Grading every college football coaching hire from 2022 after year 1

Rhett Lashlee has many opportunities to build off first year as SMU head coach

For a few years, Rhett Lashlee had the makings of a future college football head coach. The long-time Gus Malzahn disciple bided his time to get a good first gig. He took over for Sonny Dykes before he left for TCU across the metroplex. Though SMU only went 7-6 in Lashlee’s first season, he has a fantastic opportunity to keep the Mustangs around as a serious Group of Five contender.

Grade: B

Sonny Dykes took TCU to the freaking national championship game in year one!

Through year one, the best head-coaching hire made last cycle was TCU prying Sonny Dykes away from crosstown rival SMU. Nobody saw this coming, but Dykes had the power of the Hypnotoad on his side, as TCU went 13-2 overall and 9-0 in Big 12 play. While the Horned Frogs lost the Big 12 title bout to Kansas State, they beat Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl to play for the national title.

Grade: A+

Stan Drayton’s first year at Temple was as unremarkable as you would expect

In the wake of Matt Rhule’s reign, Temple has quickly devolved back into irrelevancy. Though hiring Stan Drayton off Steve Sarkisian’s Texas staff seemed like a good idea, the Owls only went 3-9 in his first year at the helm. Given how competitive The American has been throughout the College Football Playoff era, Temple seems to have lost its footing. Is Drayton the one who can find it?

Grade: C

Joey McGuire simply has “it” as a Power Five head coach in the State of Texas

No doubt about it, Joey McGuire was an outside-of-the-box hire for Texas Tech. The longtime high school coach had been on Dave Aranda’s Baylor staff previously. Though some people thought Sonny Cumbie should have gotten the gig full-time after the Matt Wells failure, McGuire proved to be the better hire. Not only is his team recruiting at a high level, but Texas Tech is winning games.

Grade: B+

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