College football’s rise of the small-school coaches
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
IN MAY 2021, a few weeks after being hired at Kansas, Lance Leipold approached the school’s administration about moving practices to the morning.
He was told it could be done, but not until early 2022. Too many class conflicts for the fall. That wouldn’t work. Leipold needed morning practices immediately, noting the benefits for players’ sleep and daily activity structure. So he went back, over and over, asking for a list of impacted players. The list never came, but Leipold kept pushing, not delegating to anyone else. He thought the passion of the message “gets watered down” if it didn’t come from him.
The group of players with conflicts dwindled to seven and eventually to one, an engineering major who would miss a portion of one practice.
Kansas practiced in the morning that fall and has ever since.
“If I take the first answer, ‘No, we can’t do it,’ because it’s going to take a lot of extra work, I don’t think this program is where it’s at today,” Leipold told ESPN. “I’ve learned the hard way that what I think is really important, one and two on my priority list, might be seven and eight on the [administration’s]. So I need to say: ‘It’s worth fighting for.'”
The hard way for Leipold and his coaching peers stemmed from life in college football’s lower divisions, where coaches must fight for what they want. Coaches including Leipold, Kansas State‘s Chris Klieman and Alabama‘s Kalen DeBoer have brought that approach — and a championship pedigree — from smaller schools to the highest level of college football. They also have helped shift the hiring patterns in a sport that had often ignored those on the fringes.
The last coaching carousel included Houston hiring Willie Fritz, who spent more than 30 years in small colleges and high schools before getting his first FBS job as Georgia Southern‘s coach. Northwestern‘s David Braun, promoted from defensive coordinator to interim head coach in July 2023, won Big Ten Coach of the Year in his first season working for an FBS program. Bob Chesney, who built his reputation at smaller New England schools including Assumption and Holy Cross, was a candidate for Syracuse‘s recent vacancy and ultimately landed at James Madison, which had hit big with similar hires such as Curt Cignetti and Mike Houston.
“They mowed the field and they painted the lines, they drove the buses, there was no entitlement,” said Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen, who hired Fritz at Tulane, worked with Klieman at Northern Iowa and has known Leipold for years. “They did it without resources. It was: How do you get the most out of what you have, instead of, how do you buy the most?”
Leipold won six Division III national titles in seven years at Wisconsin-Whitewater, his alma mater, before getting his first opportunity to lead an FBS program at Buffalo. He then revived Kansas, the nation’s worst major conference program, which hosts UNLV on Friday (7 ET, ESPN).
Klieman led North Dakota State to four FCS national titles in five years, and he has Kansas State poised to contend for its second Big 12 title in three seasons. After spending most of his career in the FCS, especially at Northern Iowa, his alma mater, Klieman is 41-24 at No. 14 Kansas State entering Friday’s showdown against No. 20 Arizona.
DeBoer became the NAIA’s version of Nick Saban at his alma mater, University of Sioux Falls, which won three national titles in four years. Just a decade after securing his first FBS job — as Eastern Michigan‘s offensive coordinator — and after four years as an FBS head coach, he actually replaced Saban at Alabama, which visits Wisconsin on Saturday.
Why are more coaches with small-school backgrounds getting major conference opportunities? Because they’re groomed to handle supersized roles.
THE JOB DESCRIPTION for FBS head coaches gets longer by the day.
Recruiting and schematics are priorities, but they also manage assistant coaches and massive staffs, especially in the personnel area with the transfer portal becoming such an integral part of the sport. They pour time into name, image and likeness, interfacing with stakeholders both within the university and on the outside. They also prepare for an expanding playoff system and the expectations that come with it.
Those who come up through major conference programs or the NFL, while only handling a unit or a position group and recruiting, could be overwhelmed by all the areas head coaches oversee. Coaches who start with less, meanwhile, are often qualified to handle more.
“There’s so many hats you wear, so you understand how important every role is to the program, from equipment to sports information to your graduate assistants,” DeBoer told ESPN. “We had someone who was part time in equipment; that meant I still had to do some equipment as a head coach. As a small-college coordinator my first five years, I didn’t have any graduate assistants, so you’re doing a lot of the film cut-ups and breakdowns. When you get to this point, you have a greater appreciation for the journey, and also the people that are in those roles.”
Fritz’s tasks over years at spots like Willis High School in Texas, to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, to University of Central Missouri, included academic advising and scheduling, 14 years as a strength coach, several years of taping ankles, driving the team bus to certain games and even producing media guides.
“Sometimes guys, all they know is the football part of it,” said Fritz, who won two junior college national championships at Blinn College and conference titles in four leagues, including the AAC with Tulane in 2022. “Probably for myself and the guys [with similar backgrounds], they probably see the big picture a little bit clearer.”
A more hands-on approach shapes the style in which Fritz, DeBoer and others lead major conference programs. Fritz describes himself as “not a big-time micromanager,” but said there are nonnegotiables in his program around academics, athletic training and strength and conditioning that he must handle.
“You just learn that you’re above nothing, so you have your hands on everything,” said Braun, who coordinated defenses and team travel in NAIA and Division II. “It’s human nature where there can be a sense of entitlement, a lack of gratitude. I’m not saying that’s the case for people that had opportunities to start at a young age at a high level, but there’s a certain understanding, when you’ve come up through the ranks.”
Leipold once had an assistant who played and coached for major conference programs. When Leipold expressed concern about a sloppy warmup, the coach said the strength coach should handle it. When a player in the coach’s room had an off-field issue, the coach deferred to an academic advisor.
“Well, s—, [when] you’re at Whitewater, you don’t have those people. You’re that guy,” Leipold said. “You’re the travel guy, you’re the academic guy. What you do is have more holistic accountability. When you get more resources, it should supplement and add, not take workload off of people.”
KLIEMAN WILL NEVER tell Kansas State’s strength coach or his nutritionist how to do their jobs. As defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman put it, “He lets the experts in the building be experts in their field.” When they make recommendations, Klieman will implement them, rather than “kind of halfway listen and then go do what he wants to do,” Klanderman said.
The result is a staff who truly feels appreciated.
“I don’t have all the answers, and I need help and I want their input,” Klieman said. “I would hope every one of the staff members or players would say, ‘Yeah, he gives us a voice.’ That is so important in our profession right now.”
Kansas State offensive coordinator Conor Riley, who, like Klanderman, came with Klieman North Dakota State, said Klieman’s “relatability” is his superpower. There have been fewer silos in the programs where Klieman has worked — none in some cases — so he knows and, more importantly, wants to know what everyone in the program is doing.
Riley also sees benefits in recruiting with how Klieman studies prospects and does projections.
“You’re forced to not just take that low-hanging fruit, but really have to dig about a young person, find out about a high-school-aged kid, not seeing where he’s at right now but saying, ‘Where’s he going to be in two to three years?'” Riley said. “That’s what you’ve had to do for the lion’s share of your career, so why can’t you translate it to a higher level of college football?”
Kansas director of sports performance Matt Gildersleeve, who worked with Leipold at Buffalo, said Leipold’s background allows him to evaluate the program through a “lens of creativity.” He doesn’t let staff members get comfortable, constantly challenging them to adjust in ways that can help the players.
“He’s a true players’ coach,” Kansas running back Devin Neal said. “When you start at a lower level like that, there’s always more to work towards. Not saying he would be any different if he would have started out as a Power 5 or [FBS] coach, but it gives you a different outlook when you don’t have as many resources.”
Coaches with small college backgrounds also are set up to tackle new challenges, including NIL and the expanded CFP. Those leading programs without a full complement of scholarships must decide how the money is divided up, much like NIL.
The 12-team CFP will require teams to play as many as 17 games to win a national title, although major conference champions will only need 16. DeBoer’s last Sioux Falls team went 15-0, while Leipold had three 15-0 teams at Wisconsin-Whitewater and Klieman’s first championship team at North Dakota State finished 15-1.
“You play 15, 16 games a year; you just get exposed to an awful lot,” Klieman said. “That’s what we’re starting to evolve to in Power 4, with the new playoff. That’s the norm in FCS.”
THERE’S A BIT of Clark Kent in coaches like Klieman, DeBoer, Leipold and Fritz. They’re friendly, unassuming and, at times, self-deprecating. They present more as standard dads than seven-figure earners, reflecting the sensibilities from their Midwestern roots in Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Kansas.
“They’re not in it for the celebrity,” Dannen said.
They also all have another trait simmering beneath the surface.
“Chris and Lance, in particular, you’re talking about some highly competitive guys,” DeBoer said. “They come across as real nice people and all that, but behind the scenes, I know what they’re all about. They’re relentless and they don’t want to lose.”
Kansas State linebacker Austin Moore said of Klieman, “He gets a little different on game days. His voice changes a little bit, you can see it in his eyes, and it gets everyone fired up.”
Competitiveness among college coaches isn’t confined to those who come from smaller schools. As Dannen noted, the profession is packed with “double -[Type]-A personalities.” But the coaches’ backgrounds can augment their drive to succeed.
“You wake up in the morning as a small college coach and that to-do list is overwhelming sometimes,” DeBoer said. “But you know it has to be done to reach the goals that you have, the games you want to win, the championships you want to go be a part of. So there’s got to be a competitiveness that helps drive you to do all the little jobs that are going to allow you to get there.”
Dannen calls Fritz the most competitive person he has ever been around, but Fritz has been molded and amplified by his experiences. At Central Missouri or Blinn College, the talent gaps with competition are often negligible. He found “those little details, those edges,” Dannen said, that made the difference and ultimately led to championships.
Others with similar backgrounds look at personnel the same way.
“Guys that have coached at lower levels, you never make the excuse that, ‘We’re not talented enough,” Braun said. “You just find a way to tap into the talent that you have.”
When Leipold won his first national title at Wisconsin-Whitewater, he was so motivated to win another that he didn’t enjoy the title as much as he should have. He became immersed in maintaining success. A move into the FBS enhanced Leipold’s drive, which is shared by those with similar experiences.
At the annual coaches’ convention, Leipold and DeBoer would talk about their similar paths.
“From those small conversations we used to have, we want to prove we can do it at this level,” Leipold said. “Because there’s enough people that don’t think guys like us could ever have come this far. And there’s responsibility. I don’t want to let people down.
“Sometimes, you get so competitive that you’ve got to learn to balance things a bit.”
Leipold is still working on the last part, but he and those like him have remained more grounded than most. The night before DeBoer was set to lead Washington against Michigan in the CFP national championship game, he received a text from Riley, wishing him well and adding that there was no need to respond.
Five minutes later, DeBoer texted back, thanking Riley for reaching out.
“Knowing Kalen and Coach Leipold and Coach Klieman, there’s a tremendous amount of competitiveness, and there is a lot of fire and there is a lot of passion,” Riley said. “But they’re down-to-earth people as well.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAS featured small-school coaches rising into prominent roles before. Before Notre Dame and now LSU, Brian Kelly spent the first 20 years of his career at Assumption College, a Division II program, and then Grand Valley State, which he led to consecutive Division II national titles, before securing his first FBS job at Central Michigan.
Chip Kelly worked entirely in FCS or Division III, mostly at New Hampshire, his alma mater, before earning his first FBS job as Oregon‘s offensive coordinator in 2007. He soon became Ducks head coach and went 46-7 with three AP top-four finishes, making significant impacts in scheme, sports science and other areas.
There are lesser-known but equally significant examples, such as Chris Creighton, who came to Eastern Michigan in late 2011 with no FBS experience, having moved up from NAIA (Ottawa) to Division III (Wabash) to Drake (FCS). Eastern Michigan had made only one bowl appearance before, back in 1987, and had won two games or fewer in four of the five previous seasons. After just three wins in his first two years, Creighton has led EMU to six bowl appearances.
The recent surge of hires could carry more significance, though, especially with DeBoer’s rise to one of the highest-profile programs in the sport.
“That journey, when you can enjoy it and keep the focus on the right things, this is kind of where, step by step, you get to,” DeBoer said. “There’s got to be some breaks along the way. There were opportunities that came to you and you did well, and that led to other opportunities. It’s probably more than just one big win. It’s probably multiple championships, especially when I think about the guys that you’ve mentioned. But they’ve taken advantage of that.”
Leipold senses that opportunities for successful small-school coaches to move up faster have increased. Some of the steps that used to be required — Group of 5 coordinator, Group of 5 coach, Power 4 coordinator — can now be skipped. Craig Bohl, Klieman’s predecessor at North Dakota State and the winner of three FCS national titles, went to Wyoming and, despite a steady run there, never moved up to a Power 4.
Klieman went straight from NDSU to K-State, and has proved he can win there. Stanford’s Troy Taylor had been an assistant at several FBS programs, but vaulted straight from Sacramento State to his current role.
“Guys like Chris and Lance and others who have shown they can do it have maybe allowed some of the decision-makers in all this to realize they can look a lot of different places for the right people in these roles,” Braun said.
The next few hiring cycles will show whether the next group of small-school risers gets an opportunity. Names to watch include South Dakota State‘s Jimmy Rogers, Idaho‘s Jason Eck, Mercer‘s Mike Jacobs, Northern Arizona‘s Brian Wright, Kutztown’s Jim Clements and Yale’s Tony Reno.
Leipold remembers his introduction at Buffalo, where Danny White, the athletic director at the time, said schools have a choice: Hire major conference assistants and live with the growing pains as they learn how to be head coaches, or hire those who have run programs before and teach them the finer points of the FBS.
The personality of each school, and often the administrators making the hires, will shape coaching searches and hires.
“My concern is if you’ve been an associate AD at Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, whatever, what are you going to gravitate to? Are you going to look at Chris Creighton from Wabash?” Leipold said. “If you look at good coaches who run good programs, they should [consider those] at Division II, Division III. I sure hope they have a chance.”
Leipold’s concern is that NIL will be used against small-school coaches because they aren’t as involved, but Dannen anticipates controls on revenue-sharing and distribution will make most power conference schools look more alike.
“Maybe more times going forward than even in recent history, you just need to be a ball coach,” Dannen said.
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Dan Wetzel
Ryan Day is 81-10 as the head coach of Ohio State, including 11-0 this year as the Buckeyes try to repeat as national champions. It’s a breathtaking run of success.
Yet Day is famously 0-4 against Michigan over the past four years, including a shocking home defeat to a middling Wolverines team a year ago. Another loss Saturday in Ann Arbor, especially as an ESPN BET 11.5-point favorite, would invite continued scorn and frustration.
It is why you’d think Day is the coach under the most pressure to win a specific game this weekend.
Then along comes Lane Kiffin saying, hold my Hotty Toddy.
Kiffin has yet to publicly declare where he will work next season — let alone the rest of this season. It might be LSU. It might be Florida. Or it might be Ole Miss, where he has the 10-1 Rebels ranked sixth heading into Friday’s Egg Bowl at Mississippi State.
“An announcement on Coach Kiffin’s future is expected the Saturday following the game,” Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter wrote in a statement.
It’s a game Kiffin had better win.
Forget the rest of this chaotic story. The long, slow drag-out of an announcement. The fact that Kiffin had family members reportedly tour other schools and towns … while still working in Oxford. The daily cryptic book excerpts Kiffin sends out on social media, leaving fans to try to decipher their meanings.
Or even the fact the decision is merely “expected” on Saturday.
Maybe. Or maybe not. Who really knows? It’s Lane. Maybe he’ll pick a hat, like recruits do, or have Jesse Palmer come to town for a “Bachelor”-style rose ceremony.
If nothing else, Kiffin, a personality like no other, has set up Friday’s game in Starkville, Mississippi, as a game like no other — one of the most “must-win” contests a coach has ever faced.
Ole Miss is having its greatest season in more than 60 years. The College Football Playoff is waiting. A home playoff game, which might be the biggest sporting event in state history, is at hand. The Rebels are absolute national semifinal contenders, if not capable of winning the whole thing. Kiffin himself has never had a season this successful.
Yet if Ole Miss gets upset Friday by its archrival, it could all collapse. If so, the blame will be singular.
Day can lose and, despite the embarrassment, move on to bigger challenges.
Kiffin might never live down creating a circus of speculation and distraction as he considers quitting on a playoff team.
His defenders can blame the clunky calendar, but life is about timing. Sometimes it doesn’t work in your favor. Leaving a team with big possibilities (it is extremely unlikely Ole Miss would allow him to coach in the playoff) for the perceived greener grass of another program would be an extraordinary decision. Is he a coach or a job hunter?
Emotions will be bitter enough if Kiffin leaves after securing a victory that puts Ole Miss in the playoff. If the Rebels lose, though? They aren’t assured anything, falling into a crowded group of 10-2 contenders seeking an at-large bid. They could get left out.
Making matters worse, it’s quite possible Kiffin bails the next day. That would give the College Football Playoff committee the option of downgrading the Rebels because they lost their head coach the way it downgraded Florida State two years ago because it lost its starting quarterback to injury.
Just like that, the dream season would have a nightmare conclusion … just as the perpetrator skips town. How will that go over?
Ole Miss is an 8.5-point favorite. It should defeat a Mississippi State team that has shown admirable growth this year but is still rebuilding. This is the Egg Bowl, though. Anything can — and has — happened. Upsets. Comebacks. A guy costing his team by mimicking a urinating dog during a touchdown celebration.
This thing is almost always wild.
“Coach Kiffin and I have had many pointed and positive conversations regarding his future at Ole Miss,” Carter wrote in his statement. “While we discuss next steps, we know we cannot lose sight of what is most important — our sixth-ranked team that is poised to finish the regular season in historic fashion.
“Despite outside noise,” Carter wrote, “Coach Kiffin is focused on preparing our team for the Egg Bowl.”
He better be. And then Ole Miss better win it.
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Dan Wetzel
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Dan Wetzel
ESPN
- Dan Wetzel is a senior writer focused on investigative reporting, news analysis and feature storytelling.
Attorneys for Brian Kelly have informed LSU in a letter that the school’s claim that it had not “formally terminated” Kelly as its football coach has “made it nearly impossible” for him to get another coaching job.
According to the letter, which was sent Nov. 18 to LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry and board of supervisors member John H. Carmouche, Kelly says he “reserves all rights to seek any and all damages to the fullest extent permitted by law” for the interference in any potential job candidacy.
“As you know, there is absolutely no basis to LSU’s contrived positions that Coach Kelly was not terminated or that cause existed for such termination,” the letter, which was obtained by ESPN, reads. “LSU’s conduct, including its failure to confirm that Coach Kelly was terminated without cause and its unsupported allegations of misconduct on the part of Coach Kelly, has made it nearly impossible for Coach Kelly to secure other football-related employment.
“LSU’s conduct continues to harm Coach Kelly, particularly during this critical hiring period.”
LSU declined comment because it is part of an ongoing legal matter.
The LSU board of supervisors voted Friday to allow new president Wade Rousse to formally terminate Kelly. The board did not indicate whether the firing would be for cause or without cause.
Kelly, 64, was initially relieved of his duties Oct. 26, one day after a 49-25 loss to Texas A&M dropped the Tigers to 5-3. At the time, the school made clear in public statements that the dismissal was performance-related.
In November, according to a legal filing by Kelly, the school informed Kelly’s representatives that then-athletic director Scott Woodward did not have the authority to dismiss Kelly. The school then stated it had reason to fire Kelly “for cause,” which would impact the payout of his contract, which is about $54 million.
In response, Kelly filed a petition of declaratory judgment in the 19th Judicial District for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (Louisiana), asking for a judge to assert that Kelly was fired Oct. 26 without cause.
In a separate letter, this one dated Nov. 19 and obtained by ESPN, Kelly’s attorneys say that Carmouche told them that Carmouche had “expressed his hope” they’d agree to send written confirmation of Kelly’s firing without cause, but only after meeting with a board member and Rousse.
The letter claims Carmouche asked that Kelly withdraw the petition for declaratory judgment.
The Nov. 19 letter also said Kelly will not withdraw the petition for declaratory judgment until he “receives written confirmation” signed by the board of supervisors chair Scott Ballard, Ausberry and Rousse “that his termination was without cause” and that LSU will “fulfill its contractual obligation to pay Coach Kelly the full liquidated damages.”
Kelly’s attorneys say that the legal wrangling and confusion have made it difficult for Kelly to pursue open head coaching jobs in college football. There are currently nine vacancies in the power conferences, with others expected to open as the coaching carousel begins after the regular season ends this weekend.
Kelly came to LSU from Notre Dame in 2022 and went 34-14 overall. He previously coached Cincinnati, Central Michigan and Grand Valley State (Michigan), where he won two Division II national titles.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.
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Adam Rittenberg
Ed Orgeron needed a rope.
In late September 2013, Orgeron had been named interim coach at USC, following the school’s infamous middle-of-the-night firing of Lane Kiffin on the tarmac at LAX. Orgeron had been a head coach at Ole Miss, and now had another opportunity, at a program he loved. He wrote down several things he wanted to do in operating the USC program.
First, he borrowed an exercise from former Trojans coach Pete Carroll, and obtained a rope from the fire department. He assembled everyone involved in the program — players, coaches, support staff, even administrators — and paired up groups for tug-of-war: running backs against linebackers, offensive line against defensive line, and so on.
“I got the coaching staff to pull against the administration, and I let the damn administration win,” Orgeron told ESPN. “If I knew what [would happen] at USC, I would have pulled a little harder.”
His main point was that neither side really gained an edge when pulling in opposite directions.
“I said, ‘I want everybody in this room — and there’s a lot of people — get on the same side of the rope, and let’s pull,'” Orgeron said. “That sent a message: One team, one heartbeat. When a firing happens, something is segmented, and you’ve got to try to piece it together as much as you can.”
Orgeron led USC to a 6-2 finish that fall but wasn’t retained. When he was named LSU‘s interim coach in early 2016, he once again did the tug-of-war exercise. After going 5-2 that fall, Orgeron had the interim tag removed. Three years later, his LSU squad won the national championship.
Interim coaches inherit vastly different situations at different points in the calendar, but they share a mission: to guide a ship jostled by change through choppy waters.
“When you become the interim head coach, it’s never a good thing,” said Tim Skipper, appointed UCLA‘s interim coach in September after spending the entire 2024 season as Fresno State‘s interim. “It’s never a good time.”
Interims must guide teams through a range of games, while dealing with a range of emotions. Amid uncertain futures for both players and coaches, interims make decisions for the moment. Some have major success, like Orgeron, and end up getting the tag removed. Others fully know they’re just placeholders and try to keep things from falling apart until resolutions are reached.
The 2025 season has placed a spotlight on interim coaches, as jobs have opened in every major conference ahead of a wild coaching cycle. We’ve already seen one game featuring opposing interim coaches. As most seasons wrap up this week, ESPN spoke with current and former interim coaches and identified some of the key things to do, and avoid, as they navigate a bumpy landscape.
The initial transition
Some coach firings are anticipated for weeks or months, while others, like Penn State‘s ouster of James Franklin after a three-game losing streak this fall, are jarring. But whatever circumstances surround the coaching change, interims are thrust in front of teams filled with emotion.
“When that happened on Sunday, it was like a funeral,” said Oregon State interim coach Robb Akey, named to his role after the school fired Trent Bray on Oct. 12. “We had to be able to pull the guys up and get them moving on.”
The timing of the changes also factors in for interims. Both Virginia Tech and UCLA fired their coaches only three games into this season.
“That’s a long time to try to hold a team together,” said Philip Montgomery, appointed to be Virginia Tech‘s interim coach from his offensive coordinator role Sept. 14. “Most of these guys were recruited by Brent and signed on for that part of it. When you rip that away from them, then all of a sudden, there’s a lot of emotions, and you’re trying to handle all of that and trying to somehow keep them focused, keep them jelled together, and for us, find a way to go win games and have a productive season.”
After Pry’s firing, Montgomery relied on his eight-year tenure as Tulsa’s head coach. He addressed the team, went over general guidelines and gave players the platform to vent.
“Once you laid [those guidelines] down, you can’t go back and forth with it,” he said. “It’s got to be steadfast.”
Skipper didn’t have the same experience to lean on, but he had been an interim the year before at Fresno State, taking over in July when Jeff Tedford stepped down and guiding the team to a 6-7 record. Skipper had played at Fresno State and was in his second stint as a Bulldogs assistant.
He arrived at UCLA this summer as special assistant to coach DeShaun Foster. Upon being named interim coach after Foster’s firing, Skipper had a plan from what he had done at Fresno State, but he barely knew the UCLA team. Since UCLA had an open week, Skipper held a mini training camp. He met individually with players and had them clean and organize the locker room.
“We were oh-fer,” Skipper said, referring to the team’s 0-3 record. “We just needed a win.”
He then took the whole team bowling, an activity usually reserved for the preseason or bowl game prep, and ensured every lane had a mix of players from different position groups.
“They just bowled their ass off and talked s— and had a good time,” Skipper said. “It was another opportunity to get them smiling.”
Managing the coaching staff
When schools fire head coaches, they usually retain the rest of the staff to finish out the season. The remaining coaches face uncertain futures. Unless the next permanent coach keeps them on, they’ll be looking for fresh starts.
“We all go home and you’ve got wives that want to know where we’re going to live and where we’re going to eat and how the bills are going to get paid,” Akey said. “We’re all in the coaches’ portal, too. It’s a unique situation that you wouldn’t wish on anybody. You wouldn’t wish it on an enemy.”
Interim coaches say the key is not letting the anxiety seep into the program’s daily operation.
“What to avoid is … to become these independent contractors that do our own thing, our own way,” LSU interim coach Frank Wilson said. “It’s not having letdowns and having self-pity.”
Interim coaches almost always come from within the existing staff. One day, they’re sitting among their assistant peers; the next, they’re at the head of the table.
“You need to take charge of the staff and make them accountable and be the head coach, but don’t be a butthole,” Orgeron said. “Don’t come across too hard because the day before, you were an assistant with those guys.”
After firing Troy Taylor in late March, Stanford general manager Andrew Luck brought in Frank Reich, who coached Luck in the NFL, to lead the program. Reich had more time to prepare for an interim season — he said he never would have taken the job any other way — but also didn’t know the players or assistant coaches when he arrived.
“I lean on them a lot,” Reich said of the assistants he inherited at Stanford. “I ask them what they think. Give me your perspective. Give me the context and history of this player, this citation. That’s a big part of it.”
Interim coaches often have to shuffle staff responsibilities, including playcalling. Montgomery kept offensive playcalling duties at Virginia Tech while also serving as head coach, just as he had done at Tulsa. Arkansas did the same thing when offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino was elevated to interim coach. Montgomery saw value in keeping Pry’s staff together, noting the stability would help the players.
Oregon State fired its special teams coordinator shortly before it did Bray, who also served as the team’s defensive playcaller. When Akey became the Beavers’ interim coach, he had to sort out responsibilities.
Skipper had an even more chaotic situation at UCLA, where defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe parted ways with the school after Foster’s firing. Then, after Skipper’s first game as interim, offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri also parted ways with UCLA. Skipper had defensive coordinator experience but wanted no part of the role, given everything on his plate.
He asked Kevin Coyle, who had been Skipper’s defensive coordinator when he played, to make a midseason move from Syracuse and lead the defense. Skipper then looked internally and had Jerry Neuheisel, the 33-year-old tight ends coach who played quarterback at UCLA and had spent almost his entire career there, to become offensive coordinator. They were both coach’s kids — Neuheisel’s father, Rick, coached UCLA from 2008 to 2011 — and Jerry was among the first staff members Skipper got to know after he arrived.
“I was always like, ‘This is a smart dude, he knows ball, he’s going to be a coordinator one day,’ just me saying that to myself,” Skipper said. “And it just worked out that I had the opportunity to hire him and we made it happen.”
Recruiting and the future roster
As a longtime assistant and then Ole Miss’ head coach, Orgeron built a reputation as a ravenous recruiter. So what did he do when he became interim coach at USC and then LSU?
“I recruited even harder,” he said.
He held recruiting “power hours” every Monday with calls to prospects and recruiting meetings on Friday mornings and evenings. On Saturdays before games, Orgeron and the staff would gather, put on “College GameDay,” eat breakfast and FaceTime recruits, asking about their high school games the night before.
Orgeron’s pitch?
“This is USC, this is LSU,” he told the players. “Most of the things that you are committed to or the things that you loved about it are always going to be here. They’re going to make the right choice, and they’re going to get a coach that helps us win a championship. Stay with us, stay to the end, don’t change now, let’s see what happens.”
Orgeron made sure never to lie to recruits. He didn’t tell them he would be the next coach, even though he wanted to be.
The difference now from Orgeron’s two interim stints is that coaches also must monitor their own roster. Until a recent rule change, players were able to enter the transfer portal in the first 30 days after a head coaching change. Skipper’s main goal when named interim at Fresno State and UCLA was to have no players enter the portal. He also didn’t let up in contacting UCLA’s committed recruits and those considering the program.
“We’re trying to still spread the good word about UCLA football, UCLA as a university, as an academic institution, all of that,” Skipper said. “So we’re working to the end, ’til they tell us to leave.”
Interim coaches have limits in recruiting, though. They typically aren’t offering scholarships, as those decisions ultimately fall on the permanent head coaches. Reich, who knows he’s done at Stanford following the season, has deferred most questions about the team’s future to Luck.
Montgomery has spent most of his recruiting energy on the prospects who initially committed to Virginia Tech.
“Most of those guys are saying, ‘Hey, I’m committed but I’m open. I want to see what happens and who they hire and what they’re going to do, what’s the next move going to be before I fully say, hey, I’m back in 100 percent again,'” Montgomery said.
Managing the end of seasons
There’s nothing tidy about the end of the college football regular season. Even when there hasn’t been a coaching change, teams are scrambling to finish recruiting. Assistant coaches are often moving jobs. Players are thinking about what’s next.
Finishing the season with an interim coach only adds to the chaos.
This week, Montgomery will lead Virginia Tech into its rivalry game at No. 19 Virginia, but the Hokies last week hired their new coach in Franklin, who was out of work for barely a month. Franklin is contacting recruits and putting together his staff, while letting the current team finish out 2025.
John Thompson twice was named Arkansas State‘s interim coach for bowl games, as the school went through three consecutive one-year coaches (Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin). When Malzahn left for Auburn in early December 2012, he took several staff members. Eight days later, Arkansas State hired Harsin. Thompson, meanwhile, was unsure of his future and charged with guiding the team through the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
“You’ve got coaches going everywhere, who’s going with this group, who’s going with that group?” Thompson said. “That was the most difficult thing. You’ve got guys that are trying to get a job, some that already have taken another job, but they’re still there with you.”
After his hiring, Harsin began sitting in Thompson’s meetings.
“Never said a word,” Thompson said. “I conducted the staff meetings, conducted practice, did everything, and he just sat there, you know? And he ended up hiring me [as an assistant], but that was kind of a strange deal. I said, ‘I’m not going to pay him any attention,’ but it was uncomfortable.”
The turbulent few weeks made wins in both bowl games Thompson coached that much sweeter. He “absolutely loved” coaching both Arkansas State teams, which featured players who had been through five coaches in five years, but never let the constant flux overwhelm their goals.
Some interim coach stories have happy endings, like Orgeron getting the LSU job two days after leading the team to a win against Texas A&M, or Kent State last month removing the interim tag from Mark Carney. More often than not, though, interims are not promoted nor retained, as programs reboot with new leaders.
They’re temporary stewards, coaching very much for the moment, and trying to maximize the experience for players.
“The name ‘Coach,’ the label ‘Coach’ means something, right?” Akey said. “We’re supposed to be growing young guys up. We’re supposed to be helping them develop. And, well, here’s the opportunity to do it, because you got hit with a bunch of adversity, and it’s going to happen to you in life.”
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