Who struck big during the 2020-21 football coaching carousel?

The coaching carousel didn’t spin all that fast after the 2020 college football season. Just 17 of the then-130 FBS programs made a change at the top — fewer than the offseasons prior and after and below the average (23) dating back to 2008. But Illinois landed Bret Bielema in that cycle, with Kansas also hiring Lance Leipold. With those two — and their teams — set to meet Sept. 8 in Lawrence, Kan., we figured it was a good time for Illini beat writer Scott Richey to rank all 17 of those coaching hires from that class before their third seasons kick off:
1. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Beamer got the Gamecocks to back-to-back bowl games in his first two seasons as coach. The real highlight from his time in Columbia, S.C., though, was back-to-back wins against No. 5 Tennessee and at No. 8 Clemson last November.
2. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
Heupel inherited a disaster. The (not enough) wins Tennessee did have under Jeremy Pruitt were vacated because he used ineligible players among other NCAA violations. But Heupel is 18-8 in two seasons and has a top-15 team this year.
3. Gus Malzahn, UCF
Malzahn was only unemployed two months after Auburn fired him following a 6-4 season in 2020. Heupel’s move to Tennessee opened up the UCF job, and Malzahn and the Knights head into the Big 12 coming off a pair of nine-win seasons.
4. Kane Wommack, South Alabama
Most of the roster, including 10 defensive starters, returns for the Jaguars in 2023 after winning 10 games — the most for the program since it made the move to the FBS in 2012. The 36-year-old Wommack, a former Eastern Illinois defensive coordinator, is 15-10 in two years as coach.
5. Bret Bielema, Illinois
There was nowhere to go, really, but up after Bielema replaced Lovie Smith in Champaign. An actual commitment to recruiting the state of Illinois is beginning to pay dividends, and the Illini are coming off their best season in 15 years following last year’s 8-5 record.
6. Lance Leipold, Kansas
The Jayhawks basically Ron Zook’d the end of the 2022 season, losing seven of their last eight games following quarterback Jalon Daniels’ shoulder injury. Leipold still got Kansas to its first bowl game since 2008, but the Liberty Bowl loss was one of the seven.
7. Andy Avalos, Boise State
The former Boise State linebacker and assistant returned to take over the program in 2021 after a two-year stint as Oregon’s defensive coordinator and has posted a 17-9 record since. The Broncos enter 2023 as the Mountain West favorites.
8. Charles Huff, Marshall
The Thundering Herd finished year two under Huff with six wins in their final seven games, including a Myrtle Beach Bowl victory against Connecticut. Huff is 16-10 overall in two seasons at Marshall and has a Sun Belt contender again this fall.
9. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
Wins still aren’t coming at an acceptable rate in the Lone Star State. Sarkisian is 13-12 in two years, but he has added Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning at quarterback the last two offseasons and has the Big 12 favorites for 2023.
10. Blake Anderson, Utah State
The Aggies won the Mountain West title and a bowl game for an 11-3 finish in Anderson’s first season. Year two was a step back to 6-7 with an anemic offense and struggling defense, and projections for 2023 don’t indicate a trend reversal.
11. Will Hall, Southern Mississippi
Hall had plenty of success at the Division II level with a 56-20 record in three seasons each at West Alabama and West Georgia. He’s at least trending that direction with the Golden Eagles after a 7-6 record and bowl game win last season.
12. Maurice Linguist, Buffalo
Linguist guided the Bulls to a bowl game — a 23-21 win against Georgia Southern in the Camellia Bowl no less — in his second season. The 39-year-old former Baylor safety and first-time head coach has an 11-14 career record.
13. Jedd Fisch, Arizona
Arizona made a big leap from Fisch’s first to second seasons, going from 1-11 to 5-7. Further progress will be defense dependent given the Wildcats gave up 36.5 points per game in 2022 and only return three defensive starters.
14. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
The progress has been slow in Lea’s two seasons in Nashville, but at least there’s been progress. The Commodores went 2-10 in year one with Lea — still better than the 0-9 debacle in 2020 — and posted a 5-7 record in year two.
15. Terry Bowden, Louisiana-Monroe
After two seasons at Clemson as a graduate assistant (for real), the now-67-year-old Bowden took the Warhawks job and has since posted consecutive 4-8 seasons in his third head coaching gig. ULM enters 2023 projected to finish last in the Sun Belt’s West division.
16. Butch Jones, Arkansas State
While the Nick Saban rehabilitation program for fired coaches at Alabama has yielded promising results, Jones might not be one of them. The former Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Tennessee coach is just 5-19 in two seasons with the Red Wolves after his stint in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as an analyst.
17. Bryan Harsin, Auburn
Harsin managed to lead the Tigers to their worst season in a decade in year one, lose both of his coordinators (two offensive coordinators, actually) and 20 players (Bo Nix included) afterward and then get fired midway through year two.