The concept of continuity is a funny thing in college football.
Every head coach aspires to build it, but few actually get to do so. It's a sport that is transient in nature, where players stay for four to five years (in theory, at least) and start for one or two. Position coaches aspire to be coordinators, and good coordinators don't often stay coordinators for long.
In this sport, continuity is often a Catch 22. It takes continuity -- of scheme, of culture -- to win, but you have to win to build it. Round and round the cycle goes. That's not to say continuity is always good or attrition is always bad, but in general it's hard to build something of significance if you're always renovating the ground floor.
According to FootballScoop research, 55 of 134 (41 percent) FBS teams will return their head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and strength and conditioning coach (including internal promotions). Extend that study to the proverbial coach on the field, the starting quarterback, and the number drops to 32. That's a tick below a quarter of FBS membership.
Here is a look by conference.
American (4 of 14)
Charlotte
Memphis
South Florida
UAB
ACC (5 of 15)
Clemson
SMU
Stanford
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Big Ten (3 of 18)
Illinois
Nebraska
Purdue
Big 12 (6 of 14)
Iowa State*
Kansas State*
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
Utah
West Virginia
Conference USA (2 of 10)
FIU
Liberty
FBS Independents (1 of 6)
Army
MAC (2 of 12)
Bowling Green
Miami (Ohio)
Mountain West (2 of 12)
Colorado State
Fresno State
SEC (4 of 16)
Florida
Georgia
Ole Miss
Texas
Sun Belt (3 of 14)
Appalachian State
Arkansas State
Old Dominion
A number of schools like Florida State, Oregon and Texas State return their "core four" coaches and brought in experienced transfers, but only 32 of the 134 FBS teams picked up where they left off as the 2023 season ended and '24 began by bringing back all five of the most important people in their program. This allowed those select 32 to hit the ground sprinting over winter conditioning, spring football, and now summer conditioning with training camp not too far away.
Charlotte, Colorado State, Liberty, Nebraska, Purdue, South Florida, Stanford and UAB all look like solid candidates to make noticeable jumps from 2023 to '24 as they all enter Year 2 under their new regimes.
However, the following programs return all four coaches and multi-year starting quarterbacks.
OKLAHOMA STATE: HC Mike Gundy and S&C Rob Glass in Year 20, Kasey Dunn in Year 14 on staff and Year 5 as OC, DC Bryan Nardo in Year 2, QB Alan Bowman in Year 7 of college football and Year 2 at OSU
OLE MISS: HC Lane Kiffin entering Year 5, OC Charlie Weis, Jr. and S&C Nick Savage in Year 3, DC Pete Golding in Year 2, and QB Jaxon Dart in his fourth year of college, Year 3 at Ole Miss
TEXAS: HC Steve Sarkisian, OC Kyle Flood, DC Pete Kwiatkowski and S&C Torre Becton all enter Year 4, QB Quinn Ewers enters Year 3.
UTAH: HC Kyle Whittingham enters Year 18, OC Andy Ludwig in Year 6, DC Morgan Scalley has been with the program 23 of the last 24 years, S&C Doug Elisaia in Year 18, and QB Cameron Rising in Year 7 of college football and Year 3 as Utah's starter.