It was a relatively calm off-season for the Big Ten on the coaching carousel portion until the Northwestern situation exploded in the summer resulting in the termination of long-time head coach and former player, Pat Fitzgerald.
Only three schools made changes to their head coach. The Wisconsin Badgers fired Paul Chryst (which in my opinion was a bit too soon), the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who canned Scott Frost (which took too long), and the Purdue Boilermakers who lost Jeff Brohm to the Louisville Cardinals.
Both the Nebraska and Wisconsin jobs are considered top-tier positions due to their history, prestige, and financial backing. That’s rather ironic considering that Purdue has had the most success on the field of the three but typically relies on finding up-and-comers or promoting coordinators.
Due to the gap in potential candidates between schools, it is always hard to gauge and compare hirings, but when it comes right down to it, the only question that needs to be answered is, was this guy a good hire?
Let’s dive into our rankings of the new head coaches in the Big Ten in 2023, not including Northwestern as their situation and new head coach wasn’t chosen by choice.
3
Ryan Walters, Purdue
Previous Job: Illinois Defensive Coordinator
Most pundits are ranting and raving about this hire because Ryan Walters was instrumental in building the Fighting Illini defense that was ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring defense with 12.8 points per game last season.
The issue I have with the hire and the reason he is ranked here on this list is that his resume is short and other than his accomplishments at Illinois it is not that impressive. Walters did great work with the Fighting Illini in 2021 and 2022, but prior to that, he was at Missouri, where he was the safeties coach in 2015 and was promoted to defensive coordinator the next season in 2016.
The Tigers’ defense was never anything to write home about during his tenure, but it’s always impressive when a new head coach retains staff. Eliah Drinkwitz was hired as the head coach at Missouri and he elected to keep Walters as defensive coordinator. Before Missouri, Walters was the cornerbacks coach at Memphis in 2014.
A guy I thought would have been a better fit, especially given the talent already there is G.J. Kinne who took over the Texas State head coaching role this off-season. Kinne also has a fairly bare-bones resume as he has only been a head coach for one season, but he was the head coach and Incarnate Word went 12-2 under Kinne. Previous to that, Kinne was the offensive coordinator at UCF in 2021 and Hawaii in 2020.
2
Luke Fickell, Wiconsin
Previous Job: Cincinnati Head Coach
Widely considered the best hire of the entire cycle, Luke Fickell arrives to Wisconsin after going 57-18 at Cincinnati from 2017-2022 and accomplishing five straight seasons of nine or more wins. Previous to Cincinnati, Fickell was at Ohio State from 2002-2016 starting out as the special teams coordinator for two seasons before being promoted to linebackers coach for one season and then again being promoted in 2005 to defensive coordinator.
The biggest issue I have with Fickell is that Cincinnati is significantly easier to recruit at than the rest of their competition in the American Athletic Conference. His record was extremely impressive, but it’s hard to determine how much more a leg up Cincinnati has over the likes of Tulsa, Tulane, and Navy.
1
Matt Rhule, Nebraska
Previous Job: Carolina Panthers Head Coach
Why is this hire not being talked about more? Matt Rhule was abysmal in the NFL, but who cares? Nick Saban was also miserable in the NFL, but the game at the next level is different and Rhule is not just a great college football coach, but he is a legitimate program builder.
He brought both Baylor and Temple back from the dead. Rhule is such a strong hire that the Cornhuskers should be a team to watch this season. It astonishes me that I am in the minority of thinking this is the best hire in all of college football.
