For the last 10+ years, I have argued that the most valuable asset a football team can have is a strong coach. In the past, I have always argued that the best coach to hire is one who can call plays for the offense, but in college, there is another aspect of the game that does not exist in the NFL: recruiting. I still emphasise the value of creative offensive playcalling to a team, but recruiting can have just as significant an impact on a college football program.
In this year’s coaching carousel, recruiting has become a hot topic, as Penn State moved on from one of the best recruiting coaches in football, James Franklin. In his time with Penn State, Franklin struggled to win big games, but was always known for bringing top recruits to State College. Now, he has moved on to Virginia Tech, and nearly every recruit committed to Penn State has flipped to join Franklin in Blacksburg.
This has been the case for several other coaches like Hugh Freeze from Auburn, Billy Napier from Florida, and Brian Kelly from LSU. Each of these was a coach in the SEC, known for their ability to land big-name recruits who struggled to deliver the big wins. Now that nearly all of the coaching jobs are filled across the NCAA, I took a look at who came away with the best draw.
Back in late October, I wrote an article about the best coaching prospects; several of those names also show up here.
Kentucky – Will Stein
Stein was near the top of my “best coaching prospects” list, as he has helped lead one of the nation’s most successful offenses in college football at Oregon. In his three and a half years calling plays for Oregon, he has helped develop three NFL QBs – Nix, Gabriel, and Moore – and his offense has averaged just shy of 38 points per game. Recruiting will be new for Stein, who has not been a head coach before, but we know he can call an offense and develop a quarterback, exactly what Kentucky’s program needs.
Virginia Tech – James Franklin
As I mentioned above, Franklin was one of the most polarizing coaches in the CFB coaching cycle. His recruiting skills were proven at Penn State, but after losing to Oregon, the team collapsed, and the program lost faith in him to run the program. This was only about six months after Penn State was one of the final four teams in the playoff, missing the championship game by just three points in their loss to Notre Dame. Now, as Virginia Tech looks to rebuild its program, it lands a proven coach who will bring in the prospects it needs to become competitive once again.
Penn State – Matt Campbell
It feels ironic that both Penn State’s former coach and its new coach appear on this year’s list of best coaching hires. But Matt Campbell was a name I mentioned as one of my favorite potential hires in my article earlier this year. Campbell is a proven leader who calls a great offense and has proven an ability to develop talent all across their offense. Campbell is the complete opposite of James Franklin: He has never been a great recruiter, but has been known for developing talent. Penn State now relies on its reputation to land recruits, and will depend on Campbell to turn them into stars.
Oklahoma State – Eric Morris
North Texas had the highest-scoring offense in college football, and Oklahoma State looks to turn its program around quickly. The Cowboys staff will hope to flip Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins, who were the stars of the UNT offense this season. Mestemaker and Hawkins, alongside their coach Eric Morris, could immediately flip the program on its head and give them the building blocks to grow from.
