College Football Preview: Coaching Carousel, Part 1

With the college football season rapidly approaching, KSJ will look at the teams, players, coaches, and issues surrounding college football.

Every off season in college football sees coaching changes. In every sport you see coaching changes. But this past off season, we saw the coaching carousel in college football spin faster and faster. In total 22 schools replaced their head coach. Out of the 22 coaching changes 13 are first time coaches. We even had two retreads in Bill Snyder and Stan Parish. And out of the 22 changes we saw 4 African-Americans become head coaches.

In today's college football, coaches are faced with more and more presser. They are expected to turn around the program in shorter amount of time, and if they have one bad season they are already on the hot seat. Plus, schools expect more loyalty from their coaches. Show none, and you are gone. That's just the way it is in college football today.

Let's take a look at part 1 of the coaching carousel in college football.

Tennessee, Lane Kiffin
Previous Job: Head Coach, Oakland Raiders
Previous Coach: Phillip Fullmer
What's the deal?: To say Kiffin was the most high profiled coaching hire of the off season is an understatement. First Kiffin was fired as the Raiders head coach last September in a high profiled press conference. Kiffin fighting with Al Davis will always be a classic. But it was after he arrived in Knoxville is where it got interesting.

First he decided to pick a fight with the Old Ball Coach. Then he starts a fight with Nick Saban. Then Urban Meyer and Florida was next on the hit list. Oh and there was that recruiting violation via Twitter. Another recruiting violation and the list goes on and on. The story of Lane Kiffin never ends and he is the single reason why a lot of people are interested in Tennessee football this season.

Analysis: He is young(34) and willing to do anything to win. Kiffin put together a top-flight coaching staff with his fater, Monte, running the defense. Also during the off season Kiffin put together one of the best recruiting classes in the nation. Also the program became stale under Fullmer and Kiffin is the perfect replacement. He doesn't fear the big names in the SEC and he immediately injects that program with an energy that had been missing. I will and a lot of people will be interested to see how Kiffin does in his first year in Knoxville.

Kansas St., Bill Snyder
Previous Job: Retired
Previous Coach: Ron Prince
Analysis: After three years away from the Ag. school, Snyder made his triumphant return. Everyone in the Little Apple, that's what the people of Manhattan, Kansas likes to call their town, was excited to welcome back the coach who resurrected their previously morbid program. But in the past weeks, Snyder's legacy has been tarnished by a secret deal between the former AD and former coach Ron Prince. While Kansas St. tries to live past these secret deals they are hoping Snyder can return for the second act of a turnaround. Definitely the most intriguing hire of the off season.

Auburn, Gene Chizik
Previous Job: Head Coach, Iowa St.
Previous Coach: Tommy Tuberville
What's the deal?: After the high profiled firing of former coach Tommy Tuberville, is where the spit hit the fan. Auburn flirted with Turner Gill before finally settling on Gene Chizik. This hiring did not go well with a lot of people. With the hiring of Chizik, a lot of people saw this as the good ole boys picking the white guy over the black guy. And while they might be right, Chizik is still the man who is in charge of turning around Auburn.

Analysis: I give Chizik a lot of credit. He took all of the controversy in stride and showed a lot of class in the process. Oh, and he managed to piss off Alabama fans which immediately endured himself to Auburn fans. He has also put together a great coaching staff, starting first with the hiring of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. The environment around Auburn seems to be improving after the bad taste left over from the end of the Tuberville years and the controversy around the Chizik hiring. Still a curious hiring though.

Boston College, Frank Spaziani
Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Boston College
Previous Coach: Jeff Jagodzinski
Analysis: Boston College was another school who was surrounded by controversy in the off season. They gave previous coach a choice, interview for an NFL job and your fired. And sure enough Jagodzinski interviewed for an NFL job and was promptly fired at Boston College. Enter Spaziani who has spent 12 seasons at Boston College serving under both Tom O'Brien and Jagodzinski. One knock right out of the gate on Spaziani is that he has never been a head coach. But on the plus side, he wants to be at Boston College. Spaziani is one hell of a defensive coordinator, but does he what it takes to be an head coach?

Army, Rich Ellerson
Previous Job: Head Coach, Cal Poly SLO
Previous Coach: Stan Brock
Analysis: While at Cal Poly, Ellerson ran the option offense to perfection. And that is exactly what Army was looking for. These military schools have to run option offenses to stay competitive with their competition. This hiring reminds a lot of people when Navy hired Paul Johnson. Like Ellerson, Johnson was an FCS coach who ran the option offense. Great hire all around.

Ball St., Stan Parish
Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator, Ball St.
Previous Coach: Brady Hoke
Analysis: This hiring has to be one of the worst hiring's of the off season. First Ball St. runs off Hoke, a graduate of Ball St., but then they hire Parish. He is a great offensive coordinator but he hasn't been an head coach in 20 years. And when he was an head coach it was an disaster. Bad moves all the way around for Ball St.

Bowling Green, Dave Clawson
Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator, Tennessee
Previous Coach: Gregg Brandon
Analysis: Clawson is a former head coach at Richmond university. His recruits at Richmond won the FCS championship last season. So he knows how to recruit to a small school. But also he is a great offensive coach. His offense is a mixture of pro-style and spread. He creates gameplans centered on getting playmakers the ball. Plus he is known to run a clean program, something that was the downfall of Brandon.

Clemson, Dabo Sweeney
Previous Job: interim coach, Clemson
Previous Coach: Tommy Bowden
Analysis: He was known as a recruiting guru at Clemson before being promoted. While is still young, he brings enthusiasm to a program known to underachieve. He will breathe new life into a program that was stale during the last days of the Bowden reign.

Eastern Michigan, Ron English
Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Louisville
Previous Coach: Jeff Genyk
Analysis: E. Michigan is in desperate need of defensive coaching, which is why English was the perfect choice. English was the defensive coordinator at both Michigan and Louisville. Also English knows the state well after coaching in Ann Arbour. Just a good hire all around, especially with the youth and enthusiasm English brings.

Iowa State, Paul Rhodes
Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Auburn
Previous Coach: Gene Chizik
Analysis: After Auburn took their head coach, Iowa St. struck back by taking Auburn's defensive coordinator. Rhodes is a graduate of Iowa State, so he knows the area. Also he is a defensive guru, who knows how to build a program.

Miami (Ohio), Mike Haywood
Previous Job: Offensive Coordinator, Norte Dame
Previous Coach: Shane Montgomrey
Analysis: There is a lot of unknowns about Haywood. He was a career position coach, who just recently became the offensive coordinator at Norte Dame. But lucky for him, Miami(Ohio) is a great place to coach. Only two coaches in the history of the school have had losing records. Also coming from an academic school like Norte Dame, Haywood knows what he has to work with at Miami.

Part II, tomorrow