Football’s changes usually get interesting during the offseason but this season didn’t wait very long. It is never a surprise when a program looking for a rebuild chooses to clean house and bring in new staff. Fanbases of schools that don’t perform that well run to social media to voice their frustrations with their respective teams. On the other side of the coin, there are changes that take the entire country by storm. The 2024-25 season has already shaken the tables and raised expectations for the 2025-26 games to come. Three of the most notable ones took place near the very start of the postseason.
The 2024 bowl season started on Dec. 14 with Jackson State winning the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. Two days before that, on Dec. 12, the news that Bill Belichick had signed to be the new head coach for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Belichick spent the 2024 season as a guest commentator with appearances on ESPN with shows like the “Pat McAfee Show.”
If that name is familiar to you, allow me to catch you up to speed. Bill Belichick spent 24 seasons as the head coach for the New England Patriots, leading them to winning six Super Bowl titles (‘02, ‘04, ’05, ‘15, ‘17, ‘19). Those six wins are the most all-time for an NFL head coach. Additionally, all six of Belichick’s national titles were accompanied by the same starting quarterback: Tom Brady.
Belichick has never coached for a college team; he accepted a staff assistant position with the Colts after his graduation. Football fans nationwide are anticipating his return to the sideline and debut in the NCAA world. UNC will be coming off of a winning season that ended in a loss to UConn in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28. With Belichick coming in, UNC is very likely to return to another bowl game and possibly a much higher win/loss ratio.
Speaking of bowl games, one of the most talked about universities this season was Marshall. Charles Huff has been the head for Marshall since January 2021. That is…until he agreed to a deal to move to the University of Southern Mississippi to be the coach for the Golden Eagles.
Despite Marshall’s remarkable season, the athletic department did not extend Huff’s contract. The Thundering Herd won the Sun Belt Conference by taking down the University of Louisiana-Lafayette by 29 points. That win made them the only team in FBS history to win a title in three different conferences.
The contract was signed by Huff the day after they won the conference game, leading a whopping 30 plus players to dive into the transfer portal. At least 25 of those players were on a full scholarship as well. Due to the amount of players lost, Marshall had to withdraw their bid from the Independence Bowl. This move was definitely unprecedented and sparked a large conversation about the state of the transfer portal as a whole.
Another surprising coaching change came from UNLV. The school announced that Dan Mullen would return to collegiate coaching and be in Las Vegas. He signed a five year, $175 million contract that will pay an estimated $3.5M per season. This signing placed Mullen as the highest paid coach in Nevada and Mountain West Conference history!
Mullen is familiar with making history. He spent nine years leading the Mississippi State Bulldogs, followed by a five year stint with the Florida Gators. While in Starkville, he led Miss. State to their first #1 ranking in school history (2014). That season was also only the third 10-win season for the university.
Additionally, Mullen became the first head coach in the SEC to win a bowl game and still finish with a losing record. In 2016, the Bulldogs secured the Gasparilla Bowl by having the second highest APR (or Academic Progress Rate) among five to seven teams and beating the tie-breaker with Texas.
After his time in Gainesville ended, he moved to ESPN and ABC to be on-air talent covering college football. Like Belichick, football fans are excited for Mullen’s return to coaching outside of the SEC.
Bowl season is running full speed ahead with many opinions and conversations online. With the playoffs winding to a close, other coaching transitions could be expected. Only time will tell who goes where after the collegiate season is over.
Edited by Breanna Ebisch
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