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FCS Coach Carousel, Updated

IdaGriz01

Well-known member
In case you missed it: http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20191124165359105574004&ref=rec&tm=&src=FCS

Key quote:
It's expected the head coaching carousel in FCS college football will spin less following the 2019 season than the way it did in the last two dizzying years.

The programs who will now be looking for new coaches, or have selected one (so far) are:

Cal Poly: Tim Walsh, retired.
Eastern Kentucky: Mark Elder, canned.
Gardner-Webb: Carroll McCray, canned.
Howard: Ron Prince, resigned. Interim Aaron Kelton
Lamar: Mike Schulz, canned.
Mercer: Bobby Lamb, canned.
Murray State: Mitch Stewart, “reassigned” to other duties.
Northern Colorado: Earnest Collins, canned.
Wagner: Jason Houghtaling canned. New: Tom Masella.
 
Thanks for the link and summary. I really appreciate posters who use good thread titles and provide even short summaries of the topic. You are good at providing information.
 
Haley has updated his list (same link). He includes Ron Prince, the coach at Howard who has been placed on "administrative leave," in this version.

He also added the promotion of Ryan McCarthy from Interim to actual Head Coach at Central Connecticut ... although that action was taken back in mid-October.

The only real addition to the list is Jason Houghtaling ... canned at Wagner. Even in the pitiful Northeastern Conference, he only managed a 16-40 record over five years. They went 1-11 this year, even losing to D-II East Stroudsburg. Their only win was against Long Island University, which is in transition to D-I.

So who will be next?
 
Got to thinking about who actually might be next, so I looked at the teams that had really bad records this year. There are nine that have an “out” – their coaches were part of all that turnover in the past two or three years. So they’ll likely be given a little more time.

I found two oddities. The first was Rhode Island, where Jim Fleming is 15-53 in six years there. That’s apparently okay with them since he “has turned the Rhode Island program around, leading the Rams to their first winning season in 17 years in 2018.” Hmmm …

And over at Butler, Jeff Voris has been kept on since 2006 despite a pitiful 77-81 record. I guess Butler sees themselves as a basketball school and don’t much care about football.

Kept looking, and found five that seem like they should be on the hot seat:
Southern Utah, Demario Warren: 3-9 this year, 19-27 overall.
Missouri State, Dave Steckel: 1-10 this year, 13-42 overall. (Admin claims they will keep him on despite the terrible results. We’ll see.)
Western Carolina, Mark Speir: 3-9 this year, 32-54 overall.
Tennessee State, Rod Reed: 3-9 this year, 56-56 overall. (Not terrible, but he’s had ten years at the job.)

Some of these guys may be protected by expensive buyout clauses. Otherwise, it’s hard to see how they keep their jobs.
 
Since we still have a long time to wait, I thought I’d throw out some interesting football material. Probably won’t spark the discussion like the Northern Colorado hire, but “desperate times require desperate measure.”

So … I decided to see if anything had happened recently for my “hot seat” candidates. First, still nothing on the odd losers at Rhode Island and Butler. But there was some interesting stuff elsewhere.

Start with Southern Utah (3-9), where the coach has lost over 60% of his games. His answer to the problem: Fire a bunch of assistants.
https://www.thespectrum.com/story/s...ordinators-coaches-leave-program/4404304002/

Next, not in order, was at Western Carolina (3-9). This coach is next because he had the same answer: Fire a bunch of assistants.
https://www.citizen-times.com/story...ball-parts-ways-3-top-assistants/4351009002/

The Missouri State (1-10) coach must have a great line of malarkey. He talked to the AD, and is being kept on despite a dismal overall record of 13-42. Why: “He has a plan.”
https://www.news-leader.com/story/s...-returning-coach-2020-kyle-moats/4322511002/

“All quiet on the [Tennessee State] front.” Now T-State also had a bad year: 3-9, but at least this guy is another 0.500 coach (56-56 overall). Apparently that’s good enough.
 
Expectations must be way different at other venues! Heck, I've even heard of some places that offer 3 year extensions after a losing season!
 
MikeyGriz said:
Expectations must be way different at other venues! Heck, I've even heard of some places that offer 3 year extensions after a losing season!
Some schools hate their football programs and don't give a damn about winning.
 
MikeyGriz said:
Expectations must be way different at other venues! Heck, I've even heard of some places that offer 3 year extensions after a losing season!

I mean, it worked out for them, but nobody will ever convince me that extending Choach after year two, when they could've easily waited until after year three, was a smart decision. He wasn't going anywhere at that point. I think it was completely driven by UM signing Hauck, and the mindset that all things must be equal between UM and MSU. I view Choach's early extension like a deep three taken early in the shot clock by a post player that happens to bank in. Awful decision, but it paid off.
 
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