The wildest college football coaching cycle — perhaps ever — has reached the hiring phase.
Schools around the Power 4 that fired their coaches in the first two months of the season — or, in Stanford’s case, way back in late March — are targeting candidates and finalizing deals. Interestingly enough, one of the first major coaches to lose his job, Penn State’s James Franklin, was the first noninterim coach to be hired, as he is headed to Virginia Tech.
New hires always come with hope and optimism, grand proclamations and the chance to get programs on the right track. But not all hiring processes are the same. The financial component with jobs is essential — what schools are willing to spend not just on their head coach, but the assistants and support staff and, perhaps most important, the team roster.
We will be reviewing all the major coaching hires in the 2025-26 cycle, evaluating how each coach fits in the job, their major challenges and what it will take to be successful. We will also assign an initial letter grade for each hire.
Jump to:Oklahoma StateVirginia Tech
Why is this a good fit?
Oklahoma State needed a coach who knew the Big 12 and the region, and someone who could bring a clear vision, especially on offense. Quarterback play was central to Oklahoma State’s identity under Mike Gundy, and Morris has become one of the best talent identifiers in recent years. Oklahoma State needs to accelerate its recruiting, but likely won’t have the first choice for players, and Morris has repeatedly shown the ability to find and develop under-the-radar players. Ideally, he can bring quarterback Drew Mestemaker and others to Stillwater, and perhaps more importantly, make Oklahoma State an attractive destination for top offensive performers again.
Morris played and coached in the Big 12 at Texas Tech and spent time at Houston early in his career, so he won’t be unfamiliar with the key characteristics of a program like Oklahoma State. He’s not a Gundy disciple, but he can respect what Gundy did to elevate the program, while implementing his own vision, which worked both at Incarnate Word and at North Texas. — Rittenberg
What will be Morris’ biggest challenge?
The answer here is twofold: 1) Morris must live up to the unprecedented levels of consistent success his predecessor brought Oklahoma State; 2) Morris will also have to figure out exactly how to take the Cowboys’ football program to the future.
On the first point, whomever Oklahoma State chose to hire this cycle was going to be replacing a coach who won more — and more consistently — than any other figure in program history. Before 2023, the Cowboys made 18 consecutive bowl appearances under Gundy, winning eight or more games in 13 of those seasons. Past leading Oklahoma State to the very top of the sport and turning the program into a national brand, Gundy’s greatest achievement was transforming a school that had registered back-to-back 10-win seasons only once before he took over in 2005 into a perennial winner. Morris, who made two playoff appearances at Incarnate Word and has North Texas contending for the American this fall, has a history of producing quick turnarounds. Getting Oklahoma State upright — which will likely require a massive roster and staff overhaul — should be his first objective. From there, Morris will be judged on the expectations set by Gundy before him.
How does Morris take Oklahoma State into the future? Gundy’s initial, outspoken reluctance, then too-little, too-late embrace of college football’s NIL/transfer portal era hurt the Cowboys on the field and laid the groundwork for his unceremonious departure earlier this fall. Oklahoma State has fallen behind in terms of roster budgeting compared to its Big 12 counterparts, and industry sources suggested that the Cowboys’ ability to present improved resources would be a key piece of the hiring process. Morris has built a career on making more out of less, and that will serve him well in Stillwater. He has also proven capable of navigating the transfer portal and the current complexities of the sport. With help from Oklahoma State (and its boosters), Morris must take steps to modernize the program. If he can, a Big 12 conference landscape that remains wide open outside of Texas Tech could once again be Oklahoma State’s for the taking. — Eli Lederman
Grade: A-
Morris is only 40 (cue the Gundy memes), hasn’t been a Power 4 head coach, and before this season had only middling results with North Texas. His quarterback track record is his superpower, though, and Oklahoma State needs a renaissance at the position after things fell off too sharply. Morris can recruit Texas and build up the roster. Time will tell if he has the expertise to win one-score games in a league where programs are extremely similar. — Rittenberg
Why is this a good fit?
When Franklin was fired and almost immediately announced his intentions to coach in 2026, Virginia Tech emerged as a natural landing spot for the 53-year-old. He has spent most of his career near the mid-Atlantic region, twice serving as a Maryland assistant, leading programs in Vanderbilt and Penn State and even working within the state at James Madison in 1997.
He understands the key recruiting areas extremely well. Franklin ultimately was fired for not winning the biggest games at Penn State, but he still won a lot of them (104) and understands how to build a consistently successful program. Virginia Tech ultimately had to do more of the selling here and convince a veteran coach that it was financially serious enough to contend in the ACC. Franklin isn’t shy about asking for what he needs, and he wouldn’t take the job if he didn’t feel that Virginia Tech’s investments are sufficient to compete for ACC championships. — Rittenberg
What will be Franklin’s biggest challenge?
This hire would not have happened without the financial investment Virginia Tech is about to make in football. The Hokies have languished behind their ACC counterparts in nearly every area — from staffing to salaries to NIL — and some of that has to do with an outdated way of thinking. The one through line has been the thought that the Hokies could win the way Frank Beamer won. That is a big reason why they hired Brent Pry, who served as Franklin’s defensive coordinator, as head coach in November 2021. That clearly did not work, as Pry never won more than seven games in a season. Virginia Tech pledged to add $229 million to its overall athletics budget over the next four years — a huge concession that the old model no longer works in this new era of college football.
But Franklin has to get the entire athletic department to believe the old Beamer days truly are over and things must be done his way. That is challenge No. 1. The second challenge is to restore Virginia Tech’s prowess in recruiting its home state. Franklin had success taking players out of Virginia Tech’s backyard and turning them into stars at Penn State. Will he be able to do the same now at Virginia Tech, which has lost an enormous amount of ground to powers outside the state? The high school players being recruited now were toddlers the last time Virginia Tech was a nationally respected program playing in BCS games. They don’t remember the Hokies being elite. Convincing players to stay in state will be a challenge, but one that Franklin can achieve given his track record. — Andrea Adelson
Grade: A
Virginia Tech’s two post-Frank Beamer hires were a coach who had not led a Power 4 program (Justin Fuente) and a first-time head coach (Brent Pry). In Franklin, Virginia Tech gets a proven winner from the Big Ten and SEC, who knows the region extremely well and will be extremely motivated to compete for league titles and CFP appearances.
Franklin’s big-stage shortcomings are a concern but perhaps not as much for a program like Virginia Tech, which is seeking to become a consistent conference title contender again. — Rittenberg
