College Football

The state of Florida is now loaded with star college football coaching talent

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By Morgan Moriarty and Jason Kirk Updated Dec 12, 2016, 11:06am EST

On Sunday, USF named former Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong as its next head coach, replacing Willie Taggart, who’s gone to Oregon.

Despite Strong’s Texas record, USF just hired a former Sugar Bowl winner, two-time Big East Coach of the Year, former ace SEC defensive coordinator, a top recruiter with plenty of Florida ties, a coach with an excellent personal reputation, and a coach with a few big wins in a power conference.

That means USF still has a star head coach despite losing Taggart. That’s not easy for a mid-major to do. The Bulls’ roster is loaded for 2017, and this sets up for Strong to recruit Florida well. (Also, he won't even have to waste time learning a new hand sign.)

That was followed on Monday by reports that Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is taking the Florida Atlantic job.

The former Tennessee and USC head coach has tidied up his image while working for Nick Saban, being a finalist for a Broyles Award and modernizing the Tide's offense. He's also a quality recruiter and, whether he can win or not, should be able to score tons of points in Conference USA.

That recruiting part goes for the entire state, which now has big-name coaches at every FBS school.

Jimbo Fisher, Year 7 at Florida State

The state’s elder. Bobby Bowden’s replacement has gone 77-17, with his recruitment of Jameis Winston leading to a national championship, Heisman Trophy, and No. 1 draft pick. Fisher has put together top-five recruiting classes almost every season since 2011, and his teams have now made five BCS/New Year's Six bowls in a row.

Mark Richt, Year 1 at Miami

The former Miami QB returned to his alma mater this season after going 145-51 over 15 seasons at Georgia, where his teams had 11 seasons of nine wins or better. He led the Dawgs to SEC titles in 2003 and 2005 and the brinks of national title games a couple times. He’s known as a good QB developer and as being a quality person off the field. In year one, the Canes improved from No. 51 to No. 13 in opponent-adjusted S&P+.

Jim McElwain, Year 2 at Florida

Winning the SEC East might not count for much these days, but the Gators have done it twice in a row in McElwain’s two years. Besides, this list is about the state of Florida, and it’s not like any non-Sunshine State coaches are winning the SEC East. The Gators have had unfortunate injuries and suspensions at QB, which have partially squandered good defenses.

Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins is often considered a future head coaching candidate.

Butch Davis, just replaced Ron Turner at Florida International

FIU hired the former Miami and UNC head coach last month, after a three-year hiatus and analyst work for ESPN. His resume is impressive, to say the least, and he's now the biggest name in Conference USA, other than Kiffin.

Davis went 51-20 from 1995-2000, building an all-star roster that would win the 2001 national title. Davis’ last season leading the Hurricanes ended with an 11-1 record and a Sugar Bowl win, and then he left for a stint as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. (It was not a brilliant stint, but it was better than most Browns head coaching tenures in this era.)

Davis returned to the college game as UNC’s head coach in 2007, and he went 28-23 over four seasons. He was fired in an NCAA investigation into academic fraud, and the NCAA wiped out two of Davis’ three eight-win seasons in Chapel Hill.

Scott Frost, Year 1 at UCF

In year one, Frost led the Knights from 0-12 to 6-6. Prior to landing the UCF job, he was at Oregon under Chip Kelly. Frost also had a national championship career as a Nebraska quarterback. He was the betting favorite for the Nebraska head coaching job before Mike Riley was hired and is often mentioned as a potential Power 5 head coach. With three coaches from the AAC leaving this December for Power 5 jobs, Frost is now one of the conference's bigger names.