He couldn’t slam the door on 2024 fast enough. FSU’s dreadful 2-10 season hadn’t formally flatlined when Seminoles football coach Mike Norvell began plotting ways to resuscitate his beleaguered program.
Hours before his team’s season-ending 31-11 loss to Florida in Tallahassee, news broke that Norvell was hiring UCF coach Gus Malzahn as his new offensive coordinator. Days later, the school confirmed Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White had been hired for the same gig on Norvell’s staff.
And so started the ’Noles’ radical overhaul that has included a mini-exodus of players, an influx of newcomers from the transfer portal and some modified schemes. Will it all work? History says be wary.
We backtracked a decade in this state and found only a couple of instances where a coach replaced both his coordinators and found instant success the following season. Painful truth: Bringing on new play-callers often seems a move of desperation, followed by dismissal.
Not saying Norvell will meet a similar fate, but history’s not on his side.
UCF, 2024
Previous year’s record: 6-7 (3-6 Big 12)
New offensive coordinator: Tim Harris Jr./Darin Hinshaw (Hinshaw had been OC in 2023)
New defensive coordinator: Ted Roof (replaced co-coordinators Addison Williams and David Gibbs)
2024 record: 4-8 (2-7 Big 12)
Coach Gus Malzahn reassumed offensive play-calling duties from Hinshaw midway through the 2023 season and succeeded initially but couldn’t carry that momentum over to 2024. UCF had the nation’s fifth-best rushing offense (248.1 yards per game) but went through four starting quarterbacks and finished 97th in passing offense (199.7 yards per game). Meantime, Roof was fired eight games into the 2024 season after the Knights allowed 75 total points in losses to BYU and Iowa State. Malzahn left at season’s end to become offensive coordinator at Florida State.
Miami, 2023
Previous year’s record: 5-7 (3-5 ACC)
New offensive coordinator: Shannon Dawson (replaced Josh Gattis)
New defensive coordinator: Lance Guidry (replaced Kevin Steele)
2023 record: 7-6 (3-5 ACC)
Mario Cristobal’s bumpy inaugural season (2022) as coach at his alma mater ended with him dismissing Gattis in January 2023, then watching Steele bolt for the same job at Alabama days later. Under Dawson (a longtime college coordinator who arrived from Houston), the ’Canes improved from 85th to 31st nationally in total offense and experienced a similar bump defensively (from 64th to 24th nationally) under Guidry. But Miami lost four of its last five, including a 31-24 loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. Guidry lasted one more year before being fired after the 2024 season.
FAU, 2020-22
After 2020: Parted ways with co-offensive coordinator Clint Trickett (who went to Marshall). Co-offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer left for New Mexico. Defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt went to SMU.
After 2021: Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson went to Syracuse, defensive coordinator Mike Stoops went to Kentucky.
After 2022: Taggart was fired.
Insisting to Owls players in his inaugural team meeting that he would remain at FAU “for the long haul,” Taggart never was afforded that opportunity. He went through a carousel of coordinators (some of whom left by their own choosing) during his three seasons, amassing a 15-18 record and reaching only one bowl game before his dismissal in November 2022.
USF, 2022
Previous year’s record: 2-10 (1-7 American Athletic Conference)
New offensive coordinator: Travis Trickett (replaced Charlie Weis Jr.)
New defensive coordinator: Bob Shoop (replaced Glenn Spencer)
2022 record: 1-11 (0-8 American Athletic Conference)
Bulls fans were banking on noticeable improvement in Year 3 of the Jeff Scott era but were subject to arguably the worst season in program history instead. While the offense improved statistically when Trickett stepped in for Weis (who joined Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss), the defense regressed into a national embarrassment after Scott replaced Spencer — a popular, veteran college coordinator — with another college journeyman (Shoop).
On the first play of the first game, BYU’s Puka Nacua took a handoff on a jet sweep and raced 75 yards untouched for a score; it was a harbinger of the defensive egregiousness that would follow. The Bulls allowed 516.6 yards per game and 7.42 yards per play in 2022, both of which ranked last nationally, and Scott was fired in early November.
Florida International, 2021
Previous year’s record: 0-5 (COVID-shortened season)
New offensive coordinator: Andrew Breiner (replaced Rich Skrosky)
New defensive coordinator: Everett Withers (replaced Jeff Copp/Jerod Kruse)
2021 record: 1-11 (0-8 Conference USA)
Coach Butch Davis cleaned house of his coordinators after the Panthers went 0-5 in the abbreviated 2020 season, but the needle didn’t budge. FIU finished 128th nationally in total defense (491.3 yards per game) and 94th in total offense (366.7 yards per game), going winless against Football Bowl Subdivision competition. Davis walked at the end of the year, claiming the administration was financially “sabotaging” the program.
UCF, 2015
Previous year’s record: 9-4 (7-1 American Athletic Conference)
New offensive coordinator: Brent Key (replaced Charlie Taaffe)
New defensive coordinator: Chuck Bresnahan (replaced Tyson Summers)
2015 record: 0-12 (0-8)
Knights coach George O’Leary wasn’t looking to shake up his staff after winning a share of the AAC crown in 2014 but was forced to when Taaffe retired and Summers went to Colorado State. The results were disastrous; O’Leary resigned after UCF fell to 0-8 with a 59-10 home loss to Houston, and the Knights dropped their last four games by an average of 34.5 points.
USF, 2015
Previous year’s record: 4-8 (3-5 American Athletic Conference)
New offensive coordinator: Danny Hope/David Reaves (replaced Paul Wulff)
New defensive coordinator: Tom Allen (replaced Chuck Bresnahan)
2015 record: 8-5 (6-2 American Athletic Conference)
A rare instance where replacing both coordinators worked out. On the brink of dismissal after going 6-18 his first two years, Bulls coach Willie Taggart again shook up his staff. Hope, Purdue’s former head coach who had worked at Taggart’s prep alma mater (Manatee High) in the early 1980s, installed a zone-read option attack that showcased dual-threat quarterback Quinton Flowers. USF started 1-3 but ultimately set school records for total yards (5,741) and offensive touchdowns (54) as Taggart gave Flowers more latitude. Meantime, the defense flourished under Allen, an exuberant players coach whose unit had 17 interceptions (tied for 14th nationally) and ranked 34th in the country in pass-efficiency defense. Taggart’s job was saved, and USF made a bowl game.
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