Each winter, the college football coaching carousel sets social media ablaze with speculation surrounding who might leave for new jobs, which athletic directors and donors will give their existing coach another chance and which up-and-comers might get a big opportunity for the first time.
The frenzied discussion is reasonable, considering just how much can change when a team swaps head coaches in the modern era. Not only will a new crew of assistants be coming in, but hordes of behind-the-scenes staffers are shuffled to and fro, as are scores of players via the transfer portal.
Modern rules — or the absence of them — really do facilitate fresh starts in every sense of the term.
Once the dust settles, few decisions are more important than which coordinators a new head coach will hire, especially if the program’s leader isn’t a play caller himself. The offensive and defensive coordinators will be the ones building the playbook, scheming for opponents and matching wits with their counterparts on the opposite sideline every Saturday.
That said, our FOX Sports experts gathered for a discussion about some of the most interesting assistant coach hires of the current cycle:
Which college football assistant coaching hire will have an immediate positive impact on the team?
Will Muschamp in 2023 as Georgia’s co-offensive coordinator. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Laken Litman: Texas‘ hiring of Will Muschamp as its new defensive coordinator
Muschamp, who was most recently on Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia, was the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator from 2008-10 and helped the program get to the national championship game in 2009. He was also Mack Brown’s head coach in waiting before later leaving to become the head coach at Florida. Muschamp knows Texas, and he knows Steve Sarkisian — both are former Nick Saban assistants. The Longhorns’ defense was supposed to be one of the best in 2025, but underperformed, leading to Sarkisian firing former defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. Now, it’s Muschamp’s turn to work some magic and help Sarkisian get the most out of a talented defensive roster.
Michael Cohen: Northwestern‘s hiring of Chip Kelly as its new offensive coordinator
If this was two years ago, imagine being able to tell Northwestern head coach David Braun that he’d soon be able to hire someone who won a national championship with Ohio State in 2024 and then became one of the highest-paid play-callers in the NFL in 2025. And before all that, this same individual was the head coach of two different NFL franchises on the heels of an incredible run as the leading man at Oregon that included four consecutive 10-win seasons and a closet stuffed with national coach of the year awards. Talk about a farfetched idea. Yet here we are, entering the 2026 season with Kelly as the new offensive guru for Northwestern. On paper, it’s an incredible hire by Braun and one that should significantly elevate the Wildcats’ ceiling for as long as Kelly remains with the program. He’s as sharp an offensive mind as there is in college football.
Gary Patterson in 2020 when he was the head coach at TCU. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
RJ Young: USC‘s hiring of Gary Patterson as its new defensive coordinator
Patterson’s hiring at USC stands out. While many were waiting on just who Ryan Day would appoint to call the offense at Ohio State — even if it was Day himself — I was waiting on just who Lincoln Riley would replace departed defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who took the same job at Penn State. When Riley pulled out progenitor of the 4-2-5 defense, a College Football Hall of Fame coach and all-but-retired Gary Patterson, I was taken aback. Riley and Patterson are friends, and each is renowned for their play-calling acumen and innovation on their respective sides of the ball. There’s no question that Patterson will be an asset — not just as head coach of the Trojans’ defense, but as a former Power 4 head coach who has seen and coached against Riley’s offense before — and a sounding board for what might turn out to be a pivotal season for USC. If Patterson can marry his scheme with Riley’s — an offense that is notoriously unfriendly to playing complimentary football — the Trojans might be a dark horse in the race to secure the 2026 Big Ten crown. I’m intrigued to find out just how a coach who hasn’t worked for anyone other than himself (as an on-the-field assistant) in 26 years meshes with Riley in this new era of the sport.
[COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Top-10 Most Impactful Transfer Players From 2025]
Which school soccer assistant teaching rent is essentially the most perplexing?
(Photograph by Chris Unger/Getty Pictures)
Laken Litman: Ohio State’s reported hiring of Arthur Smith as its new offensive coordinator
The factor that’s most perplexing or intriguing about this rent is that Smith is the previous Atlanta Falcons’ head coach, and most not too long ago, he was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator. That can give Day two former NFL coaches as his offensive and defensive coordinators (Matt Patricia joined the Buckeyes’ employees earlier than final season). Each Smith and Patricia are skilled at what they do and overqualified for his or her respective jobs. It’s an attention-grabbing tactic that Day is implementing in having former NFL coaches on his employees. The gamers like it, and it prepares them even additional for once they’re prepared to show professional. Will this turn out to be a development in school soccer? We’ll see.
Michael Cohen: Invoice Belichick and North Carolina‘s hiring of Bobby Petrino
Alarm bells rang out round school soccer in early January when embattled UNC head coach Invoice Belichick — whose debut season with the Tar Heels was nearer to cleaning soap opera than success — made the beautiful choice to rent Petrino as his new offensive coordinator. Petrino, who turns 65 in March, was beforehand the offensive coordinator and interim head coach at Arkansas the previous two seasons, overseeing a unit that ranked twenty third in scoring (32.9 factors per sport) and thirteenth in complete offense (454.8 yards per sport) this fall. No person has ever doubted Petrino’s soccer acumen, notably in relation to placing collectively high-level offenses. A résumé that now consists of greater than 5 a long time of teaching expertise in school and the NFL demonstrates how enticing his companies have been over time. Even with all that success, Petrino is probably finest identified for a motorbike accident that occurred whereas he was the top coach at Arkansas through which his considerably youthful mistress was driving with him. The story turned a tabloid sensation and has adopted Petrino ever since. Is that basically the kind of determine Belichick, whose personal romantic pursuits have turn out to be a defining narrative throughout his time at UNC, wants by his facet? Some messes are self-inflicted.
(Photograph by Wesley Hitt/Getty Pictures)
[COLLEGE FOOTBALL: 7 Bold Predictions for the 2026 CFB Season]
RJ Younger: Ohio State’s reported hiring of Arthur Smith as its new offensive coordinator.
I am with Laken on this: Smith because the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator goes to really feel odd for many who haven’t adopted Day’s profession as head coach. Keep in mind, former Ohio State offensive coordinator and broad receivers coach Brian Hartline is the one coach to name offensive performs at Ohio State with out NFL place teaching expertise or higher since 2016. Along with his hiring of Chip Kelly in 2024, Day set a precedent that he has continued to observe via. He needs his play-callers to have expertise as NFL coordinators and head coaches. To date, that technique has been an unmitigated success. Kelly helped lead Ohio State to a nationwide championship, and Patricia fielded the nation’s finest scoring protection — all of their first years. Who’s to say Smith will not be simply nearly as good? Not me.
