2023-2024 FCS Coaching Changes
/Updated: 05/03/2024
Team
Alcorn State:
2023 Coach: Fred McNair
2024 Coach: Cedric Thomas
Notes: McNair, head coach at his alma mater for the last eight years, walked away from his position because it appears as though he wasn’t happy with Alcorn’s proposed new contract for him. He has been tied to the Texas Southern opening, but there hasn’t been a formal announcement as of 12/19. While coach of Alcorn State, McNair won 48 games against 33 losses and was 37-17 in conference games. Cedric Thomas was elevated from defensive coordinator, and he was the head coach at UAPB from 2018-2019.
Austin Peay:
2023 Coach: Scotty Walden
2024 Coach: Jeff Faris
Notes: Walden, who never had a losing season as coach of the Governors, was hired away by the UTEP Miners – who have had two winning seasons since 2005. In his four seasons at Austin Peay, Walden went 26-14 and won the United Athletic Conference championship before being beaten by Chattanooga in the FCS Playoffs.
Campbell:
2023 Coach: Mike Minter
2024 Coach: Braxton Harris
Notes: Minter resigned after 11 seasons with the Camels saying that it was enough time at one place and he felt it was time to move on to get other experiences. During his time as Campbell’s head coach, he went 49-66 and helped the Camels transition from the Pioneer League to the CAA with a stop in the Big South. Harris returns to the Camels after leading Houston Christian to a 5-5 season in his one year as their head coach.
Columbia:
2023 Coach: Al Bagnoli/Mark Fabish (interim)
2024 Coach: Jon Poppe
Notes: Al Bagnoli suddenly retired before the 2023 season because of health reasons, so Mark Fabish coached the Lions – who went 3-7 (1-7 Ivy League). One of the winningest coaches in NCAA history, Bagnoli spent eight years on the sidelines at Columbia after 23 years at Penn. Bagnoli led the Lions to four winning seasons in the past five years, and his 35 victories since 2015 are the most ever for the program during such a span. He compiled a career record of 274-133, including a 132-78 mark in Ivy League play to go with nine Ivy League Championships during his tenure at Penn. Bagnoli's win total is the fourth highest all-time in FCS history and he is No. 6 in career winning percentage (.680).
Cornell:
2023 Coach: David Archer
2024 Coach: Dan Swanstrom
Notes: One day after losing to Columbia to end the season at 3-7, Cornell decided to part ways with Archer. When hired in 2013, he became the youngest active coach in NCAA Division 1 football, and he compiled a 29-71 record over his 10 seasons during his tenure the head coach of the Big Red.
Dartmouth:
2023 Coach: Sammy McCorkle (interim)
2024 Coach: Sammy McCorkle
Notes: Buddy Teevens was seriously injured this past spring in a bike accident, so McCorkle took over the reins for the 2023 season. Teevens would die of his injuries in September, and in mid-October, McCorkle was officially named the head coach of the Big Green. Over his 22 seasons (two tenures), Teevens was Dartmouth’s winningest head coach, as he had a record of 117-101-2 and five Ivy League championships. In addition, he won a Ivy League title as a player (starting quarterback) in 1978.
East Tennessee State:
2023 Coach: George Quarles
2024 Coach: Tre Lamb
Notes: It appears as though ETSU is continuing their trend of firing their head coaches – their fifth in the last couple of years. Quarles, who was a successful high school coach, was 6-16 in his two seasons – as he endured injuries (played six quarterbacks this season) and transfers to his team.
Florida A&M:
2023 Coach: Willie Simmons
2024 Coach: James Colzie
Notes: Simmons tendered his resignation to become the running backs coach at Duke. In his six years as the head coach of the Rattlers, he was 45-13 with a SWAC Championship and the HBCU National Championship this year. In his nine years as head coach both here and at Prairie View A&M, Simmons never had a losing season. After being given the interim head coach label earlier this month, Colzie was officially named the new head coach of the Rattlers
Gardner-Webb:
2023 Coach: Tre Lamb
2024 Coach: Cris Reisert
Notes: Lamb accepted the head coaching position at East Tennessee State on November 27th. He guided the Bulldogs to their first-ever FCS playoff appearance in 2022, and they qualified for the playoffs again in 2023. Cris Reisert resigned as head coach of Tiffin (Division II) to take over as the Bulldogs head coach.
Grambling State:
2023 Coach: Hue Jackson
2024 Coach: Mickey Joseph
Notes: After just two losing seasons, Jackson has been fired with a two-year record of 8-14. The Tigers, who want to compete for championships every year, finished the season by losing to Southern, 27-22. Joseph was the interim coach in 2022 for Nebraska after Scott Frost was fired, the last position he held as he was out of coaching in 2023 due to legal issues.
Hampton:
2023 Coach: Robert Prunty
2024 Coach: Trenton Boykin
Notes: On April 30th, Hampton simply announced (no explanation or quotes) that Robert Prunty was no longer with the program. Prunty had been the Pirates head coach since 2018, guiding the program from the Big South to the CAA where his team was 9-13 in two years. His running backs coach/special teams coordinator Trent Boykin will serve as the interim head coach for the upcoming season. Boykin has 28 years of coaching experience, but his only head coaching experience was at Lane College from 2008-2009.
Harvard:
2023 Coach: Tim Murphy
2024 Coach: Andrew Aurich
Notes: After 30 years (29 seasons) of leading the Crimson football team, Tim Murphy has announced his retirement. He leaves Harvard as the all-time winningest coach in Ivy League and school history, and he served as a head coach for 37 seasons overall, with stops at Maine (two years) and Cincinnati (five years). Murphy was an eight-time New England Coach of the Year, and he coached the Crimson to ten Ivy League championships.
Holy Cross:
2023 Coach: Bob Chesney
2024 Coach: Dan Curran
Notes: Chesney, who has coached the Crusaders since 2018, is leaving to takeover at James Madison after Curt Cignetti left for Indiana. During his time at Worcester, MA, Chesney led the Crusaders to 44 wins, 5 Patriot League titles, and four FCS playoff appearances. He has also had prior stints at Assumption (MA) and Salve Regina (RI). Curran, who is staying in-state with his new job, has his first coaching job outside of Merrimack.
Houston Christian:
2023 Coach: Braxton Harris
2024 Coach: Jason Bachtel
Notes: Harris leaves the Huskies after spending just one season as their head coach to become the head coach at Campbell – where he was the associate head coach in 2021 and 2022. At HCU, Harris coached the Huskies to their first non-losing season in program history in 2023, going 5-5 overall after inheriting a program that had won more than two games once in the previous six years. The Huskies also had their first winning record in conference play, going 4-3 in the SLC and finishing fourth in the league after being picked last in the preseason poll. Bachtel, the Huskies offensive coordinator in 2023, has been elevated to head coach of HCU. Prior to joining the team, he spent two seasons as the head coach at Howard Payne, leading them to back-to-back 7-3 seasons.
Marist:
2023 Coach: Jim Parady
2024 Coach: Mike Willis
Notes: After leading the Marist program for 32 years, the longest tenured head coach in Division I College Football has announced his retirement. Parady guided the program since 1992, and he oversaw the program’s growth from Division III to the MAAC Football League to the Pioneer Football League. He won 155 games at Marist, captured four league titles, and earned three Coach of the Year awards. Mike Willis, who served as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Princeton, will have some big shoes to fill.
Mercer:
2023 Coach: Drew Cronic
2024 Coach: Mike Jacobs
Notes:
Merrimack:
2023 Coach: Dan Curran
2024 Coach: Mike Gennetti
Notes: Dan Curran has stepped down to accept the head coaching job at Holy Cross, a school that is replacing Bob Chesney. Curran will leave the Warriors as the all-time wins leader in program history. He also led Merrimack to a successful transition to Division I, culminating in back-to-back appearances in the NEC championship game. Mike Gennetti was elevated from defensive coordinator after having been an assistant coach on the team for 19 seasons.
Morehead State:
2023 Coach: Rob Tenyer
2024 Coach: Jason Woodman
Notes: The contract for Rob Tenyer, who has served as MSU’s head coach since 2013, is not being renewed for the 2024 season. During his tenure as the Eagles’ head coach, overall he was 47-73, and 38-48 in Pioneer League games. Woodman was hired from Fairmont State – a Division II school in West Virginia.
Murray State:
2023 Coach: Dean Hood
2024 Coach: Jody Wright
Notes: Hood retired from coaching after being the Racers’ head coach for the last four years. He guided Murray State to back-to-back winning seasons in 2020-2021 before falling to 2-9 in each of the last two seasons. His record here was 15-25, and his career record, including his eight years as the head coach of Eastern Kentucky, is 70-63.
North Dakota State:
2023 Coach: Matt Entz
2024 Coach: Tim Polasek
Notes: One day after defeating South Dakota in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoff, Matt Entz has been hired by Lincoln Riley to be USC’s Linebackers coach. Entz will remain with the Bison until the end of the season, in which he hopes to win his third FCS National Championship. Since taking over as head coach back in 2019, he has lead ND State to a 60-10 record with at least one game remaining. Polasek is returning to the Bison after being the offensive coordinator at Wyoming for the last three seasons.
Northern Arizona:
2023 Coach: Chris Ball
2024 Coach: Brian Wright
Notes:
Northwestern State:
2023 Coach: Brad Laird
2024 Coach: Blaine McCorkle
Notes: Laird resigned when NSU canceled their football season in late October after the death of Ronnie Caldwell, Jr. – a very popular player for the Demons. Laird was in his sixth season as head coach of Northwestern State and he finishes with an overall record of 16-40 over his six seasons as head coach.
South Carolina State:
2023 Coach: Oliver “Buddy” Pough
2024 Coach: Chennis Berry
Notes: Pough, who has been the Bulldog head coach since 2002, will be retiring after the 2023 season. He won 151 games and eight MEAC titles in 22 seasons at SC State. The Bulldogs won the Celebration Bowl and the Black national title in 2021.
Southern:
2023 Coach: Eric Dooley
2024 Coach: Terrence Graves
Notes: Not even two years into his tenure, Dooley was fired after losing to Prairie View A&M (a team he used to coach) at home, 27-21. He was 12-10 as the coach of the Jaguars and has a career record of 32-27 – Dooley’s only losing season was his first with Prairie View A&M back in 2018 (5-6). Assistant head coach Terrance Graves who led the team against Grambling State on November 25th was announced as the next head coach in mid-December.
Stony Brook:
2023 Coach: Chuck Priore
2024 Coach: Billy Cosh
Notes: Priore, who has led the Seawolves for the last eighteen years (97-101) was let go on November 13th after an 0-10 season. Even though the team had endured four-straight losing seasons, Priore had signed a three-year extension last summer. He had led Stony Brook to the FCS postseason on four different occasions and is currently the winningest coach of the program. Cosh was named head coach on December 13th – his first career head coaching job.
Tennessee Tech:
2023 Coach: Dewayne Alexander
2024 Coach: Bob Wilder
Notes: After six seasons as a head coach at his alma mater, Alexander was fired after leading the Eagles to a 35-0 win over rival Tennessee State. Tech finished the season at 4-7 for the second straight season, and Alexander had a record of 20-43 during his tenure.
Texas Southern:
2023 Coach: Clarence McKinney
2024 Coach: Cris Dishman
Notes:
UC Davis:
2023 Coach: Dan Hawkins
2024 Coach: Tim Plough
Notes:
Utah Tech:
2023 Coach: Paul Peterson
2024 Coach: Lance Anderson
Notes: Utah Tech relieved Peterson of his coaching duties, but he will be retained somewhere in the athletic department. Peterson had just completed his fifth season as head coach of the Trailblazer program following Utah Tech’s 24-16 loss to Southern Utah, which concluded a 2-9 season and an eighth-place finish (1-5) in the United Athletic Conference. He compiled a 17-32 record over his tenure at Utah Tech, which included a 9-29 mark during the program’s NCAA Division I FCS transition.
West Georgia: Transitioning to FCS in 2024
2023 Coach: David Dean
2024 Coach: Joel Taylor
Notes: Dean informed the school that he is stepping down as coach of the Wolves, two days after wrapping up the season with a loss to Valdosta State – a team he coached from 2007-2015. He has a career record of 127-47, and two national titles from his time at Valdosta State – so he won’t be unemployed long if he chooses to coach again.
Western Illinois:
2023 Coach: Myers Hendrickson
2024 Coach: Joe Davis
Notes: In two seasons, Hendrickson was 0-22 as head coach of the Leathernecks – who are moving to the Ohio Valley Conference in 2024. Joe Davis, the offensive coordinator for Eastern Illinois, has been hired by the Leathernecks to end their 24-game losing streak.