It’s that time of year – your head coach was either fired for poor performance or your promising head coach was poached by a more prominent school. Maybe they even retired. Regardless, it’s time to take action and either poach from a different school, promote from within, or pull a guy back in that isn’t employed. Below we review some of the top up and coming coaching candidates for schools that want to buy a winner for a lower price.
Jeff Traylor
Jeff Traylor started as a Texas High School head coach, then, after a variety of position coaching gigs, built up the UTSA program starting in 2019. He brought UTSA from near irrelevance to consistently contending for the NY6 bowl slot. That being said, what’s most enticing about Traylor is his ability to recruit Texas. This makes him especially appealing for any school in the South or Southwest, as they’ll be able to tap into that fertile recruiting ground as well as getting a competent coach.
Alex Golesh
Alex Golesh is much more of a “risk it to get a guy on the upswing” candidate. While Golesh has only been the head coach at USF for a single season, he previously built up a strong resume as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. What makes Golesh most appealing are his offensive schemes – he brings in an innovative scheme that emphasizes speed and tempo. Don’t be surprised if Golesh is coaching a P5 school this season or next.
Glenn Schumann
Glenn Schumann may be a little too high profile of a candidate for this list, but given the number of schools that will be targeting him for the head coaching position, we would be remiss to exclude him. Schumann has been the defensive coordinator at Georgia since 2019, overseeing the strong defensive unit of both national championship teams. Glenn Schumann has been linked to many job openings and even interviewed for the Philadelphia Eagles, but has not left yet. This likely indicates he’ll be holding out for one of the top jobs in the country to offer him.
Curt Cignetti
Curt Cignetti has been the head coach of James Madison since 2019. In that time he led JMU to a stellar 52-9 record, including an FCS championship game appearance. Perhaps most importantly, he oversaw the Dukes transition to FBS and brought them from new kid on the block to 11-1 in the Sun Belt in just 2 years. Cignetti is definitely a program builder, but has also shown an aptitude for recruiting the Mid-Atlantic. Expect him to be tied to jobs in the region.
Gerad Parker
Gerad Parker is the offensive coordinator and Tight Ends coach at Notre Dame. He took the OC helm in 2023, a year in which Notre Dame had the 33rd most offensive yards per game in College Football (though this honestly doesn’t do the quality of their unit justice). Parker cut his teeth through various position coaching gigs at Marshall, Purdue (where he served as Interim HC), Duke, Penn State and WVU before joining the Fighting Irish. Expect him to be tied to programs looking to revitalize their offense.
CFB Select 