And to think, this was supposed to be a quiet year on the FBS head coaching market.
Twenty-eight jobs have changed hands, including one twice. We saw six retirements, a Power 5 coach leave for a Group of 5 job and college head coach fired, hired as an offensive coordinator, then hired again as an NFL head coach.
Yep, it was that kind of year.
With all 130 head coaching jobs now filled (for now), it's time to update our annual list cataloguing the length of each active tenure.
Before we get to the list, a few notes:
- Iowa's Kirk Ferentz held on to his title as the longest continuous tenure in FBS; the 2019 campaign will be his 21st consecutive season leading the Hawkeyes. But does that make him the dean of FBS head coaches? That depends on how you classify it.
Even with Bill Snyder's (second) retirement at Kansas State, he's still not the most experienced head coach in FBS. Mack Brown will return to North Carolina for A) his 11th season in Chapel Hill, B) his 30th season at the FBS level and C) his 31st total season as a head coach. Ferentz is also not close to the oldest FBS head coach; that honor belongs to Ohio's Frank Solich, who will celebrate his 15th season at Ohio and his 75th birthday this fall.
- Jeff Tedford, who has coached all of two seasons at Fresno State, now represents the median for all FBS head coaching hires. Half of all current FBS head coaches were hired after Nov. 10, 2016.
- When this project began in 2012, Mark Stoops was the "oldest" new coach, ranking in the low 100's. He's now No. 21.
- The 2018 season was Dabo Swinney's 10th at Clemson, spawning a number of remembrance pieces on just how improbable it was that Dabo got and kept the Clemson job. He's now the 14th-longest tenured head coach in major college football.
- As we mentioned above, the number of coaches who returned to their old stomping grounds increased from 2018 to 2019 despite Snyder's retirement. In addition to Brown, Gary Andersen returned for a second tenure at Utah State.
- It's been a full half decade since the NFL hired a head coach directly from a college head coaching position, when the Houston Texans plucked Bill O'Brien away from Penn State.
- Of the 28 head coaches hired in the 2018-19 cycle, only eight had no previous head coaching experience.
With an eternal shoutout to Patrick Stevens, the originator of this idea, see the full list below:
1998
1. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa - Dec. 2
2000
2. Gary Patterson, TCU - Dec. 8
2004
3. Kyle Whittingham, Utah - Dec. 9
4. Frank Solich, Ohio - Dec. 17
2005
5. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State - Jan. 3
6. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee - Dec. 12
2006
7. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern - July 7
8. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State - Nov. 27
9. Troy Calhoun, Air Force - Dec. 22
2007
10. Nick Saban, Alabama - Jan. 3
11. Bobby Wilder, Old Dominion - Feb. 13
12. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy - Dec. 8
13. David Cutcliffe, Duke - Dec. 15
2008
14. Dabo Swinney, Clemson - Oct. 13
2009
15. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame - Dec. 11
16. Doc Holliday, Marshall - Dec. 17
2011
17. Rocky Long, San Diego State - Jan. 12
18. David Shaw, Stanford - Jan. 13
19. Bob Davie, New Mexico - Nov. 17
20. Mike Leach, Washington State - Nov. 30
2012
21. Mark Stoops, Kentucky - Nov. 27
22. Dave Doeren, NC State - Dec. 1
23. Steve Addazio, Boston College - Dec. 4
24. Gus Malzahn, Auburn - Dec. 4
25. Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech - Dec. 14
2013
26. Doug Martin, New Mexico State - Feb. 1
27. Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio) - Dec. 3
28. Chris Petersen, Washington - Dec. 6
29. Craig Bohl, Wyoming - Dec. 8
30. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest - Dec. 10
31(t). Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan - Dec. 11
31(t). Bryan Harsin, Boise State - Dec. 11
33. Blake Anderson, Arkansas State - Dec. 19
34. Jeff Monken, Army - Dec. 24
2014
35. James Franklin, Penn State - Jan. 11
36. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt - Jan. 17
37. Bill Clark, UAB - Jan. 21
38. Lance Leipold, Buffalo - Dec. 1
39. Philip Montgomery, Tulsa - Dec. 11
40. Tony Sanchez, UNLV - Dec. 11
41. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin - Dec. 17
42. Mike Bobo, Colorado State - Dec. 23
43. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh - Dec. 26
44. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan - Dec. 30
2015
45. Nick Rolovich, Hawaii - Nov. 27
46. Matt Campbell, Iowa State - Nov. 29
47. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech - Nov. 29
48. Clay Helton, USC - Nov. 30
49. Jason Candle, Toledo - Dec. 2
50. Barry Odom, Missouri - Dec. 3
51(t). Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia - Dec. 4
51(t). Mike Norvell, Memphis - Dec. 4
53(t). Dino Babers, Syracuse - Dec. 5
53(t). Seth Littrell, North Texas - Dec. 5
55(t). Kirby Smart, Georgia - Dec. 6
55(t). Will Muschamp, South Carolina - Dec. 6
57. Chris Ash, Rutgers - Dec. 7
58. Willie Fritz, Tulane - Dec. 12
59. Matt Viator, Louisiana-Monroe - Dec. 14
60. Kalani Sitake, BYU - Dec. 19
2016
61. Mike Neu, Ball State - Jan. 7
62. Frank Wilson, UTSA - Jan. 15
63. Jay Hopson, Southern Miss - Jan. 30
64. Lovie Smith, Illinois - March 7
65. Jeff Tedford, Fresno State - Nov. 10
66. Butch Davis, Florida International - Nov. 15
67(t). Ed Orgeron, LSU - Nov. 26
67(t). Tom Herman, Texas - Nov. 26
69. Tom Allen, Indiana - Dec. 1
70. Jeff Brohm, Purdue - Dec. 5
71. Matt Rhule, Baylor - Dec. 6
72. Brent Brennan, San Jose State - Dec. 7
73. Shawn Elliott, Georgia State - Dec. 8
74. Jay Norvell, Nevada - Dec. 9
75. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati - Dec. 10
76. Charlie Strong, South Florida - Dec. 11
77. Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic - Dec. 13
78. Randy Edsall, Connecticut - Dec. 28
2017
79. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota - Jan. 6
80. Tim Lester, Western Michigan - Jan. 13
81. Justin Wilcox, California - Jan. 14
82. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma - June 7
83. Matt Luke, Ole Miss - July 20
84. Chip Kelly, UCLA - Nov. 25
85. Dan Mullen, Florida - Nov. 26
86. Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern - Nov. 27
87(t). Joe Moorhead, Mississippi State - Nov. 29
87(t). Jonathan Smith, Oregon State - Nov. 29
89. Scott Frost, Nebraska - Dec. 2
90. Herm Edwards, Arizona State - Dec. 3
91. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M - Dec. 4
92(t). Josh Heupel, UCF - Dec. 5
92(t). Willie Taggart, Florida State - Dec. 5
94(t). Mike Bloomgren, Rice - Dec. 6
94(t). Dana Dimel, UTEP - Dec. 6
94(t). Chad Morris, Arkansas - Dec. 6
97(t). Steve Campbell, South Alabama - Dec. 7
97(t). Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee - Dec. 7
99. Mario Cristobal, Oregon - Dec. 8
100. Sonny Dykes, SMU - Dec. 11
101. Billy Napier, Louisiana-Lafayette - Dec. 15
102. Sean Lewis, Kent State - Dec. 21
2018
103. Kevin Sumlin, Arizona - Jan. 14
104. Les Miles, Kansas - Nov. 18
105. Mack Brown, North Carolina - Nov. 26
106. Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky - Nov. 27
107(t). Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green - Nov. 28
107(t). Jake Spavital, Texas State - Nov. 28
109. Matt Wells, Texas Tech - Nov. 29
110. Jim McElwain, Central Michigan - Dec. 2
111(t). Walt Bell, Massachusetts - Dec. 3
111(t). Mike Houston, East Carolina - Dec. 3
113(t). Ryan Day, Ohio State - Dec. 4
113(t). Mike Locksley, Maryland - Dec. 4
113(t). Scott Satterfield, Louisville - Dec. 4
116(t). Will Healy, Charlotte - Dec. 5
116(t). Mel Tucker, Colorado - Dec. 5
118(t). Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech - Dec. 7
118(t). Hugh Freeze, Liberty - Dec. 7
120(t). Gary Andersen, Utah State - Dec. 10
120(t). Chris Klieman, Kansas State - Dec. 10
122. Eli Drinkwitz, Appalachian State - Dec. 13
123. Tom Arth, Akron - Dec. 14
124. Manny Diaz, Miami - Dec. 30
2019
125. Dana Holgorsen, Houston - Jan. 2
126. Neal Brown, West Virginia - Jan. 5
127. Chip Lindsey, Troy - Jan. 10
128. Rod Carey, Temple - Jan. 11
129(t). Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina - Jan. 18
129(t). Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois - Jan. 18