NCAAF Coaching Carousel Winners
the five schools who did best overall:
1) Notre Dame: Keeping Marcus Freeman was the biggest win
If the carousel has one true “winner,” it’s Notre Dame simply because they didn’t get dragged into the chaos. In modern college football, retaining the right coach is often more valuable than landing a shiny new name, and Marcus Freeman is exactly the kind of coach you build around in this era. He’s young, energetic, and authentic — the type of leader players want to follow because he connects with them as people first and competitors second.
Freeman’s real edge is that he gets buy-in without begging for it. He’s not trying to be a celebrity coach or a CEO who delegates the culture. He is the culture. That matters because college football is now a year-round relationship business: recruiting, portal retention, NIL alignment, and constant roster maintenance. Freeman’s personality and presence make Notre Dame feel modern without abandoning what Notre Dame wants to be.
And there’s another layer: Notre Dame is uniquely positioned as a brand that can sell development and identity. Freeman embodies that. Players want to play for someone who will make them better on Saturdays and better men for the rest of their lives — and that’s not just a slogan with him. Keeping Freeman means Notre Dame keeps momentum, keeps stability, and keeps a coach who can recruit nationally while still building a tough, disciplined program. In the carousel era, the biggest flex is not having to spin.
2) Virginia Tech: James Franklin is the perfect culture and recruiting fit
Virginia Tech landing James Franklin is the kind of move that looks obvious the second it happens. Franklin is a proven winner, a proven program builder, and he’s going to carry a chip on his shoulder after getting run out of Penn State because of a few bad weeks. That’s not just emotion — that’s fuel. And historically, motivated Franklin is dangerous.
What makes Blacksburg such a strong fit is geography and identity. Franklin has always recruited best when he can dominate the Mid-Atlantic lanes — Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, the Carolinas — and that map plays right into what Virginia Tech needs to become again. If Tech can recruit like a national program while developing like a hard-nosed one, the path back to relevance is real.
And let’s be honest: Franklin’s résumé gets undersold because people fixate on what he didn’t do instead of what he consistently did. Multiple top-10 finishes and sustained competitiveness in Happy Valley is a big deal. Most programs would kill for that stability and ceiling.
The ripple effect is also worth noting. Penn State replacing Franklin with Matt Campbell is respectable, but it’s still a downgrade in proven big-stage recruiting and weekly pressure management. Campbell can coach — no question — but the betting angle is simple: the Big Ten doesn’t forgive transition years, and “pretty good” often gets exposed fast when the margins tighten. Virginia Tech won the upgrade, and Penn State took the risk.
3) Michigan State: Pat Fitzgerald feels inevitable — and dangerous
Pat Fitzgerald to Michigan State just feels right. The toughness, the edge, the accountability — that’s East Lansing DNA. And Fitzgerald has already proven he can win in a place that doesn’t naturally have the talent advantages of the elite. At Northwestern, he produced multiple double-digit win seasons and built a program that punched above its weight for long stretches. That matters because it proves he can create structure and belief, not just inherit it.
The key difference now is resources. Michigan State is not Northwestern. In East Lansing, Fitzgerald steps into a far better NIL environment, a bigger platform, and a higher recruiting ceiling. That’s where this gets scary for the rest of the conference. If Fitzgerald could overachieve in Evanston with limited advantages, what happens when he has real leverage? You’re already seeing it: recruiting buzz, national conversation shifting, and that sense that MSU is a destination again.
Critics will bring up how his Northwestern tenure ended, but context matters. A lot of that era was shaped by institutional politics and the weird, corrosive environment college athletics went through during and after COVID. Fitzgerald’s identity hasn’t changed: he’s still a culture builder, and Michigan State is a place where culture builders become monsters. If you’re looking for a program that can climb fast and stay physical doing it, this is the one.
4) Colorado State: Jim Mora is the sneaky best hire on the board
Jim Mora to Colorado State is exactly the kind of hire that wins quietly in January and loudly in October. His work at UConn has been underappreciated because people still carry old narratives about what UConn football is supposed to be. But the truth is Mora stabilized a difficult situation, raised standards, and showed that he’s matured into a complete leader — not just a ball coach, but a program architect.
Fort Collins is a great place for that profile. Colorado State can recruit, it can sell a lifestyle, and it can build a tough identity in a region that produces real players. Mora brings instant credibility, and credibility matters more than ever in portal-era roster construction. Veterans don’t transfer to “hope.” They transfer to a plan — to a coach they trust, to a culture they can understand quickly, and to a staff that can develop them.
Mora also has the advantage of being older and steadier in a sport that now burns people out. He’s seen every cycle. He understands media noise, player psychology, booster expectations, and what actually wins games. Colorado State didn’t just hire a coach — they hired an adult with a proven ability to build something sustainable. Expect them to win sooner than the public thinks.
5) LSU: Lane Kiffin brings the electricity back — and that’s worth the risk
Lane Kiffin to LSU is a “no-brainer” hire because it instantly changes the temperature of the program. LSU should feel like energy. It should feel like swagger. It should feel like points. Kiffin brings that on day one. His offenses force stress, his teams carry confidence, and his presence alone makes the building louder. After any period of stagnation, LSU needs juice — and Kiffin is juice.
Now the honest question is the one everyone asks: will he leave? Probably. That’s the modern game. Coaches move, players move, staffs flip, and loyalty is more slogan than strategy. LSU shouldn’t fear that — LSU should exploit it. If Kiffin gives you immediate elite offense, big wins, recruiting momentum, and playoff contention, you take it. You don’t turn down a Ferrari because you might trade it in three years.
The deeper point is that LSU is built to be a destination even when the coach changes. The brand, the talent base, the resources — that’s permanent. Kiffin’s job is to win now and reset the standard. If he does that and eventually moves on, LSU will still be LSU — and the program will be healthier for the run he created.
In the carousel era, you don’t build around permanence. You build around advantages. LSU just leaned into its biggest advantage: high ceiling, high voltage, high wins.
