Before Bowl season or even recruiting season arrives, college football gets the culmination of the coaching carousel. This year was particularly busy, with a dozen big time coaching jobs coming open before vacancies had to get filled at other schools who had previously been led by men that suddenly became upwardly mobile.
Changing a head coach and his staff prior to playing in a bowl game…or even in rare cases the College Football Playoff…can be awkward at best, and downright hostile at worst. Programs all hope for a smooth transition, but that’s often dependent on who’s leaving and who’s staying…and for where.
This season we have two Group of Five coaches, Bob Chesney at James Madison and Jon Sumrall at Tulane, who are leaving for Power Four jobs at UCLA and Florida respectively. Both men coached G5 programs that earned a bid into the 12-team College Football Playoff field, and both are being allowed to remain on that job until their teams’ season’s have concluded.
Scott Frost Went Through Bowl Season Coaching Two Teams
Nebraska fans remember well the similar situation with Scott Frost at this time in 2017. Frost – a national title winning quarterback at Nebraska who many Husker followers saw as the proverbial “Prodigal Son” – had already led Central Florida to an unbeaten regular season and a bid in the New Year’s Six Peach Bowl against SEC power Auburn. After he was hired to replace Mike Riley, Frost elected to do double duty – stay on to coach the Knights and go for a perfect season at his old job, while embarking on a cross country recruiting binge at the same time. It was during this period that Frost secured the services of quarterback Adrian Martinez for Nebraska, who would go on to start in Lincoln for the bulk of the next four seasons.
UCF went on to defeat Auburn 34-27 and finish off a 13-0 season. Win-win.
So what Chesney and Sumrall are doing is not unprecedented…it’s just really hard.
On the other hand there’s Lane Kiffin, who due to a nasty breakup with his former school at Ole Miss right after the Rebels final regular season game, is NOT being allowed on the sidelines for that team’s CFB run. Instead Kiffin will watch from afar from his office in Baton Rouge as the new coach at LSU.
Both these situations are considered pretty much “the norm” these days.
Something That’s Not Common Happening in Lincoln
What’s not common – almost unheard of actually – is for any incoming coach to get involved with the program he’s just joining in time to participate in their bowl preparations. But Nebraska’s Matt Rhule is tossing that idea out the window.
Shortly after the Huskers 7-5 regular season ended, Rhule fired Defensive Coordinator John Butler and Offensive Line coach Donovan Raiola. Coaches who were already on staff, such as interim DC Phil Snow, were given the task to filling those voids over the next three weeks.
However, Rhule’s quick hires of O Line coach Geep Wade away from Georgia Tech and DC Rob Aurich away from San Diego State have made it possible for both of the new coaches to get involved with the team earlier than normal. Neither new coach is having to wait until the spring football practice period to get very familiar with personnel.
Wade and Aurich will both be on the sidelines when the Huskers meet the 15th-ranked Utah Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl on December 31st.
Even with these coaching upgrades, taking down the Utes will be a tall order for a Husker team in transition…one that will be missing their injured starting quarterback Dylan Raiola and their All-Big Ten running back Emmett Johnson.
It’s looking very much like Raiola is planning to enter the Transfer Portal and could be playing elsewhere else next fall. And Johnson has already declared for next spring’s NFL Draft. That means the new coaches will get an up-close look at guys like QB T J Lateef and others who will be under the spotlight next season.
Staff Changes at Nebraska Will Have a Different Twist