Florida hired Billy Napier from Louisiana in 2022 to be its head football coach because of his track record for success in the Group of 5. Auburn hired Hugh Freeze after the 2022 season, not so much because of his success at Liberty but because of his success at Ole Miss.
Lane Kiffin made Florida Atlantic a Group of 5 power and moved to Ole Miss in 2020. He previously had been the head coach at USC, for the Los Angeles Raiders and at Tennessee.
After back-to-back losing seasons, Napier lost the first game of his third season 41-17 to Miami at home. Grumbling turned into screams.
Freeze had a 6-7 record in his first Auburn season, but he landed a top 10 recruiting class and this class is ranked No. 5 nationally this year. Kiffin was 5-5 in 2020, his first Ole Miss season. Since, he has gone 30-10, winning 10 games in 2021 and 11 in 2023.
Scott Frost went 13-0 at Central Florida in his first opportunity to be a head coach and was the coach everyone wanted. He failed miserably at Nebraska, his alma mater.
There are exceptions - notably Tennessee's Josh Heupel – but hiring a sitting Group of 5 head coach with no experience as a head coach at a higher level has proved to be, more often than not, a dicey proposition.
What's the difference? Why do so many Group of 5 coaches run into trouble trying to jump to the highest level? Freeze has coached at Auburn, Ole Miss, Liberty and Arkansas State. He says coaching on the field is not so different.
"Game planning is the same, but at this level they are bigger and faster," Freeze said. " I don't think there is much difference, really, in the game-planning, the play-calling, the fronts. There are only so many defenses you can run and so many offenses you face. I think there are good coaches at every level that have their kids prepared."
But off the field, there is little comparison. The ongoing race to get those big, fast, strong and athletic players it takes to win knows no season.
"Recruiting is a beast," Freeze said. "Totally different. It is a non-stop, never-ending battle in this league, even if you have great commits like we do. It's not nearly the same in the Group of 5. That's for sure. That's the biggest difference."
Hiring a sitting head coach who has proved his mettle at the highest level is an attractive idea, but it's hard to pull off. And when a program pulls it off, there are no guarantees. Short of that, the safest bets are hiring Power 4 assistants or Group of 5 head coaches with previous head coaching experience at the highest level. It is an indisputable fact that the numbers back that up.
Six of the programs ranked top 10, including the top four, in the most recent AP poll, were assistants when they were hired for their current jobs. The exceptions are Alabama coach Kellen DeBoer, who moved from Washington, Penn State's James Franklin and Florida State's Mike Norvell.
In the SEC, Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU hired head coaches who were head coaches at Power 5 (now Power 4) programs. Florida, Missouri and Tennessee hired Group of 5 head coaches with no previous Power 5 head coaching experience. Auburn and Ole Miss hired Group of 5 head coaches who had previously been Power 5 head coaches.
Head coaches at Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Arkansas were assistants when they were hired.
Oklahoma is perhaps the most interesting case study. Since 1947, Oklahoma has hired just one coach with head coaching experience. That was Howard Schnellenberger in 1995. He resigned after one disappointing season.
Bud Wilkinson, one of the great coaches in the history of the game, was promoted off the Oklahoma staff. Chuck Fairbanks, Barry Switzer, Bob Stoops, Lincoln Riley and now Brent Venables were assistants with no head coaching experience before taking over the Oklahoma program.
SEC head coaches and where they came from
Alabama: Kellen DeBoer, head coach Washington
Auburn: Hugh Freeze, head coach at Liberty and Ole Miss.
LSU: Brian Kelly, head coach at Notre Dame.
Texas: Steve Sarkisian: Assistant at Alabama, head coach at USC.
Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin, head coach at Florida Atlantic, head coach at USC and Tennessee.
Mississippi State: Jeff Lebby, assistant at Oklahoma.
Arkansas: Sam Pittman, assistant at Georgia.
Texas A&M: Mike Elko, head coach at Duke
Georgia: Kirby Smart, assistant at Alabama.
Florida: Billy Napier, head coach at Louisiana.
Kentucky: Mark Stoops, assistant at Florida State.
Vanderbilt: Clark Lea, assistant at Notre Dame.
South Carolina: Shane Beamer, assistant at Oklahoma.
Oklahoma: Brent Venables, assistant at Clemson.
Missouri: Eli Drinkwitz, head coach at Appalachian State.
Tennessee: Josh Heupel, head coach at UCF.
Head coaches at the top 10 teams in the latest AP poll and where they came from
No. 1: Georgia, Kirby Smart, assistant at Alabama.
No. 2 Ohio State: Ryan Day, assistant at Ohio State.
No. 3 Oregon: Dan Lanning, assistant at Georgia.
No. 4 Texas: Steve Sarkisian, assistant at Alabama.
No. 5 Alabama: Kellen DeBoer, head coach at Washington.
No. 6 Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin, head coach at Florida Atlantic.
No. 7 Notre Dame: Marcus Freeman, assistant at Notre Dame.
No. 8 Penn State: James Franklin, head coach at Vanderbilt.
No. 9 Michigan: Sheronne Moore, assistant at Michigan.
No. 10 Florida State: Mike Norvell, head coach at Memphis
* After two straight losses to unranked teams, Florida State won't be No. 10 by later this morning when the next AP poll is released and probably will not be ranked at all.
