This has been the wildest coaching carousel in recent college football history. At the forefront is Lane Kiffin and his toxic divorce from Ole Miss for his new boo in LSU. The American Conference saw a mass exodus from their top schools with Tulane's Jon Sumrall, South Florida's Alex Golesh and Memphis' Ryan Silverfield landing with SEC schools Florida, Auburn and Arkansas respectively. North Texas' Eric Morris is also headed to the Big 12. All of the talk has been about the coaches that are on the move, but what about the ones that aren’t?
Amid all the chaos in college football right now, there are several schools that saved themselves from the headache of finding a new coach in this cycle. It may not have been a popular decision to retain their coach for another year, but it might have just absolved them from the mess this current cycle has created. Here’s who was wise enough to go with the devil they know, instead of jettisoning the one person that could save them from chaos.
USC Trojans
There were rumblings all season about Lincoln Riley’s stance with USC after another up-and-down year. Sure, this season was one of the best under Riley with the Trojans within reach of their first College Football Playoff appearance, but late season losses held them back from staying in the playoff race. Though USC probably wants more from Riley, it’s best to let him figure it out for another year.
Joining this chaos wouldn’t have helped USC get to the level they want to. There are a lot of enticing jobs and not enough reputable coaches for the Trojans to create this unnecessary problem. They were wise to stay with Riley for another year and it might just be what helps them build on a productive 2025 year.
Florida State Seminoles
Florida State learned from their Willie Taggart mistake in firing him prematurely and triggering his buyout. With all the buyout money that was already paid this year, you can’t blame Florida State for wanting to see Mike Norvell through. That said, this has to be more than just a year commitment because he’s already put this program in an impossible situation. The money FSU saves from keeping him one more year isn’t worth the damage that will come from another miserable season.
He might not be the best option, but the only thing worse than paying $60 million for someone to not coach is being forced to choose from the remaining scraps for a new coach. Florida State was wise to avoid the headache altogether but doesn’t mean it’s the best decision that was made.
Wisconsin Badgers
It’s still hard to grapple with Wisconsin going back to Luke Fickell, but the more drama this coaching carousel brings, the more it makes sense for the Badgers to find ways to work with Fickell rather than deal with his replacement. The Badgers have already committed to investing in this roster, which is certainly the better move over firing Fickell. With all the open jobs, the Wisconsin job is less appealing and they would have had to settle on a hire rather than make a good one.
Fickell hasn’t had a great tenure at Wisconsin and this will probably be his final straw, but he should have been awarded one final season to either solidify his fate or prove why he was hired in the first place. I guess the good thing is a wild coaching carousel ensued, making Wisconsin’s decision easier.
Colorado Buffaloes
Deion Sanders has been under a lot of heat after he and the Colorado Buffaloes finished their second losing season under his tutelage. It’s not hard to see why people feel the Buffaloes might have overestimated what Sanders will do. That said, when he got there, Colorado had just finished a one-win season.
Though his only winning season was in 2024, I don’t think now is the right time to fire him. This job isn’t an attractive one and getting rid of Sanders would essentially bring on an unnecessary problem. Colorado needs stability. As long as Sanders is committed, firing him after a frustrating season doesn’t solve anything other than make the next coach’s job that much harder.