Grading every college football coaching hire from 2022 after year 1
By John Buhler
Mike Elko is on a fast track to coaching stardom after a nine-win season at Duke
What Mike Elko did in year one at Duke was simply remarkable. He took over for a well-respected head coach in David Cutcliffe and had this downtrodden program one game away from 10 wins. Though the ACC may be going division-less here soon, it seems as though Duke has hired an absolute wizard at head coach. Moreover, look at how bad Texas A&M looks without Elko now…
Grade: A
Mike MacIntyre took over an FIU program that was not winning games before
While Mike MacIntyre has been a sub-.500 coach for most of his career, he does seem to have FIU heading in the right direction. The two previous seasons, FIU went a disastrous 1-16 under Butch Davis. Though 4-8 is nothing to write home about, MacIntyre could get FIU back to being bowl-caliber here shortly. He has won 10 games twice before: 2012 San Jose State and 2016 Colorado.
Grade: C+
Billy Napier needs to see the Florida Gators pop in year two or this could get ugly
It was never going to be easy taking over at Florida, but the pressure is certainly on Billy Napier in year two in Gainesville. The former Nick Saban disciple had tremendous success previously at Louisiana, but is now saddled with his first losing season as a head coach. Getting boat raced by Oregon State in Las Vegas shows us how far away Napier is from turning this thing around at UF.
Grade: B-
Jeff Tedford’s second Fresno State stint began with a Mountain West title
After taking a few years off for health reasons, Jeff Tedford returned once again to his alma mater to make the Fresno State Bulldogs a formidable force in the Mountain West. Even with Jake Haener having to battle through injuries, Fresno State still won the Mountain West in Tedford’s first year back on the job. This was his fifth 10-win season as a coach, third while at Fresno State.
Grade: A-