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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Klieman, Leipold, Campbell, Drinkwitz, Dabo, Fisch & Doeren Find Grass Greener at Home

As the coaching carousel spins on, a host of successful coaches preferred not to leave good situations for the unknown.

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Oct 28
Oct 28

By Rock Westfall

As the coaching carousel spins on, a host of successful coaches preferred not to leave good situations for the unknown.

Coaches Find the Grass is Not Always Greener Elsewhere 

The 2023 coaching carousel, portal, and recruiting continue to dominate the college football conversation. However, stability can be found in several locations. Chris Klieman (Kansas State), Lance Leipold (Kansas), Matt Campbell (Iowa State), Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Dave Doeren (NC State), Jedd Fisch (Arizona), and Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri) are reaping the rewards of their hard-earned gains.

The coaching graveyard has plenty of headstones marked with coaches who left behind good jobs for “bigger and better” things that ended up destroying their once-successful careers. Thus, sometimes, it’s better to keep a good thing going and deal with the devil who you know.

K-State Set to Keep Klieman Higher 

The only coach to consistently win at Kansas State was Bill Snyder. Thus, when the GOAT of K-State coaches retired, there were legitimate concerns about future success. But athletic director Gene Taylor had some inside information regarding Snyder’s replacement.

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When he was athletic director at North Dakota State, Taylor hired Chris Klieman to take over the FCS powerhouse when head coach Craig Bohl departed for Wyoming. Klieman was promoted after serving as Bohl’s defensive coordinator. Klieman won four FCS national championships in five years as the NDSU HC. During that time, Taylor became the athletic director at Kansas State. He knew what he had in Klieman and quickly hired him when Snyder retired.

In five seasons, Klieman has become the second-winningest coach in Wildcat history and produced KSU’s third conference championship (2022) since 2003.

Such success draws plenty of attention from other schools. But Klieman and Taylor are joined at the hip. Klieman never fails to voice his appreciation that Taylor dared to hire him out of the FCS ranks. Thus, much of the scuttlebutt that Klieman would leave is not based on reality.

Although QB Will Howard hit the transfer portal, Klieman has a potentially more dynamic replacement in Avery Johnson. Johnson wowed fans on the ground and in the air in five games this season.

Klieman’s biggest challenge is replacing departed offensive coordinator and KSU alum Collin Klein, who couldn’t resist the riches of Texas A&M. Still, his body of work indicates success will continue on the Flint Hills. 

Sunflower Sage Lance Leipold Working Snyder-Like Miracles at Kansas 

Lance Leipold took over as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks in 2022. He inherited a hopeless doormat program at a basketball school. Consider that KU had won 21 games in the previous 11 seasons. Yet by his second season, Leipold put Kansas in its first bowl game since 2008.

This year, he led the Jayhawks to an impressive 8-4 record despite heavy roster turnover and the loss of starting QB Jalon Daniels. Equally impressive were wins over Texas and Oklahoma during his brief tenure.

Leipold has built a culture so appealing that the superstar Daniels is returning for 2024 despite getting plenty of offers to transfer. Kansas athletic director Travis Goff is a proud alum who acutely understands the necessity of a good football program to serve as the athletic department’s funding engine.  A spectacular refurbishing of Memorial Stadium is in the works. 

Leipold has deep Wisconsin roots and realizes that by staying, he can become the Barry Alvarez of KU. That is why he is defying conventional “wisdom” and remaining in Lawrence.

Matt Campbell Rises From Dead in Ultimate Coaching Graveyard 

In 2020, Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell did the impossible. He led the Cyclones to a 9-3 record, a Fiesta Bowl win, and a final national ranking of 10th. It was the best season in Iowa State history and the perfect reason to leave, as Earl Bruce and Johnny Majors had done in the 1970s.

Indeed, Campbell got offers from “better” college programs and the NFL. Yet he decided to defy history and stay in Ames. With expectations through the roof, Iowa State regressed to records of 7-6 (2021) and 4-8 (2022). Thus, observers said that Campbell failed to get out while the getting was good. But in 2023, Campbell rebounded with a mark of 7-5, including 6-3 in the Big 12.

Iowa State remains one of the great college football coaching graveyards. But Campbell continues to punch through its historic gravity. And he has proven serious about staying put at a place anyone else would have left behind. In turn, the ISU administration offers unwavering support. For Campbell, that isn’t easy to walk away from.

Dabo Swinney – Stock Up!

As the 2023 season entered November, the Clemson Tigers program was on the brink at 4-4 with no prospects for improvement. Head coach Dabo Swinney was under fire for being entitled and unwilling to adapt to the new world of the transfer portal and NIL.

On November 4, the Tigers hosted a strong Notre Dame team at Death Valley and scored a season-saving 31-23 win. Fans stormed the field, and Swinney advised the United States of America to buy stock of Clemson. The Tigers responded to his leadership by winning their final four games to finish 8-4.

With two national and eight ACC championships on his resume, Swinney could land another big-time gig. But he built a “Dabo World” culture that still works. Swinney is also smart enough to realize he must now adapt to the new world. The smart money says he will. Beyond that, Swinney also realizes it’s a hell of a lot easier to win big in the weaker ACC.

Swinney is the GOAT of Clemson coaches. Why would Swinney leave a program he built out of mediocrity and where a future statue beckons at Memorial Stadium for a strange program elsewhere? Likely, he won’t.

An Outsider Gains Newfound Respect and Appreciation 

Dave Doeren arrived at NC State in 2013 as the latest coach to try and live up to unrealistic expectations. For whatever reason, Wolfpack faithful have always had a higher opinion of their program than justified. NC State has never finished a season ranked in the top ten. It has one double-digit win season (11-3, 2002) in its history. Yet, it thinks of itself as a national power.

This year, Doeren became the winningest coach in NC State history. The Wolfpack worked around instability at QB to finish 9-3. For the second time in three years, NC State finished 18th in the CFP Final poll. Doeren led them to bowl eligibility for the ninth time in ten seasons.

Despite all of that success, Doeren has always felt like an outsider. He was never fully embraced by the NC State faithful. This year, that changed. Fans finally appreciate the consistency he has produced. And in the relatively weak ACC, future success is likely.

In the past, Doeren has played footsie with other programs yet ended up staying in Raleigh. This year, there were no flirtations. By all accounts, he has found his home.

Mizzou Drinks Up Resurgence as SEC Contender 

Eli Drinkwitz arrived at a demoralized Missouri Program in 2020. Mizzou was still suffering in the aftermath of caving to a student strike in 2015. Attendance, donations, and enrollments were in free fall. Empty dorms were offered for rent to fans on football weekends. The problem was that not enough fans were showing up to make the offer worthwhile. The unfortunate True Son, then-head coach Barry Odom, prevented the program from sinking but could not break through.

Drinkwitz did not inspire confidence with records of 5-5, 6-7, and 6-7 in his first three seasons. Along the way, he developed a reputation for being the occasional goofball and popoff. 

Drink began the 2023 campaign on a warm seat. But with strong recruiting, repaired relations with the fertile St. Louis area, and a culture that keeps players in Columbia, the Tigers went 10-2, including 6-2 in the SEC. Mizzou’s reward is a Cotton Bowl date with the Ohio State Buckeyes.  That is a big-time season for any program.  

A glance at the transfer portal shows an astounding lack of players from Mizzou. That is no accident. Drinkwitz has built a culture that is the envy of most programs. And with QB Brady Cook likely to return for his senior season, big things should continue for Mizzou.

Drinkwitz was mentioned for supposedly “bigger” jobs in this current coaching carousel cycle. But he has proven that when Mizzou is right, it can compete at the top level of the SEC as it did in 2013 and 2014 by making the SEC championship game.

Jedd Not a Fisch Out of Water in the Desert 

Another hot coaching property is Jedd Fisch of the Arizona Wildcats. Like Drinkwitz, Fisch stepped into a demoralized Arizona program in 2021. He quickly went from 1-11 in 2021 to 9-3 this year, including 7-2 in the Pac-12. In 2023, the Wildcats scored marquee wins over Utah, Colorado, Oregon State, and UCLA.  Arizona won its final six games. They have the opportunity for one more name-brand scalp in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma.  Next year, Arizona moves to the Big 12, where they will be a preseason favorite.

Arizona’s success was no accident. The Wildcats are a complete team that plays complementary football. Freshman QB Noah Fifita became a star in 2023. Fisch won’t walk away from a program he built from the sand. His strong recruiting has produced an uber-talented young roster that now has playing experience and proven ability. Arizona will contend for Big 12 titles in the years to come.

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