The 2022-23 College Football season has finally come to a close, and there were some great Head Coaching hires. Some of the hires made this past offseason were held high in expectations. Many, rightfully so at the beginning of the season, but not all first-year head coaches lived up to the hype. Let’s look at some of the biggest hires from the past season in College Football and grade each coach on their performance in their first year for their new school.
Lincoln Riley | USC (11-2) | A
Probably the biggest splash to start the coaching carousel this past College Football offseason was the departure of Lincoln Riley from the Oklahoma Sooners. Riley left for the Trojans overnight and shocked Sooner Nation, as well as the rest of the college football fans. As soon as he took the job at USC, most had high expectations right off the bat. To be fair, they probably should expect a lot with the bags of cash thrown at him, on top of the other perks offered.
I give Lincoln Riley an A for grading when seeing what he was able to do with the Trojans. To look at this team a year ago, who only had four wins in the 2021 season, and compare it to what they were to accomplish this season, it seems impossible to argue with the fact that the fan base loves Lincoln Riley. In the offseason, he was able to exploit the transfer portal and bring in big-time playmakers. Most notably Heisman winner Caleb Williams, Trojans leading receiver Jordan Addison, and former Sooner Mario Williams, among others.
Lincoln Riley brought this team to the Conference Championship game and a chance at the College Football Playoffs in his first season. This is an incredible turnaround for this team and an excellent way to end his first year. Much will be expected from him going forward with this program.
Brian Kelly | LSU (9-4) | A-
Another big-time splash among the coaching hires in College Football the last offseason was Brian Kelly. He left Notre Dame to coach for the LSU Tigers. The Tigers have struggled to find a Head Coach that they can be happy with for the long haul. Big things were expected from Kelly in his first year. This comes mainly because of the impatience of the fanbase as they looked to get back on track.
Regarding rating Brian Kelly, I believe an A- is a generous yet deserving grade. He had a lot to do to get this team to where they ended the season.
Early in the season, the Tigers lost a heart-breaking game against the Florida State Seminoles. This upset much of the fanbase. The LSU fanatics believed that this game should have been won handily, given the hype around Brian Kelly.
Following that loss, there was a lot of drama involving many players on the Tiger’s squad. This caused the fans to be concerned about the leadership ability of Brian Kelly. Though that drama leaked out and seemed to upset many fans, Kelly’s leadership seemed to get the team on the right track again. He helped the team mesh the way that many expected to at the beginning of the season.
With a win over Alabama and a few more after, the LSU Tigers were able to make their way to the SEC Championship. This seemed out of reach towards the beginning of the season.
With all of this going on in Baton Rouge, I believe Brian Kelly deserves some respect. But, he is expected to have a little more success next season to stay off the hot seat. Especially in a program that expects a lot from its Head Coach.
Mario Cristobal | Miami (5-7) | D+
I know Mario Cristobal came into a Miami team with a lot to fix, but this performance was far worse than anyone expected. Though he had a bad season, I don’t believe we should expect this going forward with this program.
Mario Cristobal came from Oregon to be Head Coach for his alma mater, the Miami Hurricanes. Many picked Miami to go to and possibly win the ACC Championship game. The Hurricanes started their season with impressive wins against teams they should have handled easily. After a loss against Texas A&M, many wrote that off since the team played the Aggies on their home turf. Following that, they lost to Middle Tennessee at home, which raised eyebrows among those following Cristobal’s season.
That loss against Middle Tennessee seemed to be the breaking point for this Cristobal-led Hurricanes team. They went downhill from there, losing a total of seven games and not even reaching bowl eligibility. Many of their losses came by double digits, which is completely unacceptable, regardless of what program Cristobal was handed.
Mario Cristobal is handed a D+ as a grade for his first season, but that doesn’t mean I have lost all hope in him bringing Miami back to significance in the ACC and possibly the nation.
Brent Venables | Oklahoma (6-6) | C-
I may be biased as an Oklahoma fan, but hear me out on this one.
Brent Venables was a big hire for the Sooners after the abrupt abandonment of Lincoln Riley. Venables was the guy for Oklahoma as they have been struggling on defense, really, ever since he left Oklahoma in 2012. He presented a possibility of bringing the Oklahoma defense to prominence at a time when they needed it the most as they look to move to the SEC very soon.
Oklahoma and its fanbase didn’t expect Venables to bring them to a Conference Championship or the playoffs in the first year, but winning only six games was not quite what they had in mind either. He had a solid start to the season with three convincing wins. Oklahoma seemed like their defense had taken leaps and bounds compared to the past several seasons, with one of the worst defenses in the country. The most convincing win was the one in Lincoln, Nebraska, against the Cornhuskers, leaving the state with a 49-14 win.
The Sooners went downhill fast after a fast start to the season, losing to Kansas State and TCU, as well as being shut out in the 49-0 loss to their rival in the Red River Shootout. It took many football fans by surprise that the Oklahoma Sooners would go down so hard and so fast.
The only reason I don’t give Venables a lower grade than a C- is because of the program he inherited coming to Norman. There was a complete rebuild that would need to take place after losing two quarterbacks, key receivers, and many more that had made a big impact on this team in the past.
Sonny Dykes | TCU (12-1) | A+
Saving the best for last, we take a look at what Sonny Dykes was able to do in his first year as head coach for the TCU Horned Frogs after the tough departure of their winningest coach, Gary Patterson.
As many College Football talk show hosts, and analysts talked of the Big 12 Conference before the season; not much attention was given to the Horned Frogs. Dykes and his team shocked the nation with an undefeated regular season. T it to the Conference Championship and now a chance at a National Championship in the College Football Playoffs.
There has been a lot of criticism of the Horned Frogs in regard to how close many of their wins were and the late comeback wins, but at the end of the day, they beat every team on their schedule, and that is hard to do in a full season of College Football. Sonny Dykes was able to do this in just his first year as head coach.
There were many other examples we could point out to show how good Dykes did in his first season, like beating Baylor by rushing his kicking unit on the field with less than 17 seconds winding down. Still, we will stop there since there is enough evidence to prove that he deserves this perfect grade. I will be rooting for Sonny Dykes in the playoffs and in the years to come with respect he has gained from me, and I’m sure it’s the same with many other College Football fans around the nation.
Conclusion
There are many other first-year head coaches that we could go through, but these are some that made a big splash in either the initial hire or as the season went on. The first year for a Head Coach doesn’t determine how their tenure will go, but it shows us how they did on their first big test. Some passed with flying colors, while others didn’t do so well.
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