2023-2024 College Football Coaching Carousel

Texas A&M hires Duke’s Mike Elko as the coaching carousel continues to spin.

The end of the college football season is here and the coaching carousel is once again getting fired up. This season saw two early head coaching changes within the Big Ten to get an early jump on things, but more coaching changes are popping up as we close in on the end of another regular season around the nation.

We’ll keep track of all of the head coaching changes in our updated coaching carousel tracker to see what head coaches are out and who is replacing them. This will be updated daily as needed with the latest head coaching changes as jobs open up and are filled. As is so often the case in college football, one coaching vacancy being filled will lead to another opening popping up as a result.

As of Thursday, Dec. 8 there are 2 head coaching vacancies in college football, including 1 power conference job to fill. A total of 19 head coaching changes have been made this year.

Below is the updated chart for this year’s edition of the head coaching carousel in college football. After that is a bit more detail on each job opening, listed in alphabetical order.

How much of a candidate is Andy Avalos for USC defensive coordinator?

Here’s another defensive coordinator who is now on the market after being fired.

The Boise State Broncos fired football coach Andy Avalos on Sunday, with the school at 5-5 and in danger of the program’s first losing season since 1997.

Avalos went 22-14 in his three seasons at Boise State, including a 10-4 season that resulted in him being named 2022 Mountain West Coach of the Year. At no point during Avalos’ two-plus seasons was Boise State ranked in the Associated Press Poll; the Broncos’ 19-year streak of being ranked ended during his first season in 2021.

Under coaches Chris Petersen, Bryan Harsin and Dan Hawkins, Boise State emerged as one of the sport’s disruptive darlings, entering the national championship picture, winning three Fiesta Bowls in recent seasons — 2006, 2009, 2014 — and rising to the top five in the Associated Press Poll in five different seasons.

Avalos, a Southern California native from Corona, California, played and coached at Boise State while also having stints at Oregon, Colorado and Sacramento State. He helped Mario Cristobal win the Rose Bowl at Oregon in the 2019 season, the catapult toward the Boise State head coaching job.

Keep Andy Avalos on your list of USC defensive coordinator candidates. We will keep you posted on this search.

Avalos doesn’t rate as highly as Jim Leonhard, Tony Gibson, Zach Arnett, or a few others, but if all of them refuse to coach at USC, Avalos could be a fifth or sixth choice.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.

Boise State Football: Andy Avalos Is MWwire’s 2023 Preseason Head Coach Of The Year

After guiding a remarkable turnaround last fall, the Broncos head coach emerged from the pack as our pick to be the conference’s top leader.

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Boise State Football: Andy Avalos Is Mountain West Wire’s 2023 Preseason Head Coach Of The Year

After guiding a remarkable turnaround last fall, the Broncos head coach emerged from the pack as our pick to be the conference’s top leader.

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

Steady excellence is the standard.

Mountain West Wire’s 2023 preseason honors:

Righting a listing ship can be a very difficult thing to do, but after a disastrous September trip to El Paso left Boise State football on the brink of collapse, that’s exactly what head coach Andy Avalos did and why, with arguably the most talented overall roster in the Mountain West at his disposal, he is our staff’s pick as the conference’s top head coach heading into 2023.

Despite the painful start to 2022, Boise State’s offense went from averaging 4.95 yards per play in its five first games to 6.22 YPP in its last nine contests, managing a quarterback switch while breaking in a revamped rushing attack to turn things around. As for the defense, Avalos’s calling card, the Broncos led the Mountain West in allowing just 4.75 YPP while finishing in the top 20 among all FBS teams in points per drive allowed and available yards percentage allowed.

It comes as no surprise that after guiding the Broncos to a 10-4 record, the expectation of bringing the conference championship back to Boise remains as strong as ever. After two seasons in charge on the blue, Avalos looks like exactly the right person to do just that.

Andy Avalos following the Frisco Bowl pic.twitter.com/5QvkOmiwom

— Jordan Kaye (@jordankaye_23) December 18, 2022

Also received votes: Blake Anderson, Utah State; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Timmy Chang, Hawaii; Brady Hoke, San Diego State; Jay Norvell, Colorado State; Barry Odom, UNLV; Jeff Tedford, Fresno State

Previous preseason HCotY honorees: 2022: Jeff Tedford, Fresno State | 2021: Andy Avalos, Boise State | 2020: Craig Bohl, Wyoming | 2019: Bryan Harsin, Boise State; Nick Rolovich, Hawaii

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Can Andy Avalos Repeat As The 2023 Mountain West Coach Of The Year?

Examining Avalos’ path to winning the award again.

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Can Andy Avalos Repeat As The Mountain West Coach Of The Year?

Avalos Became The First Boise State Coach To Win The Award

Contact/Follow @michaelbraydaly & @MWCwire

Will He Be Able To Win Consecutive Awards?

Following his 2022 Mountain West Coach of the Year honor, Boise State head coach Andy Avalos can become the second coach in Mountain West history to win back-to-back Coach of the Year awards.

Former Utah head coach Urban Meyer was the first and only Mountain West head coach who won the award in consecutive seasons in 2003 and 2004. Another award in 2023 would place Avalos in rarefied air with Meyer. Avalos, who is entering his third season at Boise State, is one of the leading candidates to win the award in 2023.

Boise State has a loaded roster with key players returning for the season on both sides of the ball. The 2022 season tested Avalos’ ability to weather the storm and produce wins.

The offense will have many returning players start in 2023, while the defense will need to replace several key players. Safety JL Skinner and defensive tackle Scott Matlock were both selected in the sixth round of last month’s NFL draft. In addition, outside linebacker George Tarlas signed with the Las Vegas Raiders as an undrafted free agent. Defensive back Tyreque Jones was another undrafted free agent who signed with the Tennessee Titans.

Avalos, who is a defensive-minded head coach, will have to fill several holes in the secondary and front seven. Based on his prior experience, Avalos had to replenish Boise State’s defense during his time as the Broncos defensive line coach, linebackers coach, and defensive coordinator. He was on Boise State’s defensive staff in those three roles from 2012 to 2018.

In the past, Avalos had to replace former Boise State standouts like DeMarcus Lawrence and Leighton Vander Esch. For this season, Avalos and his defensive staff will rely on linebacker DJ Schramm and safety Rodney Robinson to spearhead Boise State’s defense.

Aside from replacing valuable players on offense and defense, Boise State will have a challenging non-conference schedule against Washington, Central Florida, North Dakota, and Memphis. If Boise State can end the non-conference schedule with a winning record, Avalos will be in a position to have a successful conference campaign for the final two months of the season.

In his third season as Boise State’s head coach, Avalos will have an opportunity to reclaim the Coach of the Year award with another successful season.