CFW Preseason 2025 – The New Head Coaches
Rodriguez and Frost return
to their old stomping grounds
Belichick comes out of retirement, while Stanford chooses to go with an interim for a year.
There will be 30 schools with new head coaches in 2025. Seven of those schools are from Power Four conferences; 23 from Group of Five conferences.
Rich Rodriguez and Scott Frost will be coaching again in familiar territory. After 49 years of coaching in the NFL and one year of retirement, Bill Belichick decides to give college football coaching a try. Andrew Luck says that Stanford needs some time to pick a full-time head coach.
Barry Odom and Bronco Mendenhall jump from one school to another. Dan Mullen will be back on the sideline. And a former Heisman Trophy winner returns to Ohio.
The New Head Coaches – 2025
Bill Belichick became famous as the head coach of the New England Patriots for 24 years – 2000 to 2023. He also coached the Cleveland Browns for five years – 1991 to 1995. His other 20 years in the NFL were at the Baltimore Colts, Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and New York Jets as a position coach and defensive coordinator. He spent 2024 in retirement.
Now, Belichick comes out of retirement to begin coaching the North Carolina Tar Heels in 2025. His overall coaching record in the NFL was 333-178 – 31-13 in NFL playoff games. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Bill Belichick played college football at Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut, where he was a center and tight end.
North Carolina is one of three ACC schools with a new head coach. The other two schools are Stanford and Wake Forest. Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck went the interim route for 2025. Luck decided that Stanford needed more time to hire a full-time head coach. As a result, Luck hired former NFL coach Frank Reich to come in a coach the Cardinal for one season.
Reich has 18 years of experience coaching in the NFL, six of those years as a head coach at the Indianapolis Colts (five years) and the Carolina Panthers (one year). A native of Freeport, New York, Reich played college football at Maryland in the early 1980s.
Wake Forest went with an existing head coach, hiring Jack Dickert away from Washington State. Dickert coached Washington State for four seasons – 2021 to 2024. His record was 43-40. He took over the Cougars midway through the 2021 season when head coach Nick Rolovich was fired. A native of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Dickert played college football at Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he was a wide receiver.
The Big 12 has two new head coaches and both are returning to familiar territory. The new head coach at West Virginia previously coached the Mountaineers from 2001 to 2007 with a record of 60-26. That would be Rich Rodriguez. After West Virginia, Rodriguez went on to coach Michigan (2008-2010) and Arizona (2012-2017). Following three years as an offensive coordinator at Ole Miss and ULM, he became the head coach at Jacksonville State in 2022. He coached the Gamecocks for three seasons. A native of Grant Town, West Virginia, Rodriguez played college football at West Virginia where he was a defensive back.
The other new Big 12 coach making a return is Scott Frost. Frost is the new coach at UCF where he was previously the head coach for two seasons in 2016 and 2017. He coached the Knights to an undefeated (13-0) season in 2017. Frost left UCF to coach Nebraska. He lasted for four seasons and three games – 2018-2022. Frost was fired after three games into the 2022 season. Following a few seasons away from coaching, he starts his second term at UCF this fall. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football at Stanford and Nebraska where he was a quarterback.
The Big Ten and the Pac-2 each have one new head coach. In the Big Ten, Purdue hired Barry Odom away from UNLV. Odom had coached UNLV for two seasons (2023 and 2024) where he was 19-8. Odom previously coached Missouri for four seasons – 2016-2019. In between Missouri and UNLV, he was a defensive coordinator at Arkansas. A native of Lawton, Oklahoma, Odom played college football at Missouri where he was a linebacker.
The new head coach at Washington State (Pac-2) is Jimmy Rogers. Prior to Washington State, Rogers has been the head coach at South Dakota State for two seasons. He had a 27-3 record with the Jackrabbits. A native of Chandler, Arizona, Rogers played college football at South Dakota State where he was a linebacker.
Four schools in the Mountain West Conference have new head coaches. Two of the new coaches are well known to college football fans. Former Mississippi State and Florida coach Dan Mullen is the new head coach at UNLV. He coached Mississippi State for nine seasons (2009-2010) and Florida for four seasons (2018-2021). The past three seasons, Mullen has been a broadcaster and studio analyst for college football games on ESPN. A native of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Mullen played college football at Ursinus where he was a tight end.
The other well-known new hire in the MWC is Bronco Mendenhall. Mendenhall is the new head coach at Utah State. He was in the MWC last season, coaching New Mexico. But he left the Lobos after only one season to take the Utah State job. Prior to 2024, Mendenhall coached BYU for 11 seasons (2005-2015) and Virginia for six seasons (2016-2021). A native of Alpine, Utah, Mendenhall played college football at Oregon State where he was a defensive back.
Also, in the MWC, Mike Entz, the former linebackers coach at USC, is the new coach at Fresno State, and Jason Eck, the former head coach of Idaho, replaces Mendenhall at New Mexico. A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Entz is a graduate of Wartburg College. Eck, a native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, played college football at Wisconsin where he was an offensive lineman.
The American Conference (AC) has the most new head coaches this season with six. It begins at East Carolina where Blake Harrell steps up to be the new coach. Last year, Harrell began as the defensive coordinator at East Carolina and ended up as the interim head coach. He took over at mid-season and had a 5-1 record. Harrell is a graduate of Western Carolina University and has an MBA degree from Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Rice has a new head coach. He is Scott Abell. Abell, a baseball player in college, is the former head coach at Washington & Lee (2012-2017) and Davidson (2018-2024). He is a graduate of Longwood University. The new head coach at Temple is K.C. Keeler. Keeler has been a head coach since 1993. He coached Rowan (1993-2001), Delaware (2002-2012) and Sam Houston State (2014-2024). A native of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, Keeler played college football at Delaware where he was a linebacker.
Florida Atlantic hired former Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley to be the Owls new coach. Kittley has lots of offensive coordinator experience. He was the OC at Houston Baptist (2018-2020), the OC at Western Kentucky (2021) and the OC at Texas Tech (2022-2024). A native of Abilene, Texas, Kittley is a graduate of Texas Tech.
Also in the AC, Charlotte hired Ohio coach Tim Albin to be the 49ers new coach. For the past four seasons, Albin has coached Ohio to a 58-27 record. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator for the Bobcats for 14 seasons. A native of Woodward, Oklahoma, Albin played college football at Northwest Oklahoma State where he was a wide receiver. Tulsa made Tre Lamb its head coach. Before Tulsa, Lamb was the head coach at Gardner-Webb (2020-2023), and at East Tennessee State (2024). A native of Calhoun, Georgia, Lamb played college football at Tennessee Tech where he was a quarterback.
The Mid-American Conference begins the season with five new head coaches. Most known of the five is former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George. George won the Heisman in 1995. The former Ohio State running back returns to Ohio as the new coach of Bowling Green. The past four seasons, George has been the head coach at Tennessee State where he compiled a 24-22 record – 9-4 last season. George is a native of Philadelphia.
The new coach at Ball State is Mike Uremovich. The past three seasons, Uremovich has been the head coach at Butler. Previously, he was a position coach at Northern Illinois, NC State and Temple. A native of Gary, Indiana, Uremovich is a graduate of Purdue. Central Michigan looked to Army for its new head coach – Matt Drinkall. Drinkall has been on the staff at West Point the past six seasons as the tight ends and offensive line coach. A native of Bettendorf, Iowa, Drinkall played college football at Iowa.
At Ohio, Brian Smith was elevated from offensive coordinator to be he head coach of the Bobcats. Smith has been on the staff at Ohio the past three seasons as the running backs coach and offensive coordinator. Previously, he was a position coach at Oregon State, Hawaii and Washington State. A native of Thousand Oaks, California, Smith played college football for Hawaii where he was a center. For its first season back in the MAC, Massachusetts will have a new head coach. He is former Rutgers defensive coordinator and Maine head coach Joe Harasymiak. Harasymiak has been the defensive coordinator at Rutgers the past three seasons. He was the DC at Minnesota for two seasons prior to Rutgers. Harasymiak was the coach at Maine for three seasons – 2016-2018. A native of Ridgewood, New Jersey, Harasymiak played college football for Springfield.
In a late coaching change in the spring, Kent State terminated Kenni Burns and made Mike Carney the interim coach of the Golden Flashes for 2025. Carney was Kent State’s offensive coordinator last season. He was previously a position coach at Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green and Charlotte. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Carney played football for Fordham where he was a quarterback.
Marshall coach Charles Huff bid farewell to Marshall at the end of the 2024 season, but he remained in the Sun Belt Conference. Huff is the new head coach of Southern Miss. The past four seasons he compiled a 32-20 record at Marshall. A native of Denton, Maryland, Huff played college football at Hampton. In turn, Marshall replaced Huff with Tony Gibson as the Thundering Herds new coach. Gibson has been the defensive coordinator at NC State the past six seasons. Prior to that, he was a defensive coordinator at West Virginia for five seasons. A native of Van, West Virginia, Gibson played college football at Glenville State where he was a defensive back.
And finally in the Sun Belt Conference, Dowell Loggins is the new head coach at Appalachian State. Loggins has been the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at South Carolina the past two seasons. A native of Newport, Arkansas, Loggins played college football at Arkansas where he was a quarterback.
Conference USA has four new head coaches this season. A former head coach at Prairie View A&M and Florida A&M, Willie Simmons is the new coach at FIU. Last season, Simmons was the running backs coach at Duke. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Simmons played college football at Clemson and The Citadel. The new head coach at Sam Houston is Phil Longo. Longo has many years of experience as an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois, Sam Houston, Ole Miss and North Carolina. The past two seasons, he was the OC at Wisconsin. A native of Red Bank, New Jersey, Longo played college football at East Stroudsburg and Rowan.
Charles Kelly is the new head coach at Jacksonville State. In the past, Kelly has been a defensive coordinator at Florida State, Alabama and Colorado. Last year, he was the DC at Auburn. A native of Ozark, Alabama, Kelly played college football at Auburn where he was a defensive back. Finally, in C-USA, the new coach at Kennesaw State is Jerry Mack. Last season, Mack was the running backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. Prior to that, he was a position coach at Central Arkansas, Memphis, South Alabama and Rice. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Mack played college football at Jackson State and Arkansas State where he was a wide receiver.
That’s your slate of new head coaches for the 2025 season – 28 fulltime and 2 interim.
The next posting of College Football Week – CFW Preseason 2025: The Hot Seat Coaches – will be released tomorrow morning, August 13. See you then.
Touchdown Tom
August 12, 2025
https://collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
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