There have been a record amount of in-season coaching changes and with two of them filled here in mid-November (James Franklin at VT and Mark Carney at Kent State), nearly everyone is preparing for a record-setting season of coaching changes.
While the offensive side of the ball has outpaced their defensive counterparts so far in the 2025-26 coaching change cycle, there have still been a number of changes at defensive play caller at the FBS level.
After parting ways with head coach DeShawn Foster after an 0-3 start to his second season, UCLA made a coordinator change on the defensive side of the ball, with Ikaika Malloe, The move came for the program shortly after Tim Skipper was tabbed to lead the Bruins through the rest of the season following a lopsided loss to New Mexico.
Oklahoma State dismissed Todd Grantham just four games into his tenure in Stillwater. The move came a week after the school decided to part ways with longtime Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy.
Less than 24 hours after taking over as the interim head coach at Arkansas for Sam Pittman, Bobby Petrino decided to part ways with Razorbacks defensive coordinator Travis Williams in late September. The move marked the first defensive coordinator change in the SEC.
After a disappointing 3-7 start, Ken Niumatalolo decided to make a pair of coordinator changes at San Jose State that included associate head coach / defensive coordinator Derrick Odum.
Those are just the changes with a few weeks left in the regular season, so stay plugged in to this page for all the defensive coordinator changes across the FBS level over the weeks and months to come.
Looking back at the last several years, the FBS level has experienced more change at offensive play caller than their counterparts on defense.
There were 52 offensive coordinator changes in the 2024-25 cycle, 54 in the 2023-24 cycle, and nearly half the FBS offensive coordinator jobs changed hands in 2022-23.
The defensive side of the ball saw 48 changes in 2023-24 and 46 changes in 2022-23.
If the early indications are any measure, we're looking at yet another season where the FBS offensive coordinator changes will once again outpace the changes taking place on the defensive side of the ball.
| PROGRAM | 2025 DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR | 2026 DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR |
| Air Force | Brian Knorr | Steve Russ |
| Arkansas | Travis Williams | Ron Roberts |
| Boston College | Tim Lewis | Ted Roof |
| Bowling Green | Brandon Fisher | Joe Bowden |
| Buffalo | Joe Bowen | Michael Dougherty |
| BYU | Jay Hill | Kelly Poppinga |
| Cal | Tosh Lupoi | Michael Hutchings |
| Coastal Carolina | Jeremiah Johnson | LD Scott |
| Eastern Michigan | Ben Needham | Kasey Teegardin / Tate Omli |
| ECU | Josh Aldridge | Jordan Hankins |
| Florida | Ron Roberts | Brad White |
| Georgia Southern | Brandon Bailey | Mike Mutz |
| Georgia Tech | Blake Gideon | Jason Semore* |
| Illinois | Aaron Henry | Bobby Hauck |
| Iowa State | Jon Heacock | Jesse Bobbit |
| James Madison | Colin Hitschler | Robert Bala |
| Kansas State | Joe Klanderman | Jordan Peterson |
| Kentucky | Brad White | Jay Bateman |
| Louisville | Ron English / Mark Hagen | Mark Ivey / Steve Ellis |
| Memphis | Jordon Hankins | Lance Guidry* |
| Michigan | Wink Martindale | Jay Hill |
| Mississippi State | Coleman Hutzler | Zach Arnett |
| Missouri State | LD Scott | Jack Curtis |
| Nebraska | John Butler | Rob Aurich |
| North Texas | Skyler Cassity | Matt Powledge |
| Oklahoma State | Todd Grantham | Skyler Cassity |
| Ole Miss | Pete Golding | TBA (**) |
| Oregon | Tosh Lupoi | Chris Hampton |
| Oregon State | Trent Bray | Mike MacIntyre |
| Penn State | Jim Knowles | D'Anton Lynn |
| Purdue | Mike Scherer | Kevin Kane |
| Rutgers | Robb Smith | Travis Johansen |
| San Diego State | Rob Aurich | Demetrius Sumler |
| San Jose State | Derrick Odum | Bojay Filimoeatu |
| SMU | Scott Symons | TBA |
| South Alabama | Will Windham | Todd Orlando |
| Southern Miss | Jason Semore | Joe Bolden |
| Stanford | Bobby April III | Kris Richard |
| Syracuse | Elijah Robinson | Vince Kehres |
| Tennessee | Tim Banks | Jim Knowles |
| Texas | Pete Kwiatkowski | Will Muschamp |
| Texas A&M | Jay Bateman | Lyle Hemphill |
| Texas State | Dexter McCoil | Will Windham |
| Toledo | Vince Kehres | Jahmal Brown |
| Tulane | Greg Gasparato | Tayler Polk |
| UAB | Steve Russ | Todd Grantham |
| UCLA | Ikaika Malloe | Colin Hitschler |
| UConn | Matt Brock | Ryan Manalac |
| USC | D'Anton Lynn | Gary Patterson |
| USF | Todd Orlando | Josh Aldridge |
| Utah | Morgan Scalley | Colton Swan |
| Virginia Tech | Sam Siefkes | Brent Pry |
| Washington State | Jesse Bobbit | Trent Bray |
The following new head coaches opted to retain their respective defensive coordinators: Auburn (DJ Durkin), LSU (Blake Baker), Michigan State (Joe Rossi) and Colorado State (Tyson Summers).
*Jason Semore had accepted the defensive coordinator job at Memphis before leaving for the same post at Georgia Tech, prompting Lance Guidry to leave Oregon State to fill the Tigers opening.
(**) - Patrick Toney left for a job with the Falcons shortly after being hired.