2023 college football coaching carousel changes and rumors: Syracuse eyes Georgia assistant

College Football

Updated Nov. 28, 2023 11:18 a.m. ET

The college football coaching carousel picked up steam as the regular season wound down through a wild Saturday of action.

The big news of the day was Michigan State finding a replacement for Mel Tucker, hiring Jonathan Smith away from Oregon State.

But that wasn’t all, as rumors began to pick up around the vacancy at Texas A&M.

The deep-pocketed school has plenty of money to spend while searching for its replacement for Jimbo Fisher, and on Sunday, it made its move by hiring Mike Elko.

More on that below.

Check out the latest coaching news across the college football landscape.

Syracuse targeting Georgia assistant Fran Brown

As the Orange are replacing Dino Babers, they’re eyeing a coach who’s played a role in winning a national title recently. Syracuse has Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown as its top target to become its next head coach, FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported late Monday.

Brown, 40, is a New Jersey native and has been on Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia since 2022. Even though he’s only in his second year at Georgia, Brown’s already made a major impact. On top of helping the Bulldogs win the national title last season and going 12-0 during the regular season this year, he’s ranked as the No. 1 recruiter for the Class of 2024 by 247Sports. He’s helped Georgia secure commitments from six prospects, including two five-star recruits.

Prior to his stint at Georgia, Brown mostly spent his coaching career in the Northeast. He served as an assistant at Temple from 2011-16, working as the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator by the end of his tenure there. He followed Matt Rhule to Baylor in 2017, working as the assistant head coach/defensive backs coach for two seasons before going back to Temple to become its co-defensive coordinator in 2019. He joined Greg Schiano’s coaching staff at Rutgers in 2020, working as its defensive backs coach for two seasons.

Smart’s assistant coaches who have gone on to become head coaches have had a mixed bag of success. Dan Lanning has Oregon in a spot to potentially make the College Football Playoff in just his second season on the job. Mel Tucker spent one season at Colorado before becoming Michigan State‘s head coach in 2020, leading the Spartans to 11 wins in 2021. But he had a disappointing five-win season in 2022 and was fired in September after allegations emerged he sexually harassed a rape survivor and anti-sexual violence advocate. Sam Pittman and Shane Beamer both enjoyed early success at Arkansas and South Carolina, respectively, but both of their squads didn’t win enough games to be bowl-eligible in 2023.

In addition to Brown, Holy Cross head coach Bob Chesney and Toledo head coach Jason Candle have gotten consideration for the job, according to Feldman.

Texas A&M announces hire of Duke‘s Mike Elko

Texas A&M hired Duke coach Mike Elko to lead the Aggies on Monday, replacing Jimbo Fisher with his former defensive coordinator for four years in College Station.

Elko left the Aggies to take his first head coaching job at Duke after the 2021 season and went 16-9 in two seasons. The Blue Devils had won just 10 games combined in the three previous years.

“Coach Mike Elko is one of the best leaders and coaches in college football and has had high-level success at each stop of his career,” A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said. “He is known amongst coaching circles as one of the best defensive minds in the country and has shown his ability to lead and turn around a program as a Power 5 head coach.”

Texas A&M fired Fisher earlier this month, paying a record buyout of more than $75 million to move on from him with two games left in his sixth season with the Aggies.

Elko, who also had stints as defensive coordinator at Wake Forest and Notre Dame, led defenses that ranked in the top three of the Southeastern Conference in his final two seasons with A&M.

This season at Duke, Elko guided the Blue Devils to a 4-0 start, but they struggled after quarterback Riley Leonard was injured at the end of a close loss to Notre Dame. Duke finished 7-5.

Meanwhile, Duke starts its search for a replacement

Duke made a rapid climb under Mike Elko. Now they’re searching for a new football coach after an unusually short tenure.

Athletics director Nina King said it had been “a busy day” that included conversations deep into Sunday night with Elko as he was engaged in talks with Texas A&M, where he worked as defensive coordinator before taking over in Durham in 2021.

“We’ll be thorough in our process and we will certainly work swiftly as we have done before,” King said in a statement to reporters Monday, though she didn’t take questions.

That will be important. NCAA rules permit players to enter the transfer portal for 30 days after a coaching change, allowing them to formally explore moves elsewhere. Additionally, the portal window officially opens next Monday, which offers coaching staffs the ability to seek out help from other schools.

The school needed 12 days to hire Elko after David Cutcliffe’s exit.

The last time a Duke coach stayed three or fewer seasons came when Steve Spurrier left for Florida after a 1987-89 run that included the program’s last Atlantic Coast Conference title in his final season. Elko and Spurrier are the only Duke coaches to stay three or fewer years since 1925, spanning the Blue Devils’ time in the Southern Conference before becoming a charter ACC member in 1953.

King said associate head coach and running backs coach Trooper Taylor would work as the interim coach while the school searches for Elko’s replacement. She said she met with the players Monday morning, and has Zoom meetings scheduled for that night with verbally committed recruits as well as in the coming days with the families of current Blue Devils players.

Middle Tennessee fires coach Rick Stockstill

Middle Tennessee fired coach Rick Stockstill on Monday after 18 seasons, capped by a 4-8 record and an ugly road loss in the Blue Raiders’ regular-season finale.

Stockstill was hired in December 2005. He had a 113-111 record at Middle Tennessee, with his win total ranked third all-time in program history. He had been the fourth-longest tenured coach nationally and third-longest with the Blue Raiders.

He took the Blue Raiders to 10 bowls, with Middle Tennessee bowl eligible 12 times. They beat San Diego State a year ago in the Hawaii Bowl.

Mississippi State hires Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to be its new head coach

Mississippi State hired Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as its new head coach on Sunday, hoping to bring a wide-open offensive style back to the Bulldogs.

Lebby has been the offensive coordinator for the Sooners for the last two years after two seasons holding the same position at Mississippi.

Lebby is the son-in-law of former Baylor coach Art Briles, who was fired by the school in 2016 after an investigation found the school and athletic department mishandled sexual assault allegation cases, some involving athletes.

“I am confident that Jeff is the perfect leader for the next exciting chapter of Mississippi State football,” Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon said in a statement. “He will bring an exciting brand of football, elite student-athlete development, and a winning culture to Starkville, all while doing so with high integrity. He is a dynamic recruiter who will attract an elite coaching staff and the nation’s top talent.”

This is will be Lebby’s first head coaching job and Mississippi State’s third head coach in as many seasons.

Zach Arnett was fired after less than one full season as head coach of the Bulldogs. Arnett replaced Mike Leach, who died of a heart condition after the 2022 regular season.

Under Leach, Mississippi State ran the Air Raid offense and put up prolific passing numbers. The Bulldogs finished their season 5-7 by losing to rival Mississippi last Thursday and the passing offense was one of the worst in the Southeastern Conference.

New Mexico fires Danny Gonzales

New Mexico has fired coach Danny Gonzales, who never won more than four games over four seasons.

The Lobos were 11-32 under Gonzales and ended this season 4-8 after a 44-41 loss to Utah State on Saturday.

Athletic director Eddie Nuñez said Gonzales brought stability to the football program during a difficult time and that he is grateful for the positive impact Gonzales had on his players.

“In the end,” Nuñez said, “we did not achieve the results on the field that we had wanted.”

Gonzales, 47, is an Albuquerque native who played for the Lobos and was an assistant under former coach Rocky Long.

UTEP fires Dana Dimel

UTEP fired football coach Dana Dimel on Sunday, a day after the end of his fifth losing season in six years.

The Miners finished 3-9 after a 42-28 loss to undefeated Liberty before a sparse crowd at the Sun Bowl. It was the fourth time UTEP failed to win more than three games under Dimel, who had a year left on his contract.

Dimel ended a 16-year absence from head coaching when he took over the Miners in 2018. He had three winning seasons in Wyoming from 1997-99 before three losing years with Houston.

Indiana fires Tom Allen

Allen’s time in Bloomington is over after seven seasons as Indiana’s head coach, FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported.

Allen went 33-49 during his tenure at Indiana, but there was once promise for the program in the earlier seasons of his career there. He led Indiana to an 8-5 record in 2019 after two five-win seasons and progressed to 6-2 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

But right as Indiana appeared to be close to competing for a Big Ten title, it fell back down to the bottom of the conference. Allen’s Hoosiers went 2-10 and winless in conference play in 2021. It never got much better than that for Allen, as he went 4-8 in 2022 and 3-9 this season.

Allen will be owed over $20 million by the school for terminating his contract early. The search for his replacement has already begun.

Dana Holgorsen fired by Houston

Holgorsen’s tenure with Houston is finished after four years at the helm, according to multiple reports.

The 62-year-old had a pair of solid seasons when Houston was still in the AAC. He led the Cougars to a 12-2 record in 2021 and an 8-5 record in 2022.

But Holgorsen couldn’t steer Houston to success in its first season in the Big 12. The Cougars went 4-8 this season and 2-7 in conference play.

Houston hired Holgorsen away from West Virginia following the 2018 season, looking to find some of the success he had during his time in Morgantown. Instead, it’ll reportedly pay him $14.8 million not to coach the program anymore.

Michigan State hires Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith

The Michigan State Spartans have found their next head football coach, prying Jonathan Smith away from Oregon State after a wildly successful tenure at his alma mater, the school announced Saturday.

The 44-year-old Smith replaces Mel Tucker, who was fired in September amid an investigation into sexual harassment allegations. Tucker’s former assistant Harlon Barnett served as interim head coach for the remainder of the season, in which the Spartans finished 4-8 and missed bowl eligibility for the second straight year. Barnett and the other assistants were reportedly relieved of their duties Saturday morning.

Smith, a star quarterback with the Beavers in the early 2000s, returned to Corvallis after the 2017 season with the program widely considered one of the worst in the Power 5, having gone 12-36 over the previous four seasons. He became one of the most widely respected head coaches in the country for rebuilding Oregon State’s program into one that was ranked throughout the 2023 season.

He went 34-35 over six seasons with the Beavers, his first head coaching job, including 25-13 over the past three years. Oregon State entered this weekend at No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but lost 31-7 at archrival Oregon on Friday. Smith did not deny the rumors connecting him to Michigan State after the game while Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes said this week that keeping Smith was his “No. 1 priority.”

Smith received extensions and pay raises at Oregon State in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but the Beavers’ future is murky as one of the two Pac-12 teams left behind in the realignment-reshaped conference. Smith had six years remaining on his contract, worth $31.2 million through 2029, with a $3 million buyout.

Syracuse fires Dino Babers

Syracuse fired coach Dino Babers on Sunday after eight years with the Orange that included just two bowl appearances.

Babers was 41-55 overall and 20-45 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, including a breakout season in 2018 when the Orange went 10-3 and finished No. 15 in the AP Top 25. He could never replicate that success, managing only a 7-6 record in 2022, his other winning season.

The 62-year-old Babers had only one season left on his contract, but the private school did not release terms of the deal.

Jimbo Fisher out at Texas A&M

Following an unsuccessful tenure in which the Aggies went 45-25, including 27-21 in SEC play, Fisher was officially let go by athletic director Ross Bjork.

The former Florida State coach signed a massive 10-year, fully guaranteed contract at the end of the 2017 season.

That contract was extended back to 10 years after he led the Aggies to a 9-1 record during the 2020 pandemic season.

Bjork said 25% of what Fisher is owed — about $19 million — is due within 60 days and the first of several installments of about $7 million each must be paid within 120 days.

Assistant Elijah Robinson will serve as interim coach for the last two games of the regular season.

Mike Yurcich out at Penn State

The Nittany Lions parted ways with their offensive coordinator after their loss to Michigan.

Penn State was averaging nearly 38 points per game in its third season under Yurcich but struggles against Big Ten East powers Michigan and Ohio State proved to be too much to overcome.

Zach Arnett out at Mississippi State

Mississippi State announced Arnett’s dismissal on its athletics website. Arnett, who took the job after the death of Bulldogs coach Mike Leach last December, leaves the university with a 5-6 record, including a 4-6 mark this season, and the program tied for last in the Southeastern Conference West Division at 1-6.

MSU athletic director Zac Selmon said in a statement that he determined a change in leadership was needed for the football program to move forward and “position it for the highest level of success.”

Senior offensive analyst Greg Knox will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season.

Andy Avalos out at Boise State

Avalos was fired on Sunday, 10 games into his third season leading Boise State. He led the Broncos to a 22-14 overall record.

“I am grateful for the passion, effort and dedication Andy has given to our community and his alma mater while serving as our head coach,” Boise State athletic director Jeremiah Dickey said. “Andy will always be a Bronco, and we wish him and his family all the best in their next steps.”

Defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson was named interim head coach.

Mel Tucker out at Michigan State

Michigan State officially fired Tucker after a suspension and investigation into sexual harassment allegations came to light.

The university terminated what’s left of Tucker’s $95 million, 10-year contract for acknowledging actions that subjected the institution to ridicule, breaching his contract and moral turpitude.

Tucker was 20-14 in three-plus seasons with the Spartans, who he led to 11 wins in 2021, and his career record as a college football head coach is 25-21.