There were only six Power Four coaching changes on college football’s most recent carousel, and none of the openings went to sitting coordinators. That stood in contrast to the 2023 cycle, when Michigan, Mississippi State and Duke all either hired or promoted coordinators to serve as their head coaches.
With a number of coaches at big-name schools sitting on the hot seat, 2025 could provide much more upward mobility for the strategic masterminds who oversee the sport from the booth.
It’s been a mixed bag recently for coordinators getting the call-up to run the show for Power Four programs. Arizona State hit the jackpot when it hired Kenny Dillingham away from his offensive coordinator post at Oregon. Dillingham’s old boss at Oregon, Dan Lanning, also came to his job from a coordinator position at Georgia. Duke struck gold with a couple of defensive coordinator hires over the last few years in Mike Elko from Texas A&M and Manny Diaz from Penn State.
But former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby is off to a tough start at Mississippi State, and ex-Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters made it just two seasons at Purdue before getting fired. The jury remains out on former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables at Oklahoma after three seasons, and former Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry is facing a big Year 4 at Virginia Tech.
There’s not a 100% hit rate on any type of coaching hire, and coordinators are primed to continue getting cracks at Power Four gigs in the years ahead. As the 2025 season creeps nearer, we’re taking a closer look at five coordinators who could be positioned to get in the mix for big-time head coaching jobs.
College football coordinators to watch in 2025
Ryan Grubb, Alabama offensive coordinator: Grubb fought to be Kalen DeBoer’s successor at Washington after the two constructed a juggernaut offense in two seasons with the Huskies. UW went with Jedd Fisch instead, and Grubb stayed in town to be offensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks for a season. Now, Grubb and DeBoer are reunited and working together at a fifth different school. If Ty Simpson emerges as one of the SEC’s best quarterbacks and the Crimson Tide’s offense takes off, Grubb will quickly become a coaching darling and find himself in high demand. Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Bill O’Brien (Boston College) and Mike Locksley (Maryland) offer plenty of evidence that Alabama’s offensive coordinator job can be a springboard to Power Four head coaching opportunities.
Brian Hartline, Ohio State offensive coordinator: Hartline interviewed for the West Virginia vacancy that went to Rich Rodriguez, and his profile is set to continue rising in 2025. He’s already known as an elite recruiter and developer of receivers. Now, he’ll finally get to spread his wings as a play-caller following Chip Kelly’s departure for the NFL. Still just 38, Hartline has NFL playing experience and has worked under a pair of title-winning college coaches in Urban Meyer and Ryan Day. All the ingredients of a future head coach are there. If that’s the route the former Buckeyes wide out wants to pursue, he can afford to be selective.
Tim Banks, Tennessee defensive coordinator: Banks is entering his 14th consecutive season as a defensive or co-defensive coordinator in the Big Ten or SEC, and he keeps getting better with time. Tennessee ranked No. 6 nationally in total defense last season and rode that unit all the way to a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Vols ranked among the top-10 defensively in both third and fourth-down conversion percentage and gave up just 16.1 points per contest. Coordinating a defense juxtaposed with Josh Heupel’s high-flying, quick-strike offense can be an unflattering assignment. But Banks, 53, has handled it well, while making it clear that becoming a head coach is the “ultimate goal.”
Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State offensive coordinator: Penn State jumped from 53rd to 26th in total offense during Kotelnicki’s first season as coordinator and could be even better in 2025. With his quarterback and top two running backs returning and a receiver room that’s been reinforced with veteran transfers, Kotelnicki has plenty to work with. The 44-year old Minnesota native picked up plenty of insight on how to run a program during his decade of working for Lance Leipold at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Buffalo and Kansas. Now that he’s showing he can handle himself on the sport’s biggest stage and apart from Leipold’s watchful eye, Kotelnicki is starting to look like an attractive head coaching candidate.
Chris Hampton, Oregon co-defensive coordinator: Hampton was named 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year after helping Oregon land the nation’s No. 3 recruiting class headlined by an elite crop of defensive backs. He wouldn’t be the first recipient of that honor to make the head coaching leap. Fran Brown won it for his work in helping Georgia land the top class of the 2024 cycle before leaving for Syracuse. Other recent winners, such as Charles Huff (Southern Miss), Mike Locksley (Maryland) and Dell McGee (Georgia State) are also now head coaches. In addition to his role in aiding Oregon’s surge under Dan Lanning, Hampton also played an integral part in helping Tulane to a 12-2 season in 2022 that was capped by a Cotton Bowl victory over USC.
Honorable mention: Garrett Riley (Clemson offensive coordinator), Glenn Schumann (Georgia defensive coordinator), Blake Baker (LSU defensive coordinator), Shannon Dawson (Miami offensive coordinator)
Read the full article here
