College Football: Five Coaches Ready for a Power Five Jump

Coaches in the Group of Five are broken into three groups: Older coaches that started in the Power five and settled into the Group of Five (Butch Davis, Terry Bowden, Frank Solich), coaches that had failed tenures in the Power Five (Charlie Strong, Lane Kiffin, Jeff Tedford) and young coaches that are ready for the Power Five jump. This list is the latter.

 Mike Norvell of Memphis:

Norvell inherited an up and coming Memphis program that Justin Fuente built up during his three-year tenure. In his second year at the helm, Norvell Memphis played in the American Championship game losing to an undefeated Central Florida team by seven in one of the best games in college football and lost in the Liberty Bowl by one point to an Iowa State team that had beaten Oklahoma and TCU in the same year. Winning either game would have brought Memphis either a Conference Championship or a Bowl win for the first time since 2014. A favorable schedule that has UCF and Houston coming to Memphis could parlay the Tigers another appearance in the title game; in addition, UCF replaced Scott Frost during the off-season that may open the door for Memphis to win the AAC title game.

Seth Littrell of North Texas:

Littrell overall record of 14-13 in two seasons at North Texas isn’t all that impressive, but considering where the program was before Latrell’s arrival on campus in 2016 makes his impact all that more impressive. The year before Latrell’s arrival North Texas went 1-11 and fired their coach five games into the season. Since 2016 North Texas has been to two bowls and played for the Conference USA championship game. The schedule is favorable going into 2018 with only four games outside the state of Texas. Expect North Texas to again appear in the Conference USA Championship game.

Scott Satterfield of Appalachian State:

Appalachian State is far removed from winning three straight NCAA Division 1-AA and 1 championships that included an upset of  Michigan in the Big House in 2007, but the program remains in solid shape after joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. Since then Satterfield has gone 37-14 and winning their past three straight bowls. Last season the Mountaineers lost three games by a combined eleven points (all one possession games). Having Troy at home the last game of the season can decide who goes to the inaugural Sun Belt Championship game.

Neal Brown of Troy:

The Sun Belt has recently become a hotbed of young coaches ready to take the next level and Brown is no exception. Brown has gone 25-13 in three years at the helm; winning back to back bowls and upsetting LSU last season. Brown has improved his win total every year since 2015 (very hard to do as program improvements are hardly linear). After games against Boise State and Nebraska early in the season, the conference schedule sets the table for a Trojan run into the title game.

Bryan Harsin of Boise State:

Out of the all the coaches listed in this article Harsin might be the best one. He has gone 42-12 in four years as Head Coach at Boise State with three Conference Titles and three bowl wins. 2018 shapes up to be a special one in Boise with the Broncos favored by more than a touchdown in every game except against Oklahoma State, however, given Boise State’s history of unseating Power Five teams this is hardly a gimme game for the Cowboys. Unlike Norvell, Littrell, Satterfield, and Brown. Harsin is the most unlikely to move on from the Broncos. Harsin was born in Boise, graduated from Boise State, and coached at Boise for twelve years (Harsin coached at Texas for two years, and Arkansas State from 2011-2013 before returning to Boise in 2014).     

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