Will Muschamp to South Carolina

Apparently, South Carolina likes Florida football coaches.

Muschamp didn’t have much luck with injuries and health throughout his time at Florida, and he didn’t have much fun with his offenses, either. But South Carolina was built around defense and a running game under Steve Spurrier, and that’s what Muschamp teams can do.

There reported rumors about RIch Rodriguez being in the hunt, and USF’s Willie Taggart was on the table, but the now-Auburn defensive coordintor turned out to be the option to try cranking the porogram back up into an SEC East player. He knows the division, he knows the league, and he knows recruiting. Now he has to know offensive scoring punch.

Chris Ash to be the next Rutgers coach

If you’re going to compete in the rugged Big Ten East, might as well hire someone who’s already done it at a high level.

The Scarlet Knights, coming off a tumultuous season, on and off the field, have plucked Chris Ash from Urban Meyer’s Ohio State staff. As the defensive coordinator the last two seasons, Ash won a national championship in 2014 and piloted the country’s No. 2 scoring D this past year. While the 41-year-old has no head coaching experience—or East Coast ties—he’s well-respected nationally as a recruiter and a defensive teacher.

This is the first huge decision for new AD Pat Hobbs, who was brought aboard just a week ago to succeed the ousted Julie Hermann. The ongoing facelift of Rutgers athletics, labeled a sleeping giant by Hobbs, has happened practically overnight. And the undisputed face of the new look will be Ash, who’s tasked with keeping New Jersey’s best talent from filling other Big Ten rosters and cleaning up the mess created by Kyle Flood.

Dino Babers to Syracuse

It’s being reported that Babers will go from MAC champion head coach at Bowling Green to taking over at Syracuse, bringing the high-octane, Baylor-style offense with him.

A true winner, Babers has been a head coach for four years, winning two Ohio Valley Conference championships at Eastern Illinois before leaving for Bowling Green, taking the East title last year and winning the championship this season – four years, four title appearances, three champions.

Is Syracuse getting Baylor? That’s the hope by hiring someone who learned in the Art Briles world, and now the Orange might be getting a budding superstar. He’s at the forefront of offensive football, his defenses are solid, and, again, the guy knows how to win. 

Seth Littrell to North Texas

The Mean Green just got a lot younger … and, in time, a lot more explosive on offense.

On the heels of a disastrous one-win campaign, North Texas is handing the reins to the 37-year-old Littrell, who was one of the architects of Carolina’s explosive attack over the past two seasons. He’s an Oklahoma native and a Sooner graduate, serving as a captain of Bob Stoops’ 2000 national championship team. Littrell knows he can turn things around quickly in Denton. The Mean Green play in Conference USA’s newest building, Apogee Stadium, and the state is littered with talented playmakers, particularly at quarterback, who don’t get offers from Big 12 schools. There’s a long road ahead, but Littrell possesses a lot of the right characteristics to engineer results by 2017.

Ruffin McNeill, fired at East Carolina

After six seasons and a 42-34 record, McNeill was fired by East Carolina because the program seems to be looking to take things to a higher level – think Mark Richt situation, but down a few pegs.

ECU won the Conference USA East division in 2012, and went to four bowl games, but the 5-7 season, combined with ascendance of Memphis, Navy, Temple and Houston this year, but this season, the problem was an inability to win the close games.

Missouri promotes from within, hires Barry Odom to succeed Gary Pinkel

Mizzou didn’t have to look far to find Pinkel’s successor, promoting Odom from defensive coordinator.

Odom’s roots in Columbia run deep. He starred as a Tiger linebacker from 1996-99, and he’s spent most of his coaching career at his alma mater. After doing a bang-up job coordinating the Memphis defense for three seasons, he returned to Mizzou in 2015 to replace Dave Steckel.

By hiring Odom, a Pinkel disciple, the Tigers are assured of a certain degree of continuity and familiarity on the sidelines. Now it’s up to the new man in charge to find the right guy to oversee his offense, because the team’s 5-7 finish was directly attributable to a feeble attack that averaged 13.6 points per game.

Mike Norvell to Memphis

Well, that didn’t take long.

Less than a week after Virginia Tech hired Fuente to replace Frank Beamer, the Tigers filled their opening with Norvell, formerly the Arizona State offensive coordinator. Norvell, who’s just 34, is considered one of the game’s best young recruiters and offensive minds. And he had the countless offers in recent years to oversee the offenses of major Power Five programs to back it up.

Since Norvell became the coordinator in 2012, the Sun Devils never averaged less than 34 points in a season. And his ability to land talent and develop quarterbacks will be especially important if Memphis QB Paxton Lynch foregoes his final year of eligibility.

Jason Candle promoted by Toledo

The Rockets stayed within the family to replace Matt Campbell, promoting Candle from offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Candle makes perfect sense for Toledo. He’s been with the program since 2009 and is very well-liked by the players, many of whom openly celebrate the choice. Plus, at only 36, like Campbell, his best days as a coach are ahead of him. Under Candle’s leadership, the Rockets averaged at least 30 points per game in each of the last four seasons. And whether it was Terrance Owens, Logan Woodside or Phillip Ely behind center, his quarterbacks were consistently efficient and accurate running a balanced attack.

D.J. Durkin hired by Maryland

It’s not Mark Richt, and it’s not a big A-list name, but Durkin is a rock-solid defensive coordinator who’ll get his shot at a full-time job. Having worked under some superstar head coaches, he’s ready. He helped Florida’s D rock under both Urban Meyer and later Will Muschamp – and stepped in for Muschamp in last year’s Birmingham Bowl and got the win – and then he spent a year as Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator at Michigan. The former Bowling Green defensive lineman is only going to be 38 by the time the season starts, and while he might be upwardly mobile in terms of his coaching prospects, he should instantly give the Terps a shot in the defensive arm.

Scott Frost hired by UCF

UCF has made a splashy hire, plucking one of the game’s best young offensive minds off the Chip Kelly coaching tree.

Frost comes by way of Oregon, where he was first the receivers coach under Kelly and then the offensive coordinator the past three seasons for Mark Helfrich. He’s just 40, with a very high ceiling in the profession, so the Knights have taken a marked positive step in the aftermath of last year’s winless disaster. Although George O’Leary put the program on the map, UCF was in dire need of an infusion of youth, energy and offense. The Knights now have all of the above in Frost, who’ll get a shot at early success at a school with outstanding facilities and one of the best recruiting backyards among Group of Five schools.

Clay Helton, hired by USC

This time, Pat Haden is sticking with his hot interim coach.

In the biggest surprise so far on the coaching carousel, USC has removed the interim tag from Helton’s title, ending the search for Steve Sarkisian’s permanent successor. Haden, seemingly in a great position to pick and choose from across the country to fill one of college football’s elite jobs, decided instead to remain in-house and maintain some much-needed continuity with the Trojans.

““After weeks of searching the collegiate and pro ranks, interviewing candidates, and speaking with head coaches, athletic directors, NFL executives, and very knowledgeable football people, and after observing Clay in action the past seven weeks, it became abundantly clear that what we were searching for in a coach was right here in front of us,” said USC athletic director Pat Haden.

Helton spent the past two months channeling his inner-Orgeron, going 5-2, capped by Saturday’s impressive blowout of UCLA to win the Pac-12 South crown. Over the last two years, Helton and former USC assistant Ed Orgeron are 12-4 as the program’s interim leader, bringing stability to Troy in the aftermath of the firings of Sark and Lane Kiffin, respectively. In what was supposed to be a final job audition, Helton will now face Stanford Saturday in the Pac-12 Championship Game knowing that he’s the man at Troy for the foreseeable future.

Who’s getting hired and who’s fired? What’s happening on the coaching carousel? The coming and goings among head coaches in college football.

Kyle Flood, done at Rutgers

It would’ve been interesting if Rutgers could’ve closed with a flourish, but along with embattled AD Julie Hermann, Kyle Flood has been relieved of his duties. 27-24 in his four years with three bowl appearances, his 2015 was marred by a suspension and hurt by a slew of injuries, finishing 4-8 and out of the bowl picture – a win over Maryland and a 5-7 finish might have resulted in a bowl exception thanks to the school’s strong APR.

Mark Richt, done at Georgia

Everyone liked Mark Richt and no one wanted to see him fired, but after 15 successful seasons with two SEC championships and six East titles, he was let go.

Oh, by the way, Georgia is 9-3 and could hit the ten-win mark for the fourth time in five years and the tenth time in the Richt era with a win in the bowl game.

But Georgia failed to take the SEC East title in any of the last three years during a time when the division was right there for the taking, and the program now is looking for a coach to take the program over the hump. Georgia has been really, really close, but it hasn’t been able to get to a national title level under Richt. It might not seem right, and it might show that coaching is a cruel business, but don’t worry too much about him. He’ll be one of the hot names out there for just about every other good-to-great job opening.

Mike London, done at Virginia

In a long expected move, London and the Cavaliers have separated after six disappointing years together.

London was fortunate to have lasted as long as he did in C’ville, piecing together just one winning season back in 2011 and not a single bowl victory. His hiring initially made sense; he had strong ties to the University and the Commonwealth, and led Richmond to an FCS national championship in 2008. But even with big gets on the recruiting trail, they never translated consistently on Saturdays. And an inability to develop quarterbacks haunted the entire staff. London leaves behind a decent cupboard of talent, and Eastern Virginia produces so much big-time talent that the right successor could awake this sleeping giant. Craig Littlepage must nail this hire after sticking with London a year or two too long, even more so now that Va Tech has significantly upgraded on the sidelines with the addition of Justin Fuente.

Matt Campbell, Iowa State

Campbell beat Iowa State on Sept. 19 as the Toledo head coach. Now, he’s joining the Cyclones, succeeding the fired Paul Rhoads.

At the age of 36, Campbell has already won 35 games, including nine in three of his four seasons with the Rockets, who tried to keep him by making him the highest paid MAC coach. This past year, Toledo knocked off a pair of Power Five teams to start the year and spent a chunk of the fall in the Top 25 before fumbling the West Division lead in last week’s loss to Western Michigan. Campbell now has the second toughest job in the Big 12 to Kansas’ David Beaty, hired to turn around a program that exists in Iowa’s shadow and has had one winning year in the last decade.

Les Miles, staying at LSU

After all the drama, all the speculation, and all the craziness, Les Miles is going to stay as the LSU head coach after all.

According to ESPN’s Joe Schad, the LSU powers-that-be decided during the third quarter of the win over Texas A&M that it would be best for the school, the team, and for PR purposes to keep Miles around for what should be a loaded 2016 team and season. The $15 million buyout would’ve been handled privately, but again, it would’ve made LSU look bad to get rid of an ultra-successful – and, as it turns out, popular – head coach.

Justin Fuente, hired by Virginia Tech

The Hokies have landed one of the biggest prizes of this year’s coaching carousel, announcing that Justin Fuente will be the successor to Frank Beamer in Blacksburg.

The 39-year-old Fuente was on just about everyone’s short list. And why not? He was a miracle worker in four years at Memphis, breathing life into a program that was on life support when he arrived from TCU. Plus, Fuente has proven himself to be an offensive wunderkind, which is exactly what the Hokies need after struggling to score points for so many years.

His last two quarterbacks, Andy Dalton in Fort Worth and Paxton Lynch in Memphis, are either in the NFL or headed there, respectively. That longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster is being retained makes this an absolute best-case scenario for Va Tech.

Bill Cubit, Illinois

The Fighting Illini have removed the interim tag from Bill Cubit, giving him a two-year contract to lead the team on an ongoing basis.

Cubit took over for Tim Beckman in August, a week before the season began, and has generally done a decent job of bringing stability to the program. His best win prior to landing the gig was over Nebraska on Oct. 3. However, Cubit wound up being the beneficiary of the instability at Illinois, which has no permanent AD and was in no position to conduct a proper search for a head coach. Interim AD Paul Kowalczyk described the situation as “not ideal”, which pretty much encapsulates where the Illini exist these days.

Curtis Johnson, gone at Tulane

The Green Wave is in the market for a new head coach after ending the tenure of Curtis Johnson.

Johnson went 15-34 over four seasons, only briefly flirting with success in 2013. Otherwise, this was a poorly coached team that had a particularly hard time with fundamentals and special teams. This will be a very different search than it was in 2012 for Tulane, which believes it has a much higher ceiling than what’s been reached in recent years. Over the last three years, the Green Wave has joined a bigger league, built a new stadium, and must replace retiring AD Rick Dickson.

Nick Rolovich, hired by Hawaii

The Warriors stayed within the family to replace ousted head coach Norm Chow.

Hawaii has hired Nick Rolovich, a former Warrior quarterback and assistant coach under Greg McMackin, away from Brian Polian’s Nevada staff. At 36, Rolovich will be one of the youngest head coaches in college football next year. The administration liked his future and his offensive ingenuity, but he also benefited from having a finger on the pulse of a cash-strapped program that faces unique challenges compared to the rest of the Mountain West Conference.

MORE: The latest bowl projections and coaching updates