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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Sherrone Moore, DeShaun Foster, and the Five Worst Hires of the 2024 Coaching Carousel

Why the new coaches at Michigan, UCLA, and more will not succeed in their new positions

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Nov 11
Nov 11

By: Mike Huesmann

Not so long ago I listed my five favorite head coaching hires. I think this coaching carousel cycle has been one of the better in recent memory, with very few head-scratching moves. That being said, after listing my favorites it is time to talk about the five that make the dubious end of the cycle. The reasoning may be nuanced, and I’ll explain all of them, but here are five head coaching hires I would have gone in a different direction with.

Sherrone Moore, Michigan

I’ll just get this one out of the way because I’ll take the most heat for it and it’s the biggest on the list but read on before you jump to criticize. I do NOT dislike Moore, there is a principle here I hate.

I will never advocate for a certified blue-blood to give anyone their first head coaching job. There is too much risk, it’s unambitious, and it’s trying to grasp onto a continuity that can’t and shouldn’t be the goal.

Moore absolutely should be a head coach; I just wish it was somewhere else. My principle isn’t always right, though it does cover two of the most polarizing head coaches in the game today. Lincoln Riley and Ryan Day both were given their first job at a blue blood, and both have won lots of games. Both also have a tremendous number of haters and expectations might be unrealistic, I hope Moore doesn’t fall into that pit.

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Spencer Danielson, Boise State

Danielson has spent the bulk of his professional career in Boise, it is the only FBS school he has ever coached at. This job should be one of the best G5 jobs and it really fell off in the Andy Avalos years, when Danielson was defensive coordinator.

He did do ok as the interim head coach to end the 2023 season but that is different. Sometimes new ideas, a new worldview, and going outside “the family” are needed as a way to rejuvenate a program. I’d have liked to see Boise do that.

Gerad Parker, Troy

I was destined to not like this hire, and Troy made it even easier. Jon Sumrall may have been the best G5 head coach in the past couple of years and he made my five favorite hires list before. Replacing him was going to be difficult.

Parker was previously the OC at West Virginia and in 2023 was the OC at Notre Dame, his offenses were never lighting the world on fire. He has zero ties to the Southeast region, let alone Troy or the state of Alabama. He might do well, but I feel like so many things are stacked against him and he could be a fish out of water, similar to Bryan Harsin when he was hired at Auburn. Good coach, odd fit.

Deshaun Foster, UCLA

I like many things about Foster. I hate many things about UCLA right now. They are a P4 program with resources, a great location, and a brand name. Yet they make budget hires and are another team who are being unambitious here. UCLA should be targeting proven head coaches with experience, not guys who have never even been a coordinator.

I can buy UCLA’s reason that Foster understands the portal and NIL, and maybe he can get that to work. But it could also fail miserably and them doing things on the cheap could backfire. If it does backfire, they’ll fall even further behind in the new-look Big Ten, and getting out of that cellar will be difficult and cost another buyout.

Bryan Vincent, UL-Monroe

This was a big head-scratcher for me. Vincent has no ties to ULM or Louisiana. In 2023, he was the OC at New Mexico where they won 4 games and the whole staff got fired. Before that he was the OC and then, interim HC at UAB where he did ok, but it was against a poor schedule in CUSA. ULM typically is the lowest paying head coaching job in the FBS so it is possible that attracting candidates was difficult, but this one just seemed like the status quo and more of the same from a program that continues to fail no matter who is in charge.

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