likelihood of Success: Well, the good news for Doc Holliday is that he has a kickin' nickname. Wait, I mean, he has a fairly bad conference sitting in front of him. ECU has a new head coach, Houston can't play defense, and Southern Miss is a shell of what they once were in C-USA. Mind you, Marshall isn't great, and it's unfair to expect anything more than a repeat of 2009's .500 year. I would still say Marshall might be on the upswing for the next few year, just because new blood and a coach with a history of being around decent to good teams is a recipe for success. To be fair, 5 years ago I would have written the same thing about Charlie Weis, so what the heck to I know?

Memphis
Departing Coach: Tommy West
Arriving Coach: Larry Porter

Review: Do you care? No, I can virtually assure you that you don't. Even if you think you care, you really don't. Memphis wasn't bad (read: better than 3-9) in 2007 and 2008, but their 2009 season was really really bad. So they hired a new coach. I mean, it's really that simple

Likelihood of success: Is the new coach's name John Calipari? Can he unscrupulously bring talent to an otherwise barely footnote worthy school? Well, since the answers to those questions are: "No" and "Probably not," I'd say the odds of Memphis appearing as anything more as a blip on the college football radar are slim to none. Oh, but at least the football team won't have to forfeit its Final Four appearance a few years down the road.

Notre Dame
Departing Coach: Charlie Weis
Arriving Coach: Brian Kelly

Review: It's hard to feel sorry for Charlie Weis. The man made millions of dollars doing a mediocre job at a school where (in theory) doing a good job shouldn't be as difficult as having 6 consecutive 10 win seasons at a school in an obscure little hovel in southwestern Virginia (Coach Beamer, I'll take cash or check). That said, it's also hard not to feel sorry for Charlie Weis. The man lived for at least 4 years with his job being threatened. He was frequently ripped by the national media, and was occasionally burned in effigy by this blogger (<-not true, added for humor). He was just expected to have a national title at a school that hasn't won an outright national championship since 1988. I was 2 at that point in time. Colorado and Washington have won a National Championship more recently than Notre Dame. Sorry, but it's just not fair to expect that sort of thing from any coach at any school at any time. National Championships in a sport as competitive as college football don't just fall out of the sky! Oh, well. Charlie's back in the NFL and dang it I'm tired so let's move to the surreptitious part of this little overly long thing:

Likelihood of success: Look, the last 3 coaches at Notre Dame have been busts. Bob Davie led Notre Dame through 5 seasons of mediocrity before getting fired. Tyrone Willingham (who many people thought got a bad rap because he was black until he screwed over Washington and everyone realized he just sucks at coaching) and Charlie Weis both disappointed, and Notre Dame hasn't had a "Notre Dame-like" (<-Read "good") season since 2006, and they haven't won a bowl that more than 17 hula dancers care about since 1993. It is very difficult to rebuild any program to national prominence after 3 straight lemon coaches, so Brian Kelly certainly has his work cut out for him. But if anyone's cut out to lead the Irish out of the wasteland then it's Kelly. Kelly still has yet to prove he can perform in a major bowl game, but thanks to the fact that Notre Dame is independent, he can make it all the way to the BCS playing the likes of Navy and Washington State. I'd say look for the Irish to bounce back from punchline status in the 2011 season after a fairly rocky 2010 year.

San Jose State
Departing Coach: Dick Tomey
Arriving Coach: Mike MacIntyre

Review: Dear reader, if I had put two realistic-looking, but fake, names up there in the Departing/Arriving Coach blurbs, would you have known? If I had put "Jackson Hargreaves" and "Shawn McGrady" up there you would have had no idea. That is the level of relevance of San Jose State football right now.

Likelihood of success: SJSU is in the WAC, meaning they have to overcome the Boise State hurdle. On the bright side, unlike the previously mentioned and maligned Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, they had an awful 2009, going 2-10. Thus, if Coach MacIntyre is able to go, say, 5-7, he'll put himself on the radar for a much better job. Which would really be good, because coaching for San Jose State is going to suck.

South Florida
Departing Coach: Jim Leavitt
Arriving Coach: Skip Holtz

Review: South Florida has lost the only football coach it has ever known. Jim Leavitt led the team from the time it was a theoretical entity up to the 2009 season. During that time the squad went from 1-AA to 1-A (still not FBS) and joined an Automatic Qualifying conference. In 2007, the Bulls rose to #2 in the BCS rankings before plummeting back down to a 9-4 season. Ever since then South Florida has hung around the middle of the Big East, which would be more of an accomplishment if it weren't the Big East. But then, tragedy struck. Well, more accurately, Coach Leavitt struck. A player. In the locker room. Then he lied about it. So, yeah. Kinda awkward there. Leavitt was unceremoniously dropped from the team he had basically created, and South Florida was left looking for a coach, whom they found in the form of Skip Holtz.

Likelihood of success: Look, never bet against the Holtz's. Yes, I do have some sort of weird "thing" about Lou Holtz, but seriously, Lou is one of the all-time greats, and Skip turned ECU around after two consecutive seasons that can only be described as "godawful". The pieces are all in place at South Florida: Good coach, reasonably good players, good recruiting grounds, and a weak conference. Look for USF in a BCS bowl sometime very, very soon. Not this year though. This year they'll go 9-3 and play in some mid-level bowl game.

Tennessee
Departing Coach: Lane Kiffin
Arriving Coach: Derek Dooley

Review: One mediocre season after taking over the Big Orange, Lane Kiffin bolts in uber-weasel fashion. Sorry, but I can't say anything positive about the way Kiffin left and tried to take some of his best recruits with him. No worries, though, as Lane and his little band of ship-jumpers will spend 2 glorious bowl-free years at Southern Cal watching schools like Wyoming get to have all the post-season fun. Tennessee, meanwhile, has a mess to clean up, and one can only hope that the fans in Knoxville are willing to sit through at least one more season of mediocrity before getting some results

Likelihood of success: Dooley's dad had success at Georgia. So much so that it might create unfair expectations for his son. The big challenge at Tennessee is to get over the hump in the SEC. Being a middle of the road SEC team is akin to being a good ACC or Big East team. The problem is beating Florida or Alabama or LSU. The likelihood of that happening in the near future? Not good...

Texas Tech
Departing Coach: Mike Leach
Arriving Coach: Tommy Tuberville

Review: It's good to see Tuberville getting a job. It's even better to see a guy who locked a kid with a concussion in a closet gone. To be fair, like most twentysomethings I get most of my sports from ESPN, meaning that the reports were probably a bit biased considering the kid in question was analyst Craig James' son. The counterpoint to that is that Leach's "walk the plank" attitude probably merited a firing before he stupidly abused a kid with direct access to the world's largest sports media outlet. Oops.

Likelihood of success: Well, Tuberville has taken over a team that ran an unbelievably pass heavy spread for the last 9 years or so, and the last time he was on a team running a spread offense didn't go so hot. As a matter of fact, the little experiment cost him his job eventually. That said, Tuberville's genius lies in defense, an area in which most Big 12 teams are sorely lacking. The result? Well, it could mean that given enough time to retool the team, Tuberville could have great success. The only other team to claim to be defense heavy in the Big 12 in recent years has been the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team that went from punching bag to one-second away from the BCS in the span of 2 seasons. This year could be rough in Lubbock, but given enough time Tuberville will turn it around.

UNLV
Departing Coach: Mike Sanford
Arriving Coach: Bobby Hauck

Review: UNLV isn't even popular in its own city, so the advantage here is that sucking won't attract too much attention. The disadvantage of coaching in Las Vegas, obviously, is getting a bunch of teenagers and 20-22 year olds to concentrate on football in a city renowned for drinking, gambling, and cheap buffets. Sanford couldn't do it; he went 16-43, having one season with more than 4 wins in 5 years at the school.

Likelihood of success: Not good at all. As if the distractions of Las Vegas weren't enough, the coaching staff also has to compete with TCU and Utah and BYU in what easily the best non-Automatic Qualifying conference. So, good luck Coach Hauck. If you go to the casinos alot, I'd bet on whoever's playing UNLV that week...

USC
Departing Weasel Scumbag: Pete Carroll
Arriving Weasel Scumbag: Lane Kiffin

Review: Since most of the last post was about this, and since this post is like 18 pages long, I am of the opinion that I can be fairly light on this topic right now. Suffice it to say that Southern Cal was caught cheating, and Pete, being a rat, jumped off of the sinking ship as quickly as he could. The one tiny bit of vindication here is that his protege is now stuck with the sanctions for cheating that the NCAA leveled against the school. Which seems a bit odd, as Pete got off completely free. Well, he does have to coach the Seahawks now. That might be punishment enough.

Likelihood of success: None. When you're used to competing for national titles and conference championships, a 2 year ban on postseason play means that you've already failed in 2010 and 2011. Check back slightly before the end of the world in 2012.


Virginia
Departing Coach: Al Groh
Arriving Coach: Mike London

Review: Coach Groh bowed out from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville with extreme grace. Probably more grace than was deserved by those tie wearing snobs. (Sorry, Hokie fan writing, excuse the bias.) Coach Groh will be missed by Virginia Tech fans, not least because the Hokies had an 8-1 record against him. On a serious note, Coach Groh was amazingly gracious and kind to Virginia Tech after the horrific events of April 16, 2007. He never could lead Virginia to an ACC championship, and his coaching was sub-par for most of his career at UVa. He's an alright guy, though, and for that he will truly be missed.

Likelihood of success: The ACC isn't overly good, and Mike London led the Richmond Spiders to their only NCAA Championship thus far. Putting two and two together, here, UVa has a very real chance to be good in the near future. Virginia will still have to get the pieces in place, as their defense bled points for most of the 2009 season. London, however, is a defensive guy, so look for the Cavaliers to make noise in the ACC sometime around 2011 or 2012.

Western Kentucky
Departing Coach: David Elson
Arriving Coach: Willie Taggart

Review: THIS is how I have to finish my labor of love? Well, crap. OK, here: WKU was a good 1-AA team that moved up and immediately did one thing: lose. They lost frequently, and they haven't won a game since September of 2008. Color me unimpressed.

Likelihood of success: Well, the good news here is that you can't do any worse than last season. Don't look for Western Kentucky in the polls. Actually, don't look for Western Kentucky at all, as doing so would require you to go to Kentucky...


Aaaaand that's it. An overview of all 22 of the coaching changes in college football between the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Hope it's enough to tide you over until someone writes something stupid for me to mock before the season starts...