With the 2024 college football regular season over, it’s time to evaluate the job done by head coaches in their first full season coaching at the FBS level. Our first-year college football head coach rankings separate the good from the great and not-so-great, ordering the 13 team leaders from worst to first.
Who Were the Best First-Year Coaches in 2024?
To qualify for the first-year college football head coach rankings, the 2024 college football season must have been the first time serving as a full-time head coach for an entire FBS season.
Coaches are judged on multiple criteria, including overall and conference record, offensive and defensive performance, recruiting prowess in the 2025 cycle, and the situation they inherited that factors in returning production from 2023.
13) Jay Sawvel, Wyoming
Craig Bohl was a legend with the Wyoming Cowboys. Being the guy after him would always be one of the toughest jobs in college football. However, Jay Sawvel returned 60% of the production from a 9-4 team in 2023 and managed just a 3-9 record, the worst for the program since 2015.
The Cowboys’ calling card has been their defense, and they ranked 92nd in the nation in 2024, slipping 55 spots from the previous campaign. If you’re looking for a bright spot, Wyoming’s 2025 recruiting class ranks 13 spots ahead of the 2024 class.
12) Trent Bray, Oregon State
Trent Bray had a front-row seat to Jonathan Smith making the Oregon State Beavers a legitimate college football program. However, his elevation from defensive coordinator to head coach has been difficult.
Only one other first-year leader in these head coach rankings returned less production than Bray had to work with this fall. Furthermore, the Beavers were a significant loser in the wheel of conference realignment. Yet, they missed out on bowl eligibility after losing three games more than in 2023 while ranking 96th offensively and 101st defensively in the nation.
11) Gerad Parker, Troy
Jon Sumrall set a high bar to clear with the Troy Trojans, and Gerad Parker failed to meet that level in spectacular fashion. Early in the year, the program looked listless, losing its first seven FBS contests, with only a win over the Florida A&M Rattlers serving as a brief respite.
The Trojans, a defense stronghold under Sumrall, slipped from the 10th-ranked unit to 93rd nationally this year. The result was seven more losses in 2024 than the previous year, with four more conference defeats than in 2023. Troy fans looking for a sliver of positivity can take comfort in a 3-1 record to end the year and that Parker only had 35% production return in 2024.
10) Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
The Mississippi State Bulldogs hired Jeff Lebby following the failed Zack Arnett experiment with the expectation that he’d bring a high-powered offense back to Starkville. Well, the Bulldogs leaped up 21 spots in offensive scoring ranking from 2023, averaging four points per game than a year ago, so there’s an argument to be had that he accomplished something.
However, Mississippi State also lost three more games this year as Lebby struggled to establish a starting quarterback and went winless in the conference for the first time since 2002. The loss to the Toledo Rockets was a real low point for the program, with the usual MAC contender far from their best in 2024. There is a lot of work to do if Lebby is to survive Year 2.
9) Deshaun Foster, UCLA
There was a lot of hype and fanfare around the UCLA Bruins following their hire of former player Deshaun Foster, but the 2024 season largely failed to live up to that excitement. Although Carson Steele headed to the 2024 NFL Draft, the program had more returning production than any other team listed within these first-year college football head coach rankings.
UCLA slid over 50 spots in both offensive and defensive scoring compared to 2023. A sure sign of a coach under pressure, Foster fired offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy following the season.
As a saving grace, the Bruins had to deal with a difficult schedule that included the two Big Ten Championship Game protagonists and only dropped one conference game compared to their previous season in the Pac-12. Meanwhile, their 2025 recruiting class was ranked 43 spots higher than in the 2024 cycle.
8) Dell McGee, Georgia State
A highly successful high school head coach who became one of the top positional coaches in college football, Dell McGee had a tough introduction to life in the Sun Belt with the Georgia State Panthers. The program lost four more games in 2024 (3-9) than in 2023 (7-6), going 1-7 in the conference, which is the worst Sun Belt record for the team since 2018.
However, McGee had to overcome the loss of talented quarterback Darren Grainger (despite returning 48% of their 2023 production) while overcoming a conference schedule that included the 2024 Sun Belt champion Marshall Thundering Herd. The program secured a win over SEC opposition in Year 1 under McGee and saw a substantial boost in year-on-year recruiting.
7) Scotty Walden, UTEP
Scotty Walden tied for the second-worst overall record of any candidate in these head coach rankings, going 3-9 with the UTEP Miners in 2024, which might beg the question as to why he finds himself ranked above several coaches with a better record in their first year at the helm of an FBS program.
Well, the UTEP head coach was one of just five coaches who didn’t suffer a year-on-year record regression in 2024. Furthermore, he was one of just four coaches who improved their conference record compared to the previous season. Despite dealing with quarterback injuries that impacted the team, there was little offensive or defensive drop-off from 2023.
6) Sherrone Moore, Michigan
Sherrone Moore comfortably had the most difficult job relative to the expectation of any first-year head coach in these rankings. He inherited a team that had an undefeated national title-winning campaign under a head coach who has been revered at the Michigan Wolverines. While he was at the forefront of last year’s success, expecting him to replicate it in Year 1 was outrageous.
Moore inherited a team that lost one of the top running backs in college football (Blake Corum) and a first-round NFL Draft quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. The Wolverines returned just 36% of their 2023 production. The result was a 7-5 season with a 5-4 Big Ten record with an offense that plummeted from the 14th ranked unit in the country to the 112th.
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That said, Moore’s prowess in recruiting (combined with a little financial support to flip Byrce Underwood from the LSU Tigers), has ensured that Michigan’s 2025 recruiting class is top 10 in the nation. While the financial boost has proven helpful in flipping top recruits, there’s something to be said about the head coach’s personality in helping bring players to the program.
Additionally, beating the Ohio State Buckeyes to end the season will always be a tick in the success box for any Michigan head coach. Aside from ensuring a winning conference campaign, the win in “The Game” knocked their bitter rival out of Big Ten Championship Game contention. It was a huge boost for Moore as he rallies the program for a bounceback in 2025.
5) Bob Chesney, James Madison
Similar to Moore below him in our head coach rankings, Bob Chesney had to replace a program legend in his first year at the FBS helm. Not only was stepping into Curt Cignetti’s shoes at the James Madison Dukes a monumental move for the highly successful former Holy Cross Crusaders coach, but he also inherited a team that was gutted by transfer portal losses.
The numbers state that the Dukes returned 40% of their 2023 production this fall. However, that stat doesn’t account for the sheer magnitude of the players they lost. A Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year in Jordan McCloud. A CFN Freshman All-American in De’Angelo Ponds. The majority of a defense that had been one of the most fearsome in the nation. All gone.
The overall record will show that Chesney’s Dukes lost three more games in 2024 than the previous year (they have the ability to reduce that gap to two with a bowl game clash against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers), but even that doesn’t tell the full story. James Madison lost half of its four losses by just one score, including in overtime to the eventual Sun Belt champions.
Despite the personnel losses, the Dukes slid just one spot offensively and seven spots defensively in terms of scoring compared to the 2023 season. They were still a top-30 unit on both sides of the ball. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team back at the top of the conference in 2025 with Chesney at the helm.
4) Jeff Choate, Nevada
After consecutive two-win seasons under Ken Wilson, Jeff Choate has brought respectability back to Nevada Wolf Pack football. Now, a 3-10 overall record and a winless conference campaign might not immediately scream “respectability,” but allow me to continue the case for the former Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator being featured so high in these head coach rankings.
Firstly, and obviously, the three wins are one more than in 2023. That’s tangible progression. One of those wins was against Troy, who, as mentioned above, finished the year on a high. The other was against Oregon State, described as a “breakthrough win” for the program. They’re both big-time wins for a Wolf Pack program that would ordinarily written off in those contests.
Their winless Mountain West schedule featured the two title game protagonists (the Boise State Broncos and UNLV Rebels), and they finished within a score of a Broncos team that boasts a quarterfinal berth in the College Football Playoff. Several of their conference defeats came in similar close circumstances, including on the road at the San Jose State Spartans.
As a former linebacker during his playing days, Choate likely won’t be ecstatic about the 28.8 points per game given up in 2024. However, Nevada allowed fewer points this fall than the previous year and showed improvements on both sides of the ball. Their recruiting class also jumped from 122nd nationally in 2024 to 87th in the 2025 cycle as Choate’s influence is felt.
3) Fran Brown, Syracuse
The hire of Fran Brown has revolutionized Syracuse Orange football. That is not an understatement. It became immediately apparent within weeks of his appointment last year, with the program becoming a popular landing spot for transfer portal players, including former quarterback Kyle McCord, who has elevated his profile after a dismal 2023 with Ohio State.
In his first year at the helm, Brown led the Orange to a 9-3 season, the best since 2018.
Their five ACC wins are also the best since that campaign. Syracuse saw a three-game winning increase on both their overall record and conference record in the first year under their new head coach, a remarkable achievement that included wins over three ranked teams.
Although the Syracuse defense performed less strongly in 2024 (dropping from the 57th-ranked unit to 94th), the offense has blossomed, improving 59 spots compared to 2023 — the most for any team in these first-year head coach rankings. Most importantly, Brown has developed a culture within the program that should set them up for success for many years.
2) Spencer Danielson, Boise State
It’s easy to pin the success of the 2024 Boise State team on star running back Ashton Jeanty. Yet, in his first season as the full-time head coach of the Broncos, it’s very clear that Spencer Danielson’s influence is just as strong as the Heisman Trophy-caliber season that his running back has produced this year.
There’s a reason why the Broncos were able to turn a 5-5 season under Andy Avalos into a Mountain West title during the four games that Danielson was the interim in 2023. He extracts the very best out of the talent around him, and has established the program as the frontrunner of the Group of Five level.
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He took the 68% returning production from the 2023 season, and turned it into a 100% bonafide College Football Playoff outfit. How many other teams in the country boast the conference rushing touchdown leader with the conference passing yards leader. While Jeanty has shone, Maddux Madsen has quietly cut up defenses when required.
Under his stead, Boise State has gone from an 8-6 outfit in 2023 (again 5-5 under Avalos) to a 12-1 team with an unblemished conference record (they lost two conference games last season). The offense is a top-five unit in the country, while the defense ranks 36th nationally. Give Jeanty the credit; just make sure you give Danielson his flowers for an incredible job too.
1) Bryant Vincent, Louisiana-Monroe
So, to the top of our first-year head coach rankings. No one, and I mean no one, has done more with less in 2024 than Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks head coach Bryant Vincent. It speaks volumes about him as a leader that UAB Blazers fans wanted him to remain in Birmingham after his 2022 season as the interim head coach, and he’s proven his value in his first full-time campaign.
Vincent has flipped a Warhawks team mired in mediocrity into an outfit capable of causing an upset on any given Saturday. After finishing 2-10 in 2023, he led them to a 5-7 season that looked like it would culminate in a bowl berth for the first time since 2018.
Sadly, that wasn’t to be after a losing streak down the back stretch of the season. Yet, no other first-year head coach had greater success improving their conference record than Vincent this year. After going 0-8 in Sun Belt play a year ago, the Warhawks tallied wins against Troy, James Madison, and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Detractors will point to the second half of the season. Still, Vincent’s Louisiana-Monroe team played a one-score game against the eventual conference champions and kept the bowl-bound Arkansas State Red Wolves honest on the road. They also increased their offensive and defensive performance year-on-year despite returning just 33% of their 2023 production.
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