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College Football Group of 5 Conferences preview 2017

By Nicholas Ian Allen

SYRACUSE, NY - SEPTEMBER 17: Quinton Flowers (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY - SEPTEMBER 17: Quinton Flowers (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /
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Charlie Strong
AUSTIN, TX – NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Charlie Strong. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /

G5 Coach of the Year

Charlie Strong, USF

The AAC can provide a great opportunity for a head coach. Several high-profile head coaches came through the league on their way to bigger jobs in recent seasons, led by Justin Fuente’s jump from Memphis to Virginia Tech ahead of the 2016 season and Tom Herman and Matt Rhule last year. More are sure to follow, with Scott Frost at UCF, Philip Montgomery at Tulsa and Chad Morris at SMU positioning themselves well thus far.

The league is also a place for a head coach to collect himself after losing a job at a bigger school. Randy Edsall built UConn into a consistent bowl game participant before jumping to Maryland, but after things didn’t work out with the Terrapins, Edsall landed with the Huskies again. And of course, the biggest name is new USF coach Charlie Strong, who had the national spotlight pointed directly at him for three seasons as head coach of the Texas Longhorns.

Sometimes very good coaches fail. It’s an unfortunate part of the business. For whatever reason, Strong didn’t win enough games at Texas. However, he’s landed on his feet in what appears to be a perfect situation at South Florida.

Back in Florida where he spent 15 seasons over 27 years as an assistant coach and built strong relationships with high school coaches, Strong inherits a USF team that went 11-2 last season and posted a 7-1 record in conference play. Only a 46-30 loss at Temple kept the Bulls out of the AAC Championship Game.

Led by QB Quinton Flowers, USF also welcomes back seven starters to an offense that ranked No. 4 in the nation in scoring (43.8 points per game) and ranked 11th in total offense (511.5 yards per game). The defense was much worse statistically speaking (the Bulls ranked 92ns in scoring defense, 120th in total defense and No. 122 in pass defense), but nine starters return.

If the USF offense keeps humming with Flowers pulling the strings, and if Strong can make a positive impact on the defensive side of the football, the Bulls can make a run at a New Year’s Six bowl game.

  • AAC Coach of the Year: Charlie Strong, USF
  • C-USA Coach of the Year: Mike Sanford, WKU
  • G5 FBS Coach of the Year: Kalani Sitake, BYU
  • MAC Coach of the Year: Jason Candle, Toledo
  • Mountain West Coach of the Year: Mike Bobo, Colorado State
  • Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year: Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State