2025-2026 College Football Thread

[Josh]

First, there is too much movement for schools to be waiting until after the bowl season. A school could lose out to a team that isn't bowling for the single fact that they didn't want to upset a rival. Second, more and more recruits are entering a semester early to get some extra time with the team before fall ball. If there is no coach, that recruit may decide to go somewhere else.

[fatediesel]

Purdue is going to name Kent state coach Darrell Hazell as their new coach. I think it's a good hire for Purdue. He's spent time in the Big 10 as an assistant and been successful in the Midwest as Kent State's head coach.

Kent State plays Arkansas State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl, and both squads will likely be led by interim coaches with Arkansas State coach Gus Malzahn taking the Auburn job.

[fatediesel]

Tennessee has offered their head coaching job to Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, per CBS Sports.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...d-coaching-job

Edit: From Jimmy Hyams of Knoxville radio station WNML:

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy is no longer in the UT coaching search, source said. Louisville's Charlie Strong remains a candidate.

[R3P0]

Wonder how bad the ratings are going to be for some of these bowls this year outside the championship game they all have pretty crap matchups

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by R3P0

Wonder how bad the ratings are going to be for some of these bowls this year outside the championship game they all have pretty crap matchups

Oregon vs. KState in the Fiesta Bowl disagrees with you.

TLK

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by The Lizard King

Oregon vs. KState in the Fiesta Bowl disagrees with you.

TLK

So after the 1st Quarter when Oregon racks up 30 points to K States maybe 10 tell me how those ratings gonna look

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by The Lizard King

Oregon vs. KState in the Fiesta Bowl disagrees with you.

TLK

You basically just named the one possible exception.

[fatediesel]

This is why you when you're a small conference coach and get offered a major job you should take it:

It was only a year ago when Mario Cristobal was considered one of the hottest coaching prospects in the nation. Schools like Rutgers wanted him to leave his job at FIU and move on to bigger and better places, but no matter who came knocking, Cristobal chose to remain at Florida International.

But now FIU has decided to let Cristobal go.

“Today we informed Coach [Mario] Cristobal that a change was being made in the direction of our football program," said FIU athletic director Pete Garcia in the official release. "I want to thank Coach for all that he has done to develop the football program over the past six seasons. We will now turn our attention to attract the very best candidate to fill the position of head coach. We will begin a national search immediately.”

In 2007 Cristobal took over an 0-12 team and led them to a conference title in 2010 and a bowl game in 2011. From the sounds of it he may have had some differences with the athletic director (who previously thought it was a good idea to hire Isiah Thomas as his basketball coach) and that may have led to the firing. The AD is also friends with Butch Davis and worked with him at Miami and with the Cleveland Browns so there is speculation that he'll purse Davis to replace Cristobal.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ario-cristobal

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

You basically just named the one possible exception.

Yes or no: Is this game "outside the championship game"?

TLK

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Tennessee has offered their head coaching job to Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, per CBS Sports.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...d-coaching-job

Edit: From Jimmy Hyams of Knoxville radio station WNML:

Oh snap that would be a nice hire I hate TN.

[ChadFL]

So once again Charlie Strong gets passed over for every primae head coaching vacancy. Who'd have guessed...

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

This is why you when you're a small conference coach and get offered a major job you should take it:



In 2007 Cristobal took over an 0-12 team and led them to a conference title in 2010 and a bowl game in 2011. From the sounds of it he may have had some differences with the athletic director (who previously thought it was a good idea to hire Isiah Thomas as his basketball coach) and that may have led to the firing. The AD is also friends with Butch Davis and worked with him at Miami and with the Cleveland Browns so there is speculation that he'll purse Davis to replace Cristobal.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ario-cristobal

Butch Davis is a terrific recruiter with south FL connections. He could definately improve FIU's program.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by supersix4

Oh snap that would be a nice hire I hate TN.

ESPN says Gundy is going to stay at Oklahoma State. I wonder where Tennessee is going to turn if they can't get Charlie Strong as well, because he's supposedly working on a new contract to stay at Louisville. They supposedly wanted Jimbo Fisher but he is reportedly close to an extension with Florida State. This is turning out a lot like their last coaching search when multiple coaches turned them down and they ended up with Derek Dooley ended up getting the job, which upset many fans. They may go after North Carolina coach Larry Fedora next, who certainly wouldn't satisfy the fans.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

ESPN says Gundy is going to stay at Oklahoma State. I wonder where Tennessee is going to turn if they can't get Charlie Strong as well, because he's supposedly working on a new contract to stay at Louisville. They supposedly wanted Jimbo Fisher but he is reportedly close to an extension with Florida State. This is turning out a lot like their last coaching search when multiple coaches turned them down and they ended up with Derek Dooley ended up getting the job, which upset many fans. They may go after North Carolina coach Larry Fedora next, who certainly wouldn't satisfy the fans.

I'll bet T. Boone Pickens came to the rescue again and threw another pile of cash at Gundy to stay as OK St. I don't think there's any booster in the nation that means more to a particular college than Pickens does to Oklahoma St. He's donated over $250 mill and counting towards Oklahoma St. athletics.

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by The Lizard King

Yes or no: Is this game "outside the championship game"?

TLK

Your one exception has a very good chance of being turned off in most homes after the 1st quarter.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by R3P0

Your one exception has a very good chance of being turned off in most homes after the 1st quarter.

How about OU vs aTm at the Cotton Bowl?

TLK

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by The Lizard King

How about OU vs aTm at the Cotton Bowl?

TLK

Point is there are 34 bowl games. You'd think there would be more than 2 to 4 good games. Even the BCS games are a joke with NIU giving away Orange Bowl tickets for free. I'll bet Louisville doesn't come closer to selling their allotment of Sugar Bowl tickets either.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

ESPN says Gundy is going to stay at Oklahoma State. I wonder where Tennessee is going to turn if they can't get Charlie Strong as well, because he's supposedly working on a new contract to stay at Louisville. They supposedly wanted Jimbo Fisher but he is reportedly close to an extension with Florida State. This is turning out a lot like their last coaching search when multiple coaches turned them down and they ended up with Derek Dooley ended up getting the job, which upset many fans. They may go after North Carolina coach Larry Fedora next, who certainly wouldn't satisfy the fans.

WHY cant they steal EDSALL

[MD-Blu]

I'm very glad that Charlie Strong is staying w/Louisville. I watched his press conference this morning and he praised AD Tom Jurich.

[fatediesel]

It is clear over their last couple coaching searches that Tennessee officials still believe they have a top-tier job, but coaches don't share that belief. This is just like their last coaching search when they got publicly rejected by multiple big names and ended up with someone far less desirable. I have no idea where the school is going to go from here. Larry Fedora is the only name I've heard as a possibility at this point, and if they don't go after him or if he isn't interested then I have no clue where they'll look.