Mike Bloomgren – Rice
- Replaced: David Bailiff
- Record: 2-11
When your only wins of the year come against Prairie View and Old Dominion it’s obvious things didn’t go as planned. That’s just what happened to Bloomgren in his first season in charge of the Owls’ program. In fairness, two wins doubled the total Bailiff enjoyed in 2017. The concerning aspect for Rice fans is how few games their program was able to keep close. They only kept one of their 11 losses to within single digits. It’s obvious Bloomgren has a long way to go if he wants to transform Rice into a competitive Conference USA program.
Grade: D
Steve Campbell – South Alabama
- Replaced: Joey Jones
- Record: 3-9
It’s never easy to replace a coach who is considered to be the “father” of the program in question. Joey Jones had been in charge of South Alabama since the program’s inception until he resigned towards the end of the 2017 campaign. Some fans might have hoped Steve Campbell could give the program a positive jolt. He did not. The Jaguars actually finished with one less win this year than they enjoyed in Jones’ farewell campaign. Next season Campbell has to get the defense to take a positive step forward. South Alabama couldn’t stop anyone this season. As you might expect, that doesn’t help him get a quality grade for his first season.
Grade: C-