Detroit Lions’ Head Coach Dan Campbell Crowned 2024 NFL Coach of the Year, Team Revels in Historic Victory…
The college football coaching carousel is underway as the regular season concludes with numerous head coaches already fired. As always, the carousel results in constant turnover around the country with filled vacancies creating new openings. Here, we’re looking at some of the top college football coaching candidates for the offseason.
This isn’t a particularly strong year for the coaching carousel, with very few Power 4 jobs coming open and most of the top programs giving their head coaches another year. However, our pool of coaching candidates will be updated for fans to know some up-and-coming head coaches and coordinators who could become head coaches before long. Let’s dive in.
Liberty Flames head coach Jamey Chadwell has been one of the top college football coaching candidates for non-Power 4 jobs now for a few years. With his recent success at Liberty (.840 winning percentage) – exceeding the work of his predecessor Hugh Freeze (.694) – Chadwell is now becoming a top target for some Power 4 schools. Widely regarded for his offensive play-calling, Liberty finished this past season ranked 34th nationally in offensive touchdowns per game (3.8), 32nd in third-down conversion rate (43.41 percent) and 41st in yards-per-play average (5.9). Chadwell is a championship-winning coach – Conference USA (2023), Sun Belt (2020) and Big South (2015-’16) – who won AP, Walter Camp and Home Depot Coach of the Year honors in 2020. Over his last seven seasons at Coastal Carolina and Liberty, Chadwell has three seasons with double-digit wins and his teams have finished with 9-plus wins in five consecutive years.Liberty Flames head coach Jamey Chadwell has been one of the top college football coaching candidates for non-Power 4 jobs now for a few years. With his recent success at Liberty (.840 winning percentage) – exceeding the work of his predecessor Hugh Freeze (.694) – Chadwell is now becoming a top target for some Power 4 schools. Widely regarded for his offensive play-calling, Liberty finished this past season ranked 34th nationally in offensive touchdowns per game (3.8), 32nd in third-down conversion rate (43.41 percent) and 41st in yards-per-play average (5.9). Chadwell is a championship-winning coach – Conference USA (2023), Sun Belt (2020) and Big South (2015-’16) – who won AP, Walter Camp and Home Depot Coach of the Year honors in 2020. Over his last seven seasons at Coastal Carolina and Liberty, Chadwell has three seasons with double-digit wins and his teams have finished with 9-plus wins in five consecutive years.
Matt Campbell is arguably one of the best college football coaches right now. A Pittsburgh alum, Campbell began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with Bowling Green (2003-’04). By 2009, he became the run-game coordinator and offensive line coach at Toledo then took over as the program’s head coach in 2012. He immediately led the Rockets to a nine-win season in his first year at the helm and finished with a 35-15 record (.700) with Toledo.
With Iowa State since 2016, Campbell took over a program that went a combined 8-28 in three seasons prior to his arrival. Following a 3-9 transition year in his first season, the Cyclones are now 60-41 under Campbell since 2017. Campbell is also responsible for four of Iowa State’s six best seasons ever.
