College football coaching carousel tracker: Who’s fired, who’s hired for 2023? [UPDATED]

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Geoff Collins -> Brent Key

Georgia Tech parted ways with Geoff Collins after a 1-3 (0-1) start in his fourth year in Atlanta on Sept. 25. He took over a challenging situation with the Yellow Jackets pivoting off the Paul Johnson triple-option attack in favor of something more passing-centric. Unfortunately, Collins went an atrocious 10-28 overall and 7-9 in ACC play in parts of four seasons leading the Yellow Jackets.

Associate head coach/offensive line coach/running game coordinator Brent Key took over for Collins in the interim at his alma mater. To the surprise of just about everyone, Tech ended the season within one game of achieving bowl eligibility. Key went 4-4 overall and 4-3 in ACC play filling in for Collins. Tech had big wins over Pittsburgh, Duke and North Carolina under Key’s watch.

While new Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt interviewed a handful of candidates, including Tulane head coach Willie Fritz, the interim tag was removed for Key, as he was named the new full-time head coach at his alma mater. Given that he played for George O’Leary and massively overachieved in the interim this is season, this is a popular move for Georgia Tech fans all around.

Colorado Buffaloes: Karl Dorrell -> Deion Sanders

Colorado moved on from Karl Dorrell after an 0-5 (0-2) start in year three for him at Boulder on Oct. 2. It was weird when the Buffaloes hired him the first place. They largely panicked when Mel Tucker left CU after one season to take over for Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Though Dorrell had a decent COVID year, he went 8-15 overall and 6-9 in Pac-12 play over parts of three seasons.

The Buffaloes named offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike Sanford Jr. as the interim head coach. While the Buffs did win a game, the former Western Kentucky head coach only went 1-6 overall and 1-6 in Pac-12 play as the interim. Colorado was arguably the worst program in the Power Five by the end of the season. The Pac-12 had a great year, but the Buffaloes were terrible!

It took a minute, but here it is! Deion Sanders is leaving Jackson State to take over the reins of Colorado. The greatest cornerback of all time is heading to Boulder to rebuild a Buffaloes program in dire need of something positive. Prime Time is exactly what CU needed. Sanders leaves Jackson State after three years with a 27-5 record, a 19-2 record in the SWAC and two conference titles.

Wisconsin Badgers: Paul Chryst -> Luke Fickell

While Dorrell had to go at Colorado, people were totally caught off-guard when Wisconsin fired its former quarterback and head coach Paul Chryst the same weekend. This came after a horrible loss to former Badgers coach Bret Bielema’s Illinois Fighting Illini. Chryst went 67-26 overall and 43-18 in Big Ten play over parts of eight seasons at his alma mater. He won three division crowns.

The reason why Wisconsin moved on from Chryst so suddenly was to see if defensive coordinator and former Badgers defensive back Jim Leonhard could be an effective head coach for them. Well, Leonhard only went 4-3 overall as the interim, leaving doubts in the mind of many if he would be the right man to take over the Wisconsin program full-time. It was his job to lose, and he lost it…

In the first big shock of the hiring cycle, longtime Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell left UC to take over in Madison. Even though Cincinnati was joining the Big 12 next season, it did not stop Fickell from bailing on UC. He led the Bearcats to a 57-18 overall record and a 35-11 mark in AAC play over six seasons. Cincinnati won the Group of Five twice and made the playoff last year.

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