Welcome back jolly football fans as we continue our college football head coach hires from worst to best. Back in part 1 we went over head coaches who have the upside to succeed but also came with certain question marks. In part 2 we start to delve into more proven head coaching hires with a bit stronger of a pedigree to their names. If you want to catch up on the previous entries, click here.
#21 Tony Gibson-Marshall
The 52 year old Van, West Virginia native returns home after six seasons orchestrating the defense at North Carolina State. Tony Gibson enters a very unorthodox situation as the Thundering Herd had a fallout with their previous head coach Charles Huff, who had just led his team to a Sun Belt Championship victory after contract negotiations fell apart. As a result, Sun Belt conference foe Southern Mississippi hired Huff and took many of his players with him via the transfer portal.
In fact, so many Marshall players entered the portal that the Thundering Herd didn’t have enough players to participate in their bowl matchup against Army and had to back out of the bowl game entirely. This will be a very unprecedented challenge for Gibson and company, as they will have to build almost the entire roster from scratch. Gibson knows what it takes to win in the region as he was the defensive coordinator at West Virginia from 2014-2018, where the Mountaineers were a consistent bowl team.
It will be an uphill battle with all the drama and chaos surrounding the program, but Gibson has a strong history of developing undervalued recruits such as Alim McNeil(Lions Defensive Tackle), Bradley Chubb(Dolphins Edge Rusher), Jermaine Pratt(Bengals Linebacker), and Payton Wilson(Steelers Linebacker). All of those players made the NFL and all were selected within the first 3 rounds of the NFL Draft. Marshall needed a head coach that knows how to find hidden talent and has a strong history fielding above average to very good teams and Tony Gibson has the traits to be the leader of the program.
#19 Brian Smith-Ohio
The defending MAC Champions unfortunately lost their head coach Tim Albin to Charlotte, who will be mentioned much later down the line. In response to this, the Bobcats brass promoted internally from within with offensive coordinator Brian Smith. In his lone season as Ohio’s offensive coordinator, the Bobcats were 12th in rushing offense(213 yards per game), 50th in total offense(405 yards per game) and 54th in scoring offense(29 points per game).
The 44 year old Thousand Oaks, California native also had previous stops as an offensive coordinator at Hawaii and Washington State. Tim Albin was also promoted from within after Frank Solich retired and led the team to very good success and Brian Smith will look to maintain the Bobcats at the top of the MAC.
#18 Mike Urenovich-Ball State
Speaking of the MAC, our next entry is Mike Urenovich, who has been tabbed to turn around a struggling Ball State program. The Cardinals have only had one winning season in the past nine years, which was 2020, when they won the MAC Championship. Urenovich brings with him a solid three year tenure as the head coach of the Butler bulldogs. The program had just come off a fourth consecutive losing season and turned around the program instantly, going 23-11 in three seasons.
Urenovich’s results proves he can win more with less and that’s what the Cardinals need right now in a very competitive MAC.
#20 Scott Abell-Rice
Rice hasn’t had a winning season since 2014 and the Owls brass are hoping former Davidson Wildcats head coach Scott Abel can change their fortunes. The 55 year old posted a 47-28 record and made the FCS playoffs three times in seven seasons with the Wildcats. Abell never had a losing season and hopefully his winning ways can light a spark under a baron Rice program.
This is going to be one of the most difficult jobs to turn around, but Abell has the experience to power through adversity and that’s what Rice needs most right now. He’s done it once at Davidson and can surely do it again with a larger talent pool in the football rich state of Texas.
#17 Jason Eck-New Mexico
Despite going 5-7 in 2024, the Lobos showed considerable progress under veteran head coach Bronco Mendenhall. Unfortunately Mendenhall’s time in Albuquerque was short lived as he elected to return back home to take the Utah State job. It was definitely a gut punch for a New Mexico program that had seemed to finally find its footing after years of poor play on the gridiron.
The New Mexico Lobos brass got a pretty strong replacement however, in Idaho Vandals head coach Jason Eck. He went 26-13 and made three FCS playoff berths coming off of five straight losing seasons. Much like the aforementioned Scott Abell and Jason Rebrovich, Jason Eck turned around a struggling team and did a lot more with less and has the experience to turn around this struggling Mountain West program.
#16 Blake Harrell-East Carolina
Blake Harrell’s run at East Carolina was one of the most slept-on stories of the 2024 season. After a 3-4 start, the ECU athletic department fired head coach Mike Houston and promoted at the time defensive coordinator Blake Harrell for the final six games of the season. Harrell made the most of this opportunity and made a huge change at quarterback.
He benched current starter Jake Garcia for backup Katin Houser, who lit a spark under the Pirates offense and the results drastically improved. ECU averaged 38 points per game over the final six contests with Houser under center and would go 5-1 over that span, including winning the Military Bowl over in-state foe North Carolina State.
The East Carolina Pirates brass saw more than enough and removed the interim tag and made Harrell the new head coach of the football program. It was a Christmas wish come true for both Harrell and ECU, as they look to jump into AAC Championship contention in the future.
Stay tuned for part 3, as we dive into the top 15 hires of this cycle, including many new head coach veterans finding new homes including Willie Simmons, Jerry Mack, Jimmy Rogers and more.
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