This is the final part of our four-part series that grades and explains grades for programs that have hired new head coaches for the 2026 FBS season.
Today, we look at Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado St., Florida, James Madison, Kansas St., Kentucky, LSU, Memphis, Michigan, Penn St., Utah, and Virginia Tech.
Arkansas
New Head Coach: Ryan Silverfield
New Coaching Staff Rating: 17.5
New Coaching Staff Grade: A-
Former head coach Sam Pittman was popular at Arkansas but popularity without success is not tolerated in the University of Arkansas football program.
When Pittman was hired, the national analysts ballyhooed his arrival. They were certain he would return the Razorbacks to prominence. My Savvy system projected otherwise and the folks at Arkansas sent him away, never to be heard from again — like when they sent my cousin off to mime school.
Ryan Silverfield has arrived from Memphis where he was 50-25 in seven seasons along with four straight bowl wins. He will find the going a bit tougher at Arkansas because the ‘Backs play in the mighty SEC yet they don’t provide the financial commitment of CFB leaders.
For example, Silverfield will earn $6.5-million per year at Arkansas. Dan Lanning of Oregon makes $11-million per year and Kirby Smart of Georgia makes $13-million.
That reminds me of the time my boss told me to start every presentation with a joke, so I put my paycheck on the first slide.
Money may not be everything but in FBS, it has great influence. Scores of players have appealed to the NCAA for extended eligibility because many of them can make more money in college than they would as first-year players in the NFL.
Coach Silverfield has brought Tim Cramsey with him from Memphis to continue as his offensive coordinator. Razorbackers can expect to see their potent offense continue under Cramsey who produced an offense that was in the nation’s top 30 in a number of categories.
The question in Fayetteville is whether new defensive coordinator Ron Roberts can reverse the horrendous failures of Arkansas’ defense last season. That defense chose to blitz and blitz and blitz. Unfortunately, UA didn’t have the back-end guys to cover receivers. As a result, the ‘Backs gave up nearly two touchdowns per game just through the air!
Coach Roberts comes to Arkansas with plenty of DC experience (Auburn, Florida, Louisiana, Baylor) and his defenses have been solid at all levels. I project he will cut opponent touchdown passes by 40% while also whittling another 40% off of opposing running backs’ yards-per-carry.
Ryan Silverfield is not a glitzy name nor does he have Power Four background, but he is a solid head coach who has done a fabulous job of surrounding himself with proven coordinators.
Arkansas lost its last 10-straight games last year. With a schedule that includes ranked teams such as Utah, Georgia, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Texas, and LSU, the going is going to be tough.
However, if the Razorback fans can stick with this group past this season, they will see their program rise.
Auburn
New Head Coach: Alex Golesh
New Coaching Staff Rating: 17.5
New Coaching Staff Grade: A-
Alex Golesh takes over at Auburn after former coach Hugh Freeze was fired because he never posted a winning season in three years. Auburn fans demand better than that although I’m not sure why since they haven’t had a winning team this decade.
Auburn administrators extol that Golesh is the man who will lead the Tigers back into the the national championship, you know, like they said when they hired Bryan Harsin from Boise State. Harsin also never posted a winning season at Auburn and was pretty much booted by the boosters after just two seasons.
He has no Power Four experience and a pretty short list of credentials. Administrators say it will be worth when Golesh returns Auburn to number on in the nation like it was in 2013. Since then, Auburn hasn’t even been number one in its own state.
Golesh’s experience list is pretty brief but it is somewhat impressive. He took over USF right after it posted a 1-11 record. The next season, he took the Bulls to a bowl game. In fact, USF never missed making it to bowl games under Golesh.
Naysayers complain that despite that success, his experience doesn’t deserve a $44-million contract.
To me, it’s all relative. Like, if you walk into a Starbucks and ask, “How much for a cup?” you might snarl if the answer is $7. But, if you get that same answer at Victoria’s Secret, you’ll probably feel just fine.
Golesh has elected to bring in Kodi Burns as his offensive coordinator. Burns has NO experience at the position on his own although he was co-OC at USF for one season.
Analysts have nodded with approval that Burns is the right man for the Auburn job because in that one year, USF’s scoring increased by 25%. Savvy analytics says that is not a solid analytical point because USF’s points-per-game had been increasing for four consecutive seasons before Burns took over.
Burns will preside over a solid offensive roster so the Tigers should be able to move the ball. Although that will make Burns look pretty good, his lack of experience can’t be overlooked. Savvy rates Burns as a less-than-average OC hire.
Although Golesh fell short at the OC position, he scored a tremendous home run on the defensive side. Auburn’s new defensive coordinator will be D.J. Durkin who has more than 20 years in college coaching and was Florida’s DC and interim head coach 12 years ago. He has also been DC at Michigan, Ole Miss (co-DC), Texas A&M, and head coach for three seasons at Maryland.
Auburn’s defense has been really good lately and Durkin is going to make it even better.
Altogether, this trio of coaches clearly deserves the A- rating that Savvy has assigned.
But, I wouldn’t expect Auburn to suddenly become a contender in the SEC. Although the new coaching staff deserves a high grade, it is my opinion that the Auburn booster bunch is zealous to the point of hindrance.
Kentucky
New Head Coach: Will Stein
New Coaching Staff Rating: 17.5
New Coaching Staff Grade: A-
Mark Stoops is gone from Kentucky after he spent 13 years helping the Wildcats recover from three awful years under former head coach Joker Phillips. Stoops led KU to seven bowl games in eight seasons before falling on hard times in 2024 and 2025. In those last two seasons, he was only able to win three out of 16 SEC games that included six straight losses to ranked opponents.
And now, it’s Stein Time in Lexington. Will Stein returns to the state where he once was a star quarterback at Louisville. The past three seasons, he has been offensive coordinator at Oregon under Dan Lanning. Oregon has become a semi-elite training ground for coordinators and suggests Stein is ready to run his own program.
He will Joe Sloan as his offensive coordinator. Sloan was offensive coordinator at LSU the past two seasons with diminishing results each year. However, he had good results as OC at Louisiana Tech for two seasons and ten years as a position coach for ten years prior under Sonny Dykes and Skip Holtz.
Savvy Index rates Sloan a slightly better than average hire at the OC position.
On the defensive side, Stein has brought in Jay Bateman as his coordinator and Bateman is loaded with DC experience from Army, Ball State, North Carolina, and Texas A&M so he is indeed a plug-and-play kind of defensive leader.
Kentucky’s schedule is loaded with strong opponents. Seven of them finished 2025 in the national rankings and three others were in the top 25 at least once.
The last game on the schedule pits Stein against his alma mater, Louisville.
James Madison
New Head Coach: Billy Napier
New Coaching Staff Rating: 18.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A-
Bob Chesney is off to UCLA after a 12-2 single season at JMU.
Billy Napier replaces him and he is likely to make the most of a weak schedule to keep JMU above double-digit wins. He struggled as head coach at Florida but he was 40-12 as head coach at Louisiana before that. He never had a losing season at LU despite the Cajuns not having a winning season in the three years before he took over.
JMU is the right place for Napier to rebuild his reputation as one of the better head coaches in college football.
His offensive coordinator is Cam Aiken who has more than a decade of offensive coaching experience including two national championships at Clemson. He has one season as an offensive coordinator at the FCS level. Although unproven as a coordinator in FBS, he rates as a better than average hire for Napier.
Robert Bala followed Napier from Florida where he was co-defensive coordinator for one season. He has no DC experience prior that and only two other seasons as a defensive coach in the FBS. JMU only allowed 18 points per game and 2.8 yards per opponent rushing attempt so he is taking over a rock-solid situation.
Over all, this trio of coaches is strong and the schedule has no ranked opponents so fans can expect JMU to get into the top 25.
Utah
New Head Coach: Morgan Scalley
New Coaching Staff Rating: 18.5
New Coaching Staff Grade: A
Kyle Wittingham retired.
Until he didn’t.
A month have declaring hibernation, Whittingham resurfaced, this time as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines.
There’s been plenty of talk about KW’s departure from Utah including Sports Illustrated’s March 25, 2026 assertion that “The university seemed ready to move on, even though Whittingham wasn’t.”
It’s like asking your wife if you’re the only one she’s been with and she says no, all of the others were nines or tens.
Replacing Whittingham is Morgan Scalley who could be seen as one of those “nines or tens” after the same Sports Illustrated article suggested that Utah wanted give Scalley control of recruiting, personnel staffing, etc. over Whittingham.
Scalley appears to be a legend-in-the making. He is popular with Utah fans and the administration and he has been a key component of Utah’s 11-2 season.
He also inherits a terrific roster and nearly 20 years in the Utah system. Last year, he coordinated Utah’s defense that ranked in the top 20 for fewest points allowed per game. He has a solid hold on Utah’s recruiting footprint so his long term future appears bright.
He will also have one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in college football as senior, dual-threat Devon Dampier returns. Dampier passed for more than 2400 yards and rushed for 835 more in 2025.
Scalley hired Kevin McGiven as his offenseive coordinator. McGiven was OC at Utah State, San Jose State, Oregon State, and three FCS schools. Because of his years of success, he is rated a top tier OC hire.
Colton Swan will be Utah’s defensive coordinator. He has no experience as a DC at either the FCS or FBS levels although he spent two seasons as co-DC at Weber State before once again being reverting back to position coach.
Utah is always tough on the defensive side of things but that will be tested this season with Swan as a first-time FBS coordinator. It will help that he knows the Utah defensive system very well and he will benefit from a schedule that has two solid months of unranked opposition.
Colorado State
New Head Coach: Jim Mora
New Coaching Staff Rating: 19.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A
Colorado State scored a Hail Mary with the hire of Jim Mora as the new leader of the Rams’ football program.
Mora did what many thought was impossible when he pulled UConn out of the depths of futility and into bowl games the past two seasons. That was a rebirth of Mora’s head coaching career after his chaotic and contentious tenure at UCLA.
At UConn, many people saw Mora as an eagle flying high. At UCLA, many thought of him as a weasel. I think both have their merits. Yes, eagles are regal and they fly high but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
Colorado State has been trying to elevate its football program into prominence for years but hasn’t been able to do it. Mora is resourceful enough to make it happen.
He will rely on Pryce Tracy as his offensive coordinator. However, Tracy has no experience as an OC and only one season as a position coach at the FBS level. Although Mora and Tracy were together at UConn, this still rates as a strange hire for a man of Mora’s reputation and pull-power.
Tysom Summers was Colorado State’s defensive coordinator last year and he brings 25 years of CFB coaching experience and DC history from UCF, Colorado State (2015), Colorado, and Western Kentucky. He was also head coach at Georgia Southern for two seasons.
Summers is a grade A defensive coordinator but he has to find a way to get massive improvement in one of the nation’s worst rush defenses. That starts with getting linemen up front who can plug holes and bring pressure. Four defensive linemen have transferred from UConn to CSU.
Five years ago, I predicted that Jim Mora would soon become a bad Jeopardy question.
Now, I’m not so sure.
Florida
New Head Coach: John Sumrall
New Coaching Staff Rating: 19.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A
What is wrong with Florida football?
No matter who the Gators bring in as head coach, the program flounders.
That may change now with John Sumrall taking over. In four seasons as an FBS head coach, Sumrall has always won at least nine games. Doing that at UF will be a challenge since the program only won four games last season.
Although the Florida offense moved the ball last season, it was stifled by quarterbacks who threw 18 touchdowns but also 14 interceptions. Fixing that problem will fall on the shoulders of new offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner who has been a college offensive coach for more than two decades with 13 of those seasons as offensive coordinator and last three leading Georgia Tech’s potent offense.
He will be working with a new starting quarterback as it seems apparent that former four-star recruit Tramell Jones will take over behind center. Jones had no part in those 14 interceptions last season and he is a true dual-threat quarterback so UF fans have reason to hope for better results.
Brad White will be Florida’s new defensive coordinator. He spent the past seven seasons as DC at Kentucky with 17 total seasons as a defensive coach in the FBS and NFL. He will have to solve Florida’s leaky defense which allowed 5.7 yards per play to opponents last season.
Sumrall has always won nine or more games but with half of Florida’s 2026 opponents being ranked at some point last year, he will need to start fast. Savvy Index projects that all six of his games through October 10th are winnable. After that, he will face Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt all in the space of five weeks.
Kansas State
New Head Coach: Collin Klein
New Coaching Staff Rating: 19.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A
Savvy’s assessment of the Kansas State coaching situation is an outlier. Usually, first time head coaches with limited coaching experience and no tutelage under an elite coach does not produce a highly positive projection from Savvy Index.
Collin Klein is such a coach. He has no experience as a college head coach and no understudy work in an elite program. Yet, Savvy Index gives him an unusually high grade as a first-time head coach.
Why?
Klein was in the Kansas State coaching circle for eight years and was KSU’s sole offensive coordinator for two of those and both of them resulted in the Wildcat offense scoring significantly more points that Klein’s predecessor. The past two seasons, he was offensive coordinator in Texas A&M’s run at the CFP.
In addition, Kansas State posted three-straight 9-4 seasons and just couldn’t get over the hump and into the playoff former head coach Chris Klieman who recently retired.
New coach Klein will only have to stir that stagnation into youthful vitality and a good bowl appearance to keep ‘Cats fans energized on his behalf like they were when he produced stunning results as a quarterback at the Manhattan, Kansas school.
The schedule sets up well for that since KSU only has one opponent (Arizona State) that finished last season in the top 25. In addition, four others have new coaches and one other opponent is Nicholls from the FCS.
Klein is off to a fast start with the hiring of Sean Gleason as his offensive coordinator and Jordan Peterson as his defensive coordinator.
Gleason has been an offensive coordinator for nearly 15 years with several seasons in FBS (Rutgers, Oklahoma St.). Gleason has produced mixed results as an OC and spent the past three seasons as a mere analyst or quarterbacks coach. Those are concerning factors, but his three-year success as Rutgers’ OC suggest he is capable of running a college offense.
On the defensive side, Peterson spent the past two seasons as Texas A&M’s DC and he has one other DC season (New Mexico) to go with it. Some of his defensive leadership looks very good but there is enough that is spotty to rate his hiring little more than average.
My best interpretation of Savvy analytics is that this group is short on experience but high on potential against a schedule that is pretty weak. Those elements have produced projections with enough upward pitch that KSU has earned an “A” rating for its hire of Klein.
I agree but only via an educated guess. But then, I don’t put much stock in an education. I mean, they brag about teaching the three R’s even though one of those R’s actually begins with W.
Penn State
New Head Coach: Matt Campbell
New Coaching Staff Rating: 19.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A
James Franklin was fired mid-season and Matt Campbell is the first of many coaches to not decline PSU’s offer to become head coach.
Many others refused and that, along with PSU never being able to win the critical big games, makes me wonder if there is an administration issue here.
Campbell will do well here because he did well at Iowa State with a mere fraction of the resources he will have at PSU.
Since this hire occurred so late in the cycle, the number of coordinators was decreased somewhat.
But, Campbell solved that issue by bringing Tayler Mouser with him from Iowa State. Mouser was very successful at ISU producing a strong offense and increasing the yards-per-rush in each of his years as OC.
He is a proven product and rates as better-than-average on the offensive side.
Campbell also scored a home run with the hire of D’Anton Lynn who has tons of NFL and FBS defensive coordinator experience. Lynn knows defenses and he knows how to recruit. His lack of east coast exposure may hinder high school recruiting but his over all reputation should be dynamite in the portal.
Over all, this coaching staff is superior and should produce immediate results.
MEMPHIS
New Head Coach: Charles Huff
New Coaching Staff Rating: 20.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A+
This may turn out to be the best coaching hire of this cycle.
Charles Huff hit the FBS coaching headlines in the second game of his second FBS season he took his Marshall Thundering Herd to Indiana and shocked the college football world with an upset of mighty Notre Dame.
After a major disagreement with Marshall, he left in — well, a huff — and wound up at Southern Miss. Southern Miss had just finished a 1-11 season under Will Hall (now head coach at Tulane for some reason) and converted the Golden Eagles into an instant winner accompanied by a ticket to the New Orleans bowl.
I can’t say for sure, but I think his disagreement with Marshall was how long it took the cheerleaders to spell, “Give me a ‘T’ . . . ” etc.
Memphis offers him resources he has never had before and he will produce instant results and probably stay for many years.
He is turning the offense over to an experienced coordinator in Kevin Decker. For the past three seasons, Decker has been the OC at Old Dominion. In his first season at ODU, he nearly doubled the Monarchs’ points-per-game average. In his subsequent two seasons, he increased those totals each time.
Decker rates as a much-better-than-average OC hire and demonstrates the “pull power” of Huff as a head coach.
Then, Huff pulled magic from his hat when he convinced Lance Guidry to become his as defensive coordinator. Guidry has been coaching college defenses for more than 30 seasons with DC stops at Miami (Oh), Miami (Fl), Western Kentucky, Marshall and a few FCS schools.
This is a strong, strong coaching staff and the Memphis football administration provides everything its program needs to reach its highest result.
I wouldn’t say this is a marriage made in heaven because I’ve noticed that thunder and lightning are also made in heaven. But, I can say this is a great situation that will be highly-rewarding for both sides.
Virginia Tech
New Head Coach: James Franklin
New Coaching Staff Rating: 20.5
New Coaching Staff Grade: A+
Virginia Tech admins fired head coach Brent Pry.
Until they didn’t.
They brought in James Franklin from Penn State to replace Pry but instead, Franklin hired Pry back, this time as defensive coordinator.
Got all of that?
It can seem like an odd puzzle. I suppose I have an advantage because I’m pretty good at puzzles. A while back, I bought a puzzle that said “3 to 5 years”.
I fooled them.
I did it in 18 months!
We all know James Franklin’s history from Penn State. He recruits well. He runs a tight ship. He gets a little too gnarly at times. He can’t win the big games.
Despite those last two blemishes, VaTech is glad to have Franklin because he brings a record of 128-60 and an established, eastern recruiting footprint to Blacksburg, Virginia.
He’s also bringing his co-defensive coordinator Ty Howle from Penn State. Howle knows the Franklin offensive system and recruiting strategies but Savvy Index points to declining offensive results at PSU to suggest caution.
The question is whether an offensive coordinator from a program that have declining results resurrect another program (VaTech) that has had even worse results?
On the defensive side, Brent Pry has been better as a defensive coordinator than as a head coach. He first became a DC at Louisiana where he spent five successful seasons. He followed that with a DC year at Georgia Southern Franklin hired him to run Penn State’s defense for six seasons.
Not until November 7th does PSU face an opponent ranked in last year’s final top 25. If the Hokies haven’t won six games by October 17th, then it would be fair to think this odd puzzle might not be working and this staff might not be worthy of the A+ rating Savvy has assigned it.
LSU
New Head Coach: Lane Kiffin
New Coaching Staff Rating: 21.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A+
Let’s take a stroll down Drama Lane.
No, that’s not a place but rather a person. It has been said that LSU’s new head coach, Lane Kiffin, loves to “mess with peoples’ head”. If you know his history from Tennessee to USC to Ole Miss, then you know he is no stranger to drama or raising discord.
When he left Ole Miss, he created a terrific amount of havoc. It was alleged that he tried to leverage his way into coaching the Rebels’ playoff game even though he had already taken the LSU job.
Ole Miss didn’t flinch. The Rebs instantly promoted Pete Golding who promptly produced an upset win over Georgia in the playoff.
Ole Miss fans have since been asking, “Lane who?”
LSU fans have been waiting for a deliverer; a coach who will return the Tigers to playoff relevance. Lane Kiffin may be that guy. But, just as much as he might now be their deliverer, he’s also now their problem.
An admirable thing about Lane Kiffin is that if he If he won $1-million in a lottery, he would give a quarter of it to charity. Then, he would deposit the remaining $999,999.75.
Despite all of the chaos, Kiffin is a top-tier coach. He’s spent the time it takes to learn the trade and he’s been successful. His 116-53 record is impressive especially when we consider he produced a 26-13 record in three seasons at Florida Atlantic.
He will get LSU’s offense off the ground immediately with the help of offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss, Jr. Weiss was with Kiffin at Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss. He knows what Kiffin wants and he is a proven recruiter. Weiss was also offensive coordinator at South Florida for two seasons.
Blake Baker comes to LSU with eight years as a defensive coordinator at such places as Louisiana Tech, Miami (Fl), and Missouri where he decreased the scoring of opponents in each of his two seasons.
Experience and success at all three positions makes this coaching change easy to grade as A+.
Are LSU fans equipped to deal with Kiffin’s drama?
If Savvy had a rating system for that, it would also give an A+ grade. They’ve earned it after tolerating the strange antics of former coaches such as Brian Kelly and Les Miles.
MICHIGAN
New Head Coach: Kyle Whittingham
New Coaching Staff Rating: 22.0
New Coaching Staff Grade: A+
Scandals have stymied the success Michigan football for years but that has come to an end with the hiring of Kyle Whittingham as head coach.
After 21 years of producing winners without infractions at Utah, Whittingham comes to Ann Arbor with a grizzled approach and a commitment to toughness.
The Wolverines aren’t going to play “pretty ball”; they’re going to grind opponents into submission while throwing in just enough long-ball to keep safeties in place.
His offensive coordinator Jason Beck knows how to do that because he was Whittingham’s OC at Utah. Beck has plenty of OC history (Syracuse, New Mexico, Utah) and is considered to be somewhat of a genius when it comes to making the ball move.
He is a specular retention for Whittingham and an assurance for Michigan fans that Wolverine stagnation on the offensive side is about to end.
Whittingham enticed BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill to join him at Michigan. The past two seasons, BYU opponents have averaged less than 19 points per game against Hill’s defenses.
Hill also has a long history with Whittingham and that’s important because Coach W. is a tough head coach and not one for the weak of heart. Hill was a position coach at Utah under Whittingham for more than 20 years so he knows what is expected.
This is the highest rated coaching change of this cycle and it will be tested early as the Wolverines host high-ranked Oklahoma on September 12th.
Savvy Game Line 