2021 2nd Year College Football Head Coach Expectations: 2020 is over … WIN NOW
2020 … whatever. WIN RIGHT NOW OR ELSE. These guys won’t get fired if their teams don’t play up to expectations, but they need to come up with huge 2021s.
– CFN 2021 Preseason Bowl Projections
Shawn Clark, Appalachian State
2020: It wasn’t a Sun Belt championship season, but Clark and his Mountaineers won nine games and took home the Myrtle Beach Bowl over North Texas. It was the sixth straight season the program won nine games or more.
Realistic Expectations In Year Two: Win the Sun Belt title. Anything less than nine wins for this program is a total failure, but winning the Sun Belt is the real achievable goal.
Realistic Expectations Over Next Five Years: Win three Sun Belt titles, keep being among the Sun Belt’s biggest stars, and keep the machine going.
– 2021 Appalachian State Preview
Jimmy Lake, Washington
2020: The roll needs to be slowed a wee bit, but the Huskies went 3-1 – there was a decent win over Utah, wins over bad Arizona and Oregon State teams, and a loss to Stanford – but they couldn’t play for the Pac-12 title. The season set the tone, though, proving that the transition to Lake would be smooth.
Realistic Expectations In Year Two: Win the Pac-12 title. The league is good, but it’s not unreachable for a team with one of the league’s best defenses, no USC to face, and with Oregon having to come to Seattle.
Realistic Expectations Over Next Five Years: Lake should rise up into a superstar as he takes the Dawgs to at least two Pac-12 Championship games and a flirtation with the College Football Playoff.
– 2021 Washington Preview
Mike Norvell, Florida State
2020: A third straight losing season and the eighth straight season of declining win total – or holding steady – wasn’t Norvell’s fault, but a bad offseason and a miserable 3-6 run is putting the pressure on to show something in Year Two.
Realistic Expectations In Year Two: Go bowling. It’s Florida freaking State – the goal shouldn’t simply be to not suck. Novell didn’t have any real time to work last year, but this season the program has to look like it’s a few tweaks away from being a player in the ACC again.
Realistic Expectations Over Next Five Years: Again … it’s Florida freaking State. Over the next five years, the realistic expectations is to be back in the ACC title hunt and in the national championship chase within five years.
– 2021 Florida State Preview
Ryan Silverfield, Memphis
2020: How do you keep it all going after winning 12 games with an American Athletic championship and Cotton Bowl appearance? 8-3 in Silverfield’s first season was terrific. It wasn’t a championship season, but it was a good run with a bowl win.
Realistic Expectations In Year Two: Play for the American Athletic Conference championship. Cincinnati and UCF – among others – are the stars, but Memphis is among the league’s big boys. It goes into every year now with the expectation to shoot for the title.
Realistic Expectations Over Next Five Years: Win at least two AAC championships and play in another. Part of the positives of elevating Silverfield to the top job was the continuity, and the next five years should show why. In a perfect world, Memphis is so good that Silverfield is somewhere else in the next five years, just like, potentially …
– 2021 Memphis Preview
Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic
2020: The Lane Kiffin era was a tough act to follow, but in a rebuilding year the Owls went 5-4 and got to a bowl game. It wasn’t a championship season, but the defense was fantastic and, again, it was a winning campaign.
Realistic Expectations In Year Two: Win the Conference USA title. At the very least, the Owls need to play for the championship. That might not be easy in the tougher of the league’s two divisions, but Taggart has enough pieces in place to get it done.
Realistic Expectations Over Next Five Years: If this works like it’s supposed to, Florida Atlantic wins at least two conference championships, gets to a bowl game in all five years, and it does that with a new head coach three seasons from now as Taggart is gone for a Power Five gig.
– 2021 Florida Atlantic Preview
21 for 2021 College Football Topics
21: 21 Thoughts, Wishes, Hopes
20: 5 Best Programs To Not Make CFP
19: 5 Teams That Will Rebound
18: 5 Teams That Will Take A Step Back
17: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
16. Expectations For New Head Coaches
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