Best Coaching and Coordinator Hires of the 2025 CFB Offseason

The college football coaching carousel never stops spinning.

New Purdue head coach Barry Odom was just one of the names who switched programs this offseason after his successful two-year stint at UNLV.

We are five months out from the 2025 college football season, so let's take a look at some of the best coaching staff hires from the 2024-25 carousel. 

This year's cycle wasn't as splashy as others we've seen recently. There were far less power-conference openings, but there were plenty of big names who landed new gigs. We'll also take a look at some of the best coordinator hires, as well.  

Jim Knowles, Penn State Penn State DC

Penn State looks like a national title contender in 2025, and James Franklin hiring defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from Ohio State is a big reason for that. The Buckeyes finished with the top-ranked total defense last season. Knowles will lead a unit featuring talented playmakers such as edge-rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton and defensive tackle Zane Durant in Happy Valley. 

Chip Lindsey, Michigan OC

Chip Lindsey coached Drake Maye during his last season at UNC, before he became a first-round draft pick. In Ann Arbor, he'll oversee the No. 1 overall quarterback recruit from 2025 in Bryce Underwood, who flipped from LSU to the Wolverines last fall. 

Chris Ash, Notre Dame DC

Chris Ash brings some serious veteran experience to South Bend. He has 24 years of collegiate coaching experience, spending time at Iowa State, Wisconsin and Arkansas. He was Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator during its 2014 national championship. Following stints with Rutgers and Texas from 2016-2020, he spent time coaching in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders. 

Ryan Grubb, Alabama OC

Ryan Grubb returns to college after spending the 2024 season as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator. It's a reunion for the 48-year-old, who was Washington's offensive coordinator under Kalen DeBoer from 2022-23. The Huskies made it to the national title game with Michael Penix Jr. under center in his second year. Getting a veteran offensive coordinator as Alabama has to replace Jalen Milroe under center is huge.   

Marshall Faulk Colorado RB coach

Talk about a major recruiting pull for Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes. To oversee his running backs, the head coach has hired Marshall Faulk, who played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. The Pro Football Hall of Famer won Super Bowl XXXIV and was named the NFL's MVP in 2000.

Dan Mullen, UNLV

Dan Mullen left Mississippi State as the second-winningest head coach in school history from 2009-2017.

His time at Florida did have some bright spots, like an 11-2 season in 2019 and an SEC Championship Game berth in 2020. But a lack of consistent success on the recruiting trail and a 5-6 finish in 2021 wasn’t good enough..  

After spending the last two seasons covering college football with ESPN, he is now back in coaching at UNLV. Without the pressure to recruit well in Las Vegas, he can win big out west.

Bronco Mendenhall,  Utah State

Bronco Mendenhall is back coaching in the Mountain West. Over 11 seasons with the BYU Cougars, he finished with a 99-43 overall record, including two MWC titles in 2006 and 2007. 

Although he finished at Virginia with a 36-38 record, he's back in a conference that he knows how to win in. The Utah State Aggies can have their first winning season since 2021 with Mendenhall at the helm. 

Matt Entz, Fresno State

Fresno State is getting one heck of a head coach in Matt Entz. From 2018-2023, he was HC at North Dakota State and led the Bison to two national championships and five straight playoff appearances. 

After spending last season at USC as an assistant head coach and linebackers coach, he now gets his first crack at being a head coach at the FBS level. 

Who doesn't love running it back? That's exactly what West Virginia and UCF are doing by hiring Rich Rodriguez and Scott Frost, respectively. Both coaches had successful stints with each school previously. 

Rodriguez coached the Mountaineers from 2001-07. He left Morgantown as WVU's third-winningest coach in school history, behind Don Nehlen and Dana Holgorsen. 

Over his last three seasons with the Mountaineers, he led WVU to three straight double-digit win totals. In 2005, West Virginia finished 11-1, finished off with a 38-35 Sugar Bowl victory over the Georgia Bulldogs.

Although his time at Michigan and Arizona finished barely above .500, he led Jacksonville State to back-to-back nine-win seasons after spending time as an assistant with Ole Miss, Hawaii and Louisiana-Monroe from 2019-2021.

Frost left UCF after just two seasons in 2017, but he led the school to the first and only undefeated season in its history. The Knights even proclaimed themselves national champions after a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn. 

Although he was fired from Nebraska after four straight losing seasons, and a 1-2 start in 2022, UCF fans are hoping Frost's return will be as successful as his last stint.

The 50-year-old spent the 2024 season as a senior analyst with Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams. 

Purdue is in desperate need of a turnaround. Over the last 15 seasons, the Boilermakers have had just three seasons above .500.

They are hoping Barry Odom can turn things around in West Lafayette. 

The 48-year-old has been in college coaching since the early 2000s. His first stint as a head coach started at Missouri, where he took over for a retiring Gary Pinkel.

Although he finished 25-25 over four seasons with the Tigers, he found his stride during his last two seasons at UNLV. 

Odom spent time at Arkansas as an assistant from 2020-22 before getting hired by the Rebels. He led UNLV to a 9-5 record in 2023 followed by the first 11-win season in school history. Both seasons also included consecutive Mountain West Championship games.

Purdue fans are just looking for a coach who can make them decently competitive in a wide-open Big Ten. Odom has the chops to do just that.  

Since North Carolina was one of the few power jobs opening up, we'll include the GOAT here.

Sure, hiring an eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach to take over a program that has been stuck in mediocrity for some time sounds like it should work. 

If it does, kudos to UNC for landing Bill Belichick, despite numerous NFL openings that were available this summer. And if he can lead North Carolina to the promised land, he'll cement himself as the greatest of all time on both the college and pro levels.

However, there are a few reasons to be skeptical over this will actually work. Although NIL and the transfer portal has caused college football to look like the NFL unlike ever before, they are still different. There's virtually no enforcement from the NCAA over NIL and recruiting, and the covert nature of it all means recruiting classes can suffer if schools' NIL systems aren't in-line.

Plus, a good bit of Belichick's staff has little or no college experience. 

UNC is betting on a coach who's never coached in college to improve the Tar Heels' standing. Not to mention it replaced 73-year-old Mack Brown with another 70-something. It's going to be interesting in Chapel Hill this year.