Regrading college football's first-year head coaches - ESPN

The first-year coaches around college football in 2024 included an interesting mix of characters.

There were notable moves between Power 4 conference programs, including Kalen DeBoer leaving national runner-up Washington to replace Nick Saban at Alabama, and Jedd Fisch exiting a 10-win Arizona program to replace DeBoer in Seattle. Bill O'Brien, who has bounced between college and the NFL for more than a decade, landed the Boston College job in his hometown. Mike Elko and Jonathan Smith, two coaches who had done more with less at Duke and Oregon State, respectively, moved to higher-resourced programs at Texas A&M and Michigan State.

The coaching cycle also featured promotions, from national champion Michigan (Sherrone Moore) to Big Ten newcomer UCLA (DeShaun Foster). Indiana hired coaching veteran Curt Cignetti, who spent much of his career in college football's lower divisions. Syracuse went outside the box with elite recruiter Fran Brown, who had never been a head coach and had only one year of shared coordinator experience.

Who performed the best? Who fell short in Year 1? It's time to regrade the first-year coaches in the major conferences, while also looking back at how they were evaluated coming in the door.

Jump to a hire:
UCLA | Boston College | Michigan
Alabama | Arizona | Washington | Texas A&M
Duke | Houston | Indiana | Mississippi State
Michigan State | Northwestern | Oregon State | Syracuse

Hiring grade: B

What was written then: Like the program itself, Foster likely will go through some bumps as he grows into the role, especially as UCLA acclimates to a new league. But he brings an energy and enthusiasm the Bruins sorely need after [Chip] Kelly, and the team's personnel outlook also should improve under his