19 for ’19 Offseason Topics, No. 15: The five head coaches who’ll have much, much better second seasons
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– 2019-2020 Spring CFP & Bowl Projections
There were 20 new head coaches coming into the 2018 season – compared to the 27 newbies this year – but there were a whole lot of major coaching players taking over major programs.
But there was a reason that many of them got their respective jobs – they were open because the previous guys were bad.
Some did an amazing job in great first years – like Dan Mullen at Florida, Chad Lunsford at Georgia Southern, and Josh Heupel at UCF – others really, really didn’t.
Which five got through the rain, the adjustment period, the change of scenery, etc., and are about to blow up large in Year Two?
These are the five coaches about to have fantastic second acts.
5. Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee
It was a disastrous coaching hire process two seasons ago for a program coming off an even more disastrous final season of the Butch Jones era. But all’s well that ends well, and it all ended with landing Jeremy Pruitt as the head man.
But just when it looked like Pruitt was going to come up with a fantastic turnaround after Jones’ 4-8 2017 campaign – starting 5-5 and needing just one more win to get bowl eligible – it all went into the tank with losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt by a combined score of 88-30.
For all of Jones’ fault, he was able to bring talent to Knoxville – he just didn’t do enough with it. There was enough in place for Pruitt’s team to push South Carolina in a close loss on the road, and beat Auburn and Kentucky. But the finishing kick showed just far the team has to go.
It’s still going to take a year or so to become any sort of a player in the SEC race, but there’s experience to work with.
The defensive line has to undergo an overhaul, but six starters return in the back eight, and everyone is back on an offense that sputtered and struggled, but had its moments.
Start 3-0 against Georgia State, BYU and UT Chattanooga, and there’s the base of wins to build off of. UAB is a winnable home game, and so is Vanderbilt. It’s going to take a few upsets to get bowl eligible, but this year’s team will do it.
NEXT: And eventually, that recruiting thing will start to work
4. Willie Taggart, Florida State
Sort of lost in all of the problems in Willie Taggart’s first season was that he had a whole lot of work to do.
This wasn’t the Florida State of 2013 that the new guy was taking over. Jimbo Fisher bailed on a 5-6 team that had no blocking from a bad offensive line, wasn’t getting enough from an attack that lost starting QB Deondre Francois right out of the gate, and wasted a strong defensive season.
There was more rebuilding to do than it appeared. For a new head coach who had never won a conference title or a bowl game, going 5-7 for a school that hadn’t missed a bowl appearance since 1981, this wasn’t how you make your debut.
This doesn’t make things any better for a program that should be in the national title chase every year, but out of the seven losses, four were against teams that finished with at least ten wins, one of those was against a Notre Dame team that went to the College Football Playoff, and one was against Clemson.
In all, FSU played ten bowl teams, and … it’s still not okay to go 5-7 in Tallahassee.
There’s still rebuilding to do, but it’s not all doom-and-gloom. Getting Wisconsin grad transfer quarterback Alex Hornibrook helps boost a down position, Cam Akers is a terrific running back, and the receiving corps is going to be better. Eight starters are back on a defense should be a whole lot stronger.
The O line is still an issue, but if the Noles can get by Boise State in the season-opener in Jacksonville, getting past six wins to go bowling again shouldn’t be a problem.
No, there won’t be an ACC Championship, and going to Clemson and Florida is a problem, but the needle on the Taggart era should start pointing up.
– Spring Preview: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
NEXT: There won’t be a national title, but …
3. Scott Frost, Nebraska
No pressure, but Bob Stoops won a national championship in his second year at Oklahoma. Jim Tressel won a national championship in his second year at Ohio State.
And Scott Frost won a national championship (poke … poke) in his second season at UCF.
No reasonable or rational Nebraska fan is expecting a run to the College Football Playoff, but …
It’s okay for long-suffering Husker fans to dream.
It’s still going to take another season or two for this thing to kick in big-time – Frost still needs to upgrade the overall speed and talent, especially on defense – but the 2019 season should be a whole lot better.
Start with the Huskers to almost certainly be better at winning.
Last year’s team suffered a whole slew of self-inflicted wounds – the penalties, my god, the penalties – but it was also right there in early game after early game.
Of course, winning close battles is part of the gig, but the 2018 Huskers couldn’t quite pull off the Colorado game to kick things off. They stumbled in a winnable game against Troy, and gagged away a massive lead against Northwestern. Again, it’s not quite right to do it this way, but those three games should’ve and could’ve gone the other way. If they did, Nebraska is 7-5. Throw in the close losses to Ohio State and Iowa, and five losses were by five points or fewer.
Again, this year’s team isn’t there yet. Five starters have to be replaced on defense, and more playmakers have to emerge to help out QB Adrian Martinez, but the offense should kick in.
South Alabama, Northern Illinois, at Illinois, Indiana. Start there and expect four wins, hope for victories over teams like Northwestern at home, Purdue and Maryland at home, and dream of something special to happen with Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa all having to come to Lincoln, and reversing that 4-8 to 8-4 – at least – is more than possible.
– Spring Preview: Predictions For All 130 Teams
NEXT: Get ready to have a lot more fun
2. Chad Morris, Arkansas
Chad Morris was a curious hire for the Hogs last year.
He had just one okay 7-5 season in his three years at SMU, and he appeared to be an uninspired choice compared to Texas A&M’s hire of Jimbo Fisher or Mississippi State’s grab of Joe Moorhead.
But the former Clemson offensive coordinator has a terrific offensive mind and he knows how to get an O going. But he needs to prove he can coach a team that can stop someone, and that didn’t happen all that often at SMU.
– 2019-2020 Spring CFP & Bowl Projections
Last year’s team was a complete and utter disaster defensively, allowing 34 points or more eight times in blowout loss after blowout loss. Worse yet, the offense didn’t work.
Arkansas isn’t going to crank out an Alabama-caliber defense over the course of one offseason, but seven starters return, and 12 of the top 16 tacklers are back. The D should be a wee bit better. The other side of the ball is the reason to get fired up.
The addition of grad transfer quarterbacks Nick Starkel (Texas A&M) and Ben Hicks (SMU) bring a big-time upgrade at the position. Almost all of the top receivers return, the running backs are there, and as long as the line comes together in a hurry, the attack should be more consistent.
After going 2-10, with Portland State, Colorado State, San Jose State and WKU all at home, the win total should at least double. With the improved offense, watch out for the Morris team to be just fun-bad enough to outbomb its way to a few more wins to get bowl eligible.
– Spring Preview: Best Programs To Not Make The CFP
NEXT: It’ll work. It has to.
1. Chip Kelly, UCLA
Oh come on … it’s Chip freaking 46-7-record-at-Oregon Kelly. It’s going to work.
Granted, the bloom is off the rose after his issues as an NFL head man, and the 3-9 first season in Westwood was a stunning disaster, but 2018 might have just been the proverbial two steps back to take a giant leap forward.
Kelly didn’t exactly blow things up from the Jim Mora Jr. era, but he went with a whole lot of really, really, really young players in a total rebuild. UCLA was bad at running the ball when Kelly arrived, and worse at stopping the run.
It’s almost impossible to fix the lines overnight, but the team did get better as the year went on with the offense starting to work over the second half of the year.
Out of the top 25 tacklers from last season, only two were seniors and 18 were underclassmen. It’s still not going to be a great D, but as long as it holds serve, the O should be able to be the Chip Kelly O.
Four starters return on the offensive line, QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson got his freshman year out of the way, Joshua Kelley leads a nice group of running backs, and the receiving corps should be a major plus.
Beat Cincinnati on the road, take out San Diego State – neither of which are givens – beat Oregon State, win at least two of three at home against Arizona State, Colorado and Cal, and the base of wins will be there to come up with a solid year.
Pull off an upset or two, come up with a road win against Arizona or Washington State, and this should be a strong next step season for the program.
