It's that time of year again.
All 133 -- that's right, there are 133 FBS teams now -- and 32 NFL head coaching jobs have been filled, which means it's time we refresh our annual exercise by ranking all FBS head coaches in order of seniority.
Before we dive in, a few notes:
-- One of the two new FBS coaches is Jacksonville State's Rich Rodriguez. Rich Rod's head coaching career stretches across 35 years, six universities, and four FBS programs.
-- The Dean of each FBS conference:
+ 2023 marks Saban's 17th season at Alabama and 22nd as an SEC head coach
* Designates seasons at current school, not seasons in current conference
-- Clay Helton has coached Georgia Southern for 13 games, and has been on the job longer than nearly 40 percent of his peers.
-- This project began with Mark Stoops as the most senior of new hires. Now, he and Dave Doeren are the only coaches left in the Class of 2013, and both are in the top 10.
-- The median hire date of FBS head coaches: Dec. 12, 2020.
-- The median hire date of all new head coaches is Dec. 4, an effect of the December signing period. This means that half of all new hires are already on the books by the time Selection Sunday rolls around.
-- The newest hire, Navy's Brian Newberry, has already been on the job for two months. Of course, Newberry was Navy's defensive coordinator for four seasons before that.
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
2008
8. Dabo Swinney, Clemson - Oct. 13
2012
9. Mark Stoops, Kentucky - Nov. 27
10. Dave Doeren, NC State - Dec. 1
2013
11. Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio) - Dec. 3
12. Craig Bohl, Wyoming - Dec. 8
13. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest - Dec. 10
14. Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan - Dec. 11
15. Jeff Monken, Army - Dec. 24
2014
16. James Franklin, Penn State - Jan. 11
17. KC Keeler, Sam Houston - Jan. 23
18. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh - Dec. 26
19. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan - Dec. 30
2015
20. Matt Campbell, Iowa State - Nov. 29
21. Jason Candle, Toledo - Dec. 2
22. Dino Babers, Syracuse - Dec. 5
23. Kirby Smart, Georgia - Dec. 6
24. Willie Fritz, Tulane - Dec. 12
25. Kalani Sitake, BYU - Dec. 19
2016
26. Mike Neu, Ball State - Jan. 7
27. Tom Allen, Indiana - Dec. 1
28. Brent Brennan, San Jose State - Dec. 7
29. Shawn Elliott, Georgia State - Dec. 8
2017
30. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota - Jan. 6
31. Justin Wilcox, California - Jan. 14
32. Chip Kelly, UCLA - Nov. 25
33. Jonathan Smith, Oregon State - Nov. 29
34. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M - Dec. 4
35(t). Mike Bloomgren, Rice - Dec. 6
35(t). Dana Dimel, UTEP - Dec. 6
2018
37. Mack Brown, North Carolina - Nov. 26
38. Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky - Nov. 27
39. Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green - Nov. 28
40. Jim McElwain, Central Michigan - Dec. 2
41. Mike Houston, East Carolina - Dec. 3
42(t). Ryan Day, Ohio State - Dec. 4
42(t). Mike Locksley, Maryland - Dec. 4
44. Chris Klieman, Kansas State - Dec. 10
45. Curt Cignetti, James Madison - Dec. 14
2019
46. Dana Holgorsen, Houston - Jan. 2
47. Neal Brown, West Virginia - Jan. 5
48. Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois - Jan. 18
49. Greg Schiano, Rutgers - Dec. 3
50. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss - Dec. 7
51(t). Mike Norvell, Florida State - Dec. 8
51(t). Sam Pittman, Arkansas - Dec. 8
53(t). Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion - Dec. 9
53(t). Jeff Traylor, UTSA - Dec. 9
55. Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri - Dec. 10
56(t). Shawn Clark, Appalachian State - Dec. 13
56(t). Ryan Silverfield, Memphis - Dec. 13
58. Jeff Hafley, Boston College - Dec. 14
59. Danny Gonzales, New Mexico - Dec. 17
2020
60. Brady Hoke, San Diego State - Jan. 8
61. Dave Aranda, Baylor - Jan. 16
62. Mel Tucker, Michigan State - Feb. 12
63. Shane Beamer, South Carolina - Dec. 6
64. Will Hall, Southern Miss - Dec. 7
65(t). Blake Anderson, Utah State - Dec. 12
65(t). Butch Jones, Arkansas State - Dec. 12
65(t). Kane Wommack, South Alabama - Dec. 12
68. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt - Dec. 14
69. Bret Bielema, Illinois - Dec. 19
70(t). Jedd Fisch, Arizona - Dec. 23
70(t). Terry Bowden, ULM - Dec. 23
2021
72. Steve Sarkisian, Texas - Jan. 2
73. Andy Avalos, Boise State - Jan. 9
74. Charles Huff, Marshall - Jan. 17
75. Josh Heupel, Tennessee - Jan. 27
76. Gus Malzahn, UCF - Feb. 15
77. Lance Leipold, Kansas - April 30
78. Maurice Linguist, Buffalo - May 8
79. Tim Albin, Ohio - July 15
80. Jake Dickert, Washington State - Oct. 18
81. Clay Helton, Georgia Southern - Nov. 2
82. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech - Nov. 9
83. Jim Mora, UConn - Nov. 11
84. Don Brown, UMass - Nov. 22
85(t). Billy Napier, Florida - Nov. 28
85(t). Lincoln Riley, USC - Nov. 28
87(t). Kalen DeBoer, Washington - Nov. 29
87(t). Jerry Kill, New Mexico State - Nov. 29
87(t). Rhett Lashlee, SMU - Nov. 29
90(t). Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech - Nov. 30
90(t). Sonny Dykes, TCU - Nov. 30
90(t). Brian Kelly, LSU - Nov. 30
90(t). Brent Pry, Virginia Tech - Nov. 30
90(t). Rich Rodriguez, Jacksonville State - Nov. 30
95. Jon Sumrall, Troy - Dec. 2
96. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame - Dec. 3
97(t). Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana - Dec. 5
97(t). Brent Venables, Oklahoma - Dec. 5
99(t). Mario Cristobal, Miami - Dec. 6
99(t). Jay Norvell, Colorado State - Dec. 6
101. Jeff Tedford, Fresno State - Dec. 8
102(t). Mike MacIntyre, Florida International - Dec. 9
102(t). Joe Moorhead, Akron - Dec. 9
104(t). Tony Elliott, Virginia - Dec. 10
104(t). Ken Wilson, Nevada - Dec. 10
106. Dan Lanning, Oregon - Dec. 11
107. Mike Elko, Duke - Dec. 13
108. Stan Drayton, Temple - Dec. 15
2022
109. Timmy Chang, Hawaii - Jan. 22
110. Biff Poggi, Charlotte - Nov. 15
111. Matt Rhule, Nebraska - Nov. 26
112(t). Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State - Nov. 27
112(t). Luke Fickell, Wisconsin - Nov. 27
114. Hugh Freeze, Auburn - Nov. 28
115. Brent Key, Georgia Tech - Nov. 29
116. Trent Dilfer, UAB - Nov. 30
117. GJ Kinne, Texas State - Dec. 2
118(t). Tom Herman, Florida Atlantic - Dec. 3
118(t). Deion Sanders, Colorado - Dec. 3
120(t). Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina - Dec. 4
120(t). Jamey Chadwell, Liberty - Dec. 4
120(t). Alex Golesh, South Florida - Dec. 4
123. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati - Dec. 5
124(t). Barry Odom, UNLV - Dec. 6
124(t). Kevin Wilson, Tulsa - Dec. 6
126(t). Jeff Brohm, Louisville - Dec. 8
126(t). Lance Taylor, Western Michigan - Dec. 8
128. Troy Taylor, Stanford - Dec. 10
129(t). Eric Morris, North Texas - Dec. 13
129(t). Ryan Walters, Purdue - Dec. 13
131. Kenni Burns, Kent State - Dec. 14
132. Zach Arnett, Mississippi State - Dec. 15
133. Brian Newberry, Navy - Dec. 19