The FBS head coaching carousel has finally, officially, mercifully stopped. We think.
The 2023-24 cycle began July 10 with Northwestern's firing of Pat Fitzgerald and didn't end until Friday, with Georgia State's hiring of Dell McGee. In the 228 days between, 29 more jobs changed hands, tied for the most since FootballScoop began keeping track.
In the process, the sport lost Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh, four head coaches took assistant coaching jobs -- three of them within college football, and the median hire date of FBS head coaches moved back to Nov. 30, 2021. Taylor Swift has released four albums, executed the biggest tour of all-time, produced and starred in a No. 1 movie and become the NFL's biggest fan in less time than the average FBS coach has been on the job.
This project began in 2012 by the journalist Patrick Stevens and was shamelessly ripped off by me afterward. Back in 2012, Mark Stoops was the leader of the "freshman" class of FBS hires; today, he's the sixth-longest tenured head coach in the country.
The 2023-24 cycle saw the longest-tenured coaches in the AAC (Willie Frtiz, Tulane), Conference USA (Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee), SEC (Nick Saban, Alabama) and Sun Belt (Rick Stockstill) all depart.
That type of attrition saw Mack Brown, in his second stint at North Carolina, move into the top 25; Greg Schiano, in his second stint at Rutgers, is now in the top 35; Shane Bamer, three seasons in at South Carolina, is now in the top third; and Biff Poggi, with all of 12 games under his belt at Charlotte, out-ranks 40 percent of his peers in longevity.
Jonathan Smith, yet to coach his first game at Michigan State, has seniority on 20 percent of the profession.
1998
1. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa -- Dec. 2
2004
2. Kyle Whittingham, Utah -- Dec. 9
2005
3. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State -- Jan. 3
2006
4. Troy Calhoun, Air Force -- Dec. 22
2008
5. Dabo Swinney, Clemson -- Oct. 13
2012
6. Mark Stoops, Kentucky -- Nov. 27
7. Dave Doeren, NC State -- Dec. 1
2013
8. Brian Bohannon, Kennesaw State -- March 24
9. Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio) -- Dec. 3
10. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest -- Dec. 10
11. Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan -- Dec. 11
12. Jeff Monken, Army -- Dec. 24
2014
13. James Franklin, Penn State -- Jan. 11
14. KC Keeler, Sam Houston -- Jan. 23
15. Pat Narduzzi, Pitt -- Dec. 26
2015
16. Matt Campbell, Iowa State -- Nov. 29
17. Jason Candle, Toledo -- Dec. 2
18. Kirby Smart, Georgia -- Dec. 6
19. Kalani Sitake, BYU -- Dec. 19
2016
20. Mike Neu, Ball State -- Jan. 7
2017
21. PJ Fleck, Minnesota -- Jan. 6
22. Justin Wilcox, Cal -- Jan. 14
23. Mike Bloomgren, Rice -- Dec. 6
2018
24. Mack Brown, North Carolina -- Nov. 26
25. Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky -- Nov. 27
26. Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green -- Nov. 28
27. Jim McElwain, Central Michigan -- Dec. 2
28. Mike Houston, East Carolina -- Dec. 3
29(t). Ryan Day, Ohio State -- Dec. 4
29(t). Mike Locksley, Maryland -- Dec. 4
31. Chris Klieman, Kansas State -- Dec. 10
2019
32. Neal Brown, West Virginia -- Jan. 2
33. Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois -- Jan. 18
34. Greg Schiano, Rutgers -- Dec. 3
35. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss -- Dec. 7
36(t). Mike Norvell, Florida State -- Dec. 8
36(t). Sam Pittman, Arkansas -- Dec. 8
38(t). Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion -- Dec. 9
38(t). Jeff Traylor, UTSA -- Dec. 9
40. Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri -- Dec. 10
41(t). Shawn Clark, Appalachian State -- Dec. 11
41(t). Ryan Silverfield, Memphis -- Dec. 11
2020
43. Dave Aranda, Baylor -- Jan. 16
44. Shane Beamer, South Carolina -- Dec. 6
45. Will Hall, Southern Miss -- Dec. 7
46(t). Blake Anderson, Utah State -- Dec. 12
46(t). Butch Jones, Arkansas State -- Dec. 12
48. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt -- Dec. 14
49. Bret Bielema, Illinois -- Dec. 19
2021
50. Steve Sarkisian, Texas -- Jan. 2
51. Charles Huff, Marshall -- Jan. 17
52. Josh Heupel, Tennessee -- Jan. 27
53. Gus Malzahn, UCF -- Feb. 15
54. Lance Leipold, Kansas -- April 30
55. Tim Albin, Ohio -- July 15
56. Jake Dickert, Washington State -- Oct. 18
57. Clay Helton, Georgia Southern -- Nov. 2
58. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech -- Nov. 9
59. Jim Mora, UConn -- Nov. 11
60. Don Brown, UMass -- Nov. 18
61(t). Billy Napier, Florida -- Nov. 28
61(t). Lincoln Riley, USC -- Nov. 28
63. Rhett Lashlee, SMU -- Nov. 29
64(t). Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech -- Nov. 30
64(t). Sonny Dykes, TCU -- Nov. 30
64(t). Brian Kelly, LSU -- Nov. 30
64(t). Brent Pry, Virginia Tech -- Nov. 30
64(t). Rich Rodriguez, Jacksonville State -- Nov. 30
69. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame -- Dec. 3
70(t). Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana -- Dec. 5
70(t). Brent Venables, Oklahoma -- Dec. 5
72(t). Mario Cristobal, Miami -- Dec. 6
72(t). Jay Norvell, Colorado State -- Dec. 6
74. Jeff Tedford, Fresno State -- Dec. 8
75(t). Mike MacIntyre, Florida International -- Dec. 9
75(t). Joe Moorhead, Akron -- Dec. 9
77. Tony Elliott, Virginia -- Dec. 10
78. Dan Lanning, Oregon -- Dec. 11
79. Stan Drayton, Temple -- Dec. 15
2022
80. Timmy Chang, Hawai'i -- Jan. 22
81. Biff Poggi, Charlotte -- Nov. 15
82. Matt Rhule, Nebraska -- Nov. 26
83(t). Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State -- Nov. 27
83(t). Luke Fickell, Wisconsin -- Nov. 27
85. Hugh Freeze, Auburn -- Nov. 28
86. Brent Key, Georgia Tech -- Nov. 29
87. Trent Dilfer, UAB -- Nov. 30
88. GJ Kinne, Texas State -- Dec. 2
89(t). Tom Herman, Florida Atlantic -- Dec. 3
89(t). Deion Sanders, Colorado -- Dec. 3
91(t). Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina -- Dec. 4
91(t). Jamey Chadwell, Liberty -- Dec. 4
91(t). Alex Golesh, South Florida -- Dec. 4
94. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati -- Dec. 5
95(t). Barry Odom, UNLV -- Dec. 6
95(t). Kevin Wilson, Tulsa -- Dec. 6
97(t). Jeff Brohm, Louisville -- Dec. 8
97(t). Lance Taylor, Western Michigan -- Dec. 8
99. Troy Taylor, Stanford -- Dec. 10
100(t). Eric Morris, North Texas -- Dec. 13
100(t). Ryan Walters, Purdue -- Dec. 13
102. Kenni Burns, Kent State -- Dec. 14
103. Brian Newberry, Navy -- Dec. 19
2023
104. David Braun, Northwestern -- July 14
105. Spencer Danielson, Boise State -- Nov. 12
106. Jonathan Smith, Michigan State -- Nov. 25
107. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State -- Nov. 26
108. Mike Elko, Texas A&M -- Nov. 27
109(t). Trent Bray, Oregon State -- Nov. 28
109(t). Fran Brown, Syracuse -- Nov. 28
111. Sean Lewis, San Diego State -- Nov. 29
112. Curt Cignetti, Indiana -- Nov. 30
113. Willie Fritz, Houston -- Dec. 3
114(t). Jeff Choate, Nevada -- Dec. 4
114(t). Scotty Walden, UTEP -- Dec. 4
116. Bryant Vincent, ULM -- Dec. 5
117(t). Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee -- Dec. 6
117(t). Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico -- Dec. 6
117(t). Jay Sawvel, Wyoming -- Dec. 6
120. Bob Chesney, James Madison -- Dec. 7
121. Jon Sumrall, Tulane -- Dec. 8
122. Manny Diaz, Duke -- Dec. 9
123. Gerad Parker, Troy -- Dec. 18
124. Tony Sanchez, New Mexico State -- Dec. 23
2024
125. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama -- Jan. 12
126. Jedd Fisch, Washington -- Jan. 14
127. Brent Brennan, Arizona -- Jan. 16
128. Major Applewhite, South Alabama -- Jan. 18
129(t). Pete Lembo, Buffalo -- Jan. 21
129(t). Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State -- Jan. 21
131. Sherrone Moore, Michigan -- Jan. 26
132. Bill O'Brien, Boston College -- Feb. 9
133. DeShaun Foster, UCLA -- Feb. 12
134. Dell McGee, Georgia State -- Feb. 23