2025 college football coaching carousel: Firings, hirings - ESPN

The 2025 college football coaching carousel got off to an early start with a pair of firings — DeShaun Foster at UCLA and Brent Pry at Virginia Tech — just three weeks into the season.

The carousel picked up serious momentum with Penn State's dismissal of James Franklin following Week 7, when the Nittany Lions — a preseason favorite to contend for the national championship — fell to 3-3 with their third loss in a row.

That sets the stage for what should be a wild ride through the end of the season. Below is a list of every vacancy in the FBS, beginning with the power-conference jobs.

Out: James Franklin (104-45, 12 seasons) | Fired Oct. 12

Franklin's fall was stunning and swift, beginning with the type of big-game loss (Oregon) that came to define his Penn State tenure and continuing with two other losses (against major underdogs UCLA and Northwestern) that did not. Just like that, Franklin's tenure of 11-plus years at Penn State was over within the same calendar year as the Nittany Lions reached the cusp of the national championship game only to fall to Notre Dame in a CFP semifinal.

• Top candidates, transfers and recruits to watch
• How Penn State unraveled under Franklin

Out: Trent Bray (5-14, two seasons) | Fired Oct. 12

Bray was dismissed with the Beavers winless in their first seven games. It was the worst start for Oregon State since 1991, when it started 0-10. Bray, an all-Pac-12 player at Oregon State in 2005, was promoted to head coach after Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State following the 2023 season.

Out: Sam Pittman (32-34, six seasons) | Fired Sept. 28

Pittman's folksy charm could carry him only so far. After some initial success, including ending the Razorbacks' 20-game SEC losing streak in 2020 and