We all expected the 2021-22 cycle to be the biggest in years, and reality met expectations.
Consider that, in 2021, the only months not to see head coaching changes were June, August and September. The 2020-21 cycle closed with Gus Malzahn's hiring at UCF a year ago today, and the 2021-22 cycle effectively opened with Les Miles' firing at Kansas the following month. Kansas took its time in hiring Lance Leipold, which necessitated a search at Buffalo in May. Then Frank Solich retired from Ohio in July.
And that was just the warm up.
USC fired Clay Helton on Sept. 14, and the 2021-22 cycle didn't close for good until last Friday, Feb. 11, when Auburn announced it wasn't firing Bryan Harsin -- a span of 151 days.
In between, we lost the second- (Gary Patterson), fourth- (Solich), 11th- (David Cutcliffe), 13th- (Brian Kelly), and 17th-longest (Skip Holtz) head coaching tenures. Our newest head coach, Timmy Chang, has graduated high school; played five seasons at Hawaii; bounced around for four seasons in professional football; spent three seasons out of the game; and coached for 10 seasons before taking over at his alma mater, all in the time Kirk Ferentz has been Iowa's head coach.
Before we get into the list, a few notes
-- Of the 31 schools that changed head coaches, only seven (Colorado State, Florida, Kansas, LSU, Miami, TCU, Washington) hired sitting head coaches, and none of the seven schools that lost head coaches (Fresno State, Louisiana, Nevada, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, SMU) hired sitting head coaches to replace their departed head coach.
-- This project began with Mark Stoops at the "top" his hiring class, hired Nov. 27, 2012. He's now one move away from the top 10.
-- Nick Saban has been in his job longer than 95 percent of his peers.
-- The median hire date for FBS head coaches is Jan. 18, 2019, shared by Coastal Carolina's Jamey Chadwell and Northern Illinois' Thomas Hammock.
-- The No. 1 song in the country the day Kirk Ferentz was hired at Iowa: "I'm Your Angel" by R. Kelly and Celine Dion. Who had Kirk Ferentz outlasting R. Kelly on that day?
-- The No. 1 song in the country for the median FBS hire date: Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower."
-- Shane Beamer has coached 13 games at South Carolina, and he's been on the job longer than a third of his peers.
-- The FBS head coaching fraternity welcomed a new member when James Madison announced earlier this month it will join the Sun Belt for the 2022 campaign. Say hello to Curt Cignetti, hired Dec. 14, 2018.
As always, a shoutout to the journalist Patrick Stevens, who originated this project and whom I gratefully honor shamelessly rip off by continuing today.
1998
1. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa - Dec. 2
2004
2. Kyle Whittingham, Utah - Dec. 9
2005
3. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State - Jan. 3
4. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee - Dec. 12
2006
5. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern - July 7
6. Troy Calhoun, Air Force - Dec. 22
2007
7. Nick Saban, Alabama - Jan. 3
8. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy - Dec. 8
2008
9. Dabo Swinney, Clemson - Oct. 13
2011
10. David Shaw, Stanford - Jan. 13
2012
11. Mark Stoops, Kentucky - Nov. 27
12. Dave Doeren, NC State - Dec. 1
2013
13. Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio) - Dec. 3
14. Craig Bohl, Wyoming - Dec. 8
15. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest - Dec. 10
16. Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan - Dec. 11
17. Jeff Monken, Army - Dec. 24
2014
18. James Franklin, Penn State - Jan. 11
19. Bill Clark, UAB - Jan. 21
20. Philip Montgomery, Tulsa - Dec. 11
21. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin - Dec. 17
22. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh - Dec. 26
23. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan - Dec. 30
2015
24. Matt Campbell, Iowa State - Nov. 29
25. Jason Candle, Toledo - Dec. 2
26(t). Dino Babers, Syracuse - Dec. 5
26(t). Seth Littrell, North Texas - Dec. 5
28. Kirby Smart, Georgia - Dec. 6
29. Willie Fritz, Tulane - Dec. 12
30. Kalani Sitake, BYU - Dec. 19
2016
31. Mike Neu, Ball State - Jan. 7
32. Tom Allen, Indiana - Dec. 1
33. Jeff Brohm, Purdue - Dec. 5
34. Brent Brennan, San Jose State - Dec. 7
35. Shawn Elliott, Georgia State - Dec. 8
36. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati - Dec. 10
2017
37. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota - Jan. 6
38. Tim Lester, Western Michigan - Jan. 13
39. Justin Wilcox, California - Jan. 14
40. Chip Kelly, UCLA - Nov. 25
41. Jonathan Smith, Oregon State - Nov. 29
42. Scott Frost, Nebraska - Dec. 2
43. Herm Edwards, Arizona State - Dec. 3
44. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M - Dec. 4
45(t). Mike Bloomgren, Rice - Dec. 6
45(t). Dana Dimel, UTEP - Dec. 6
47. Sean Lewis, Kent State - Dec. 21
2018
48. Mack Brown, North Carolina - Nov. 26
49. Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky - Nov. 27
50(t). Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green - Nov. 28
50(t). Jake Spavital, Texas State - Nov. 28
52. Jim McElwain, Central Michigan - Dec. 2
53. Mike Houston, East Carolina - Dec. 3
54(t). Ryan Day, Ohio State - Dec. 4
54(t). Mike Locksley, Maryland - Dec. 4
54(t). Scott Satterfield, Louisville - Dec. 4
58. Will Healy, Charlotte - Dec. 5
59(t). Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech - Dec. 7
59(t). Hugh Freeze, Liberty - Dec. 7
61. Chris Klieman, Kansas State - Dec. 10
62. Curt Cignetti, James Madison - Dec. 14
2019
63. Dana Holgorsen, Houston - Jan. 2
64. Neal Brown, West Virginia - Jan. 5
65(t). Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina - Jan. 18
65(t). Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois - Jan. 18
67. Greg Schiano, Rutgers - Dec. 3
68. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss - Dec. 7
69(t). Mike Norvell, Florida State - Dec. 8
69(t). Sam Pittman, Arkansas - Dec. 8
71(t). Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion - Dec. 9
71(t). Jeff Scott, South Florida - Dec. 9
71(t). Jeff Traylor, UTSA - Dec. 9
74. Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri - Dec. 10
75(t). Marcus Arroyo, UNLV - Dec. 13
75(t). Shawn Clark, Appalachian State - Dec. 13
75(t). Ryan Silverfield, Memphis - Dec. 13
78. Jeff Hafley, Boston College - Dec. 14
79. Danny Gonzales, New Mexico - Dec. 17
80. Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic - Dec. 18
2020
81. Brady Hoke, San Diego State - Jan. 8
82. Mike Leach, Mississippi State - Jan. 9
83. Dave Aranda, Baylor - Jan. 16
84. Mel Tucker, Michigan State - Feb. 12
85. Karl Dorrell, Colorado - Feb. 23
86. Shane Beamer, South Carolina - Dec. 6
87. Will Hall, Southern Miss - Dec. 7
88(t). Blake Anderson, Utah State - Dec. 12
88(t). Butch Jones, Arkansas State - Dec. 12
88(t). Kane Wommack, South Alabama - Dec. 12
91. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt - Dec. 14
92. Bret Bielema, Illinois - Dec. 19
93. Bryan Harsin, Auburn - Dec. 22
94. Jedd Fisch, Arizona - Dec. 23
95. Terry Bowden, ULM - Dec. 23
2021
96. Steve Sarkisian, Texas - Jan. 2
97. Andy Avalos, Boise State - Jan. 9
98. Charles Huff, Marshall - Jan. 17
99. Josh Heupel, Tennessee - Jan. 27
100. Gus Malzahn, UCF - Feb. 15
101. Lance Leipold, Kansas - April 30
102. Maurice Linguist, Buffalo - May 8
103. Tim Albin, Ohio - July 15
104. Jake Dickert, Washington State - Oct. 18
105. Clay Helton, Georgia Southern - Nov. 2
106. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech - Nov. 9
107. Jim Mora, UConn - Nov. 11
108. Don Brown, UMass - Nov. 22
109(t). Billy Napier, Florida - Nov. 28
109(t). Lincoln Riley, USC - Nov. 28
111(t). Kalen DeBoer, Washington - Nov. 29
111(t). Jerry Kill, New Mexico State - Nov. 29
111(t). Rhett Lashlee, SMU - Nov. 29
114(t). Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech - Nov. 30
114(t). Sonny Dykes, TCU - Nov. 30
114(t). Brian Kelly, LSU - Nov. 30
114(t). Brent Pry, Virginia Tech - Nov. 30
118. Jon Sumrall, Troy - Dec. 2
119. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame - Dec. 3
120(t). Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana - Dec. 5
120(t). Brent Venables, Oklahoma - Dec. 5
122(t). Mario Cristobal, Miami - Dec. 6
122(t). Jay Norvell, Colorado State - Dec. 6
124. Jeff Tedford, Fresno State - Dec. 8
125(t). Mike MacIntyre, Florida International - Dec. 9
125(t). Joe Moorhead, Akron - Dec. 9
127(t). Tony Elliott, Virginia - Dec. 10
127(t). Ken Wilson, Nevada - Dec. 10
129. Dan Lanning, Oregon - Dec. 11
129. Mike Elko, Duke - Dec. 13
130. Stan Drayton, Temple - Dec. 15
2022
131. Timmy Chang, Hawaii - Jan. 22