College football coaching carousel grades 2023: Auburn, Colorado ace tests

Alex Golesh may have been ready to be a head coach, but South Florida is rough…

With the Tennessee offense reinventing the wheel this season, offensive coordinator Alex Golesh was probably going to get a chance to lead a team of his own. While South Florida has the potential to be a strong Group of Five team, Jeff Scott was an absolute disaster before him in Tampa. Though this is a very low entry point, I feel like Golesh could have done better than USF.

Grade: C+

A humbled Tom Herman could be like Lane Kiffin was at FAU half a decade ago

This is a fantastic re-entry point for Tom Herman. The former Houston head coach failed at Texas, but still did better than Steve Sarkisian has done in the past two seasons. Herman certainly has a bit of an edge to him, but he should have the Florida Atlantic Owls flying high very quickly. He may not achieve Lane Kiffin-level success in Boca Raton, but he is a major upgrade over Willie Taggart.

Grade: A-

Troy Taylor was hired by Stanford to be their next version of … Jim Harbaugh?

While Troy Taylor had great success regionally at Sacramento State, this is the Pac-12 and this is Stanford. If he is able to do what Jim Harbaugh did after coming over from San Diego, then more power to him. Unfortunately, the Pac-12 is too strong in the coaching department now for Taylor to command our attention right away. Academics and conference competition are not in his favor.

Grade: C

Scott Satterfield leaving Louisville for regional rival Cincinnati was so very odd

Scott Satterfield may have done very well previously at Appalachian State, he was essentially a 7-5 coach at Louisville. Yes, the Cardinals played in the same division as Clemson, but he was never a good fit at U of L and his decision to leave for the Cardinals’ regional rival Cincinnati feels like him getting out of Dodge. His Power Five experience should help in the Big 12, but this could be bad…

Grade: C-

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