Grading every college football coaching hire from 2022 after year 1

Tony Elliott’s frustrating first season in Charlottesville was marred by tragedy

Tony Elliott had about as difficult of a first year as a head coach as you could have possibly ever imagined. Virginia was in a good spot under Bronco Mendenhall. While the former Clemson offensive coordinator could get this right, tragedy struck in Charlottesville for his Cavaliers program. Three of his players were murdered by one of their former teammates. UVA went 3-7.

Grade: C

Brent Pry might be a downgrade over Justin Fuente, as Virginia Tech is irrelevant

While things needed to change in Blacksburg after it had grown stale under Justin Fuente, Brent Pry looked over his skis throughout most of his first season leading Virginia Tech. The Hokies went a miserable 3-8 in his first year. Thought to be a huge boost in recruiting the tidewater region, Pry is arguably one bad year away from being fired. This could be one of the worst hires of this cycle…

Grade: C-

Kalen DeBoer could be the next Chris Petersen, or Don James, for Washington

Prying Kalen DeBoer away from Fresno State was an outstanding move for downtrodden blue-blood Washington. The Jimmy Lake era was an unmitigated disaster. In the course of one year, DeBoer reunited with his former Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to have Washington on the verge of being something special again. The Huskies went 11-2 and are a real playoff contender.

Grade: A

Jake Dickert has provided some much-needed stability for Washington State

Promoting Jake Dickert from within seems to have been the right call for Washington State. Dickert showed everyone in the Pac-12 that he can hang. Though the Cougars faded down the stretch, Wazzu feels like it should remain a bowl team going forward under its second-year head coach. Dickert may never win the conference, but he is way better than Nick Rolovich’s nonsense.

Grade: B

With all 30 coaches returning in 2023, it will be interesting to see how their second years unfold.

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