We’re heading into year two of the Big Ten after they swallowed up most of the Pacific league and it’ll take several more years for it to feel normal, if it ever does. This is a conference with the reigning National Champion and the champion the previous season is now going through some drama that was easy to see coming. May it continue forever.

If you missed it, we looked at the Big 12 head coaching situation last week HERE.

New Coaches

Barry Odom – Purdue

The Boilermakers had to move on from Ryan Walters this off-season after just 2 seasons on campus. Eleven straight losses leaves little room for patience. In steps Barry Odom who had a forgettable time at Missouri not that long ago (25-25 overall, 13-19 in the SEC) but comes fresh from an incredible Doing Good Things™ job bringing UNLV (19-8 in 2 seasons) into the national spotlight. The honeymoon period for Odom should last a while as there’s only one way to go but up for Purdue. The Boilers weren’t shy about spending and signed Odom to a $39 million deal for the next 6 seasons.

Hanging Around

P.J. Fleck – Minnesota
David Braun – Northwestern
Greg Schiano – Rutgers

Fleck is entering year 9 with the Gophers and no longer carries the young future superstar label. That terrific 2019 season (11-2) offered hope of big things only for Minnesota to fall back to mediocrity with a 35-24 record over the last 5 years. He’s making almost $7 million with a buyout over $20 million on a contract through the 2029 season. This is the very definition of comfortably hanging around.

After an interim season, David Braun signed a 5-year contract with Northwestern that takes his deal through the 2028 season. His debut as interim wasn’t bad at all (8-5 with a Las Vegas Bowl win) although the elimination of the Big Ten West division was always going to hurt Northwestern and they fell back to 8 losses last year, including 7 in the league. With the disgraceful firing of Pat Fitzgerald this is probably a situation where Braun gets tons of time to work at Northwestern until they move on or otherwise.

Would you recognize Braun among all of the FBS coaches?

Five years into Schiano’s 2nd stint with Rutgers and things are going alright. His 0.433 winning percentage might not seem like much, but this is Rutgers, and it’s a massive improvement over the 0.216 winning percentage during the previous 5 seasons before Schiano’s return. He’s also 2 games over .500 since 2023 and give credit where it’s due the Scarlet Knights are pretty frisky at times. Schiano was extended back at the end of 2023 all the way through the 2030 season and is making over $7 million per year now with annual increases.

Wheel Spinning

Mike Locksley – Maryland
Lincoln Riley – USC

I thought Locksley was a terrible hire for Maryland but it’s turned out to be not half bad. Coming out of the Covid season they combined to go 23-16 with impressive FEI rankings of 30th and 22nd in 2022-23. Last year was a step backwards to 4-8 and there hasn’t been any contract news for him for a couple seasons. His current deal runs through 2027 so the school may be waiting to see how things unfold this fall before committing to an extension.

USC still has 7 years and $77 million remaining on Lincoln Riley’s contract. By all accounts of the reporting around this deal, the buyout is the remaining amount on the contract which remains a huge financial burden for the Trojans’ administration. That’s not great for someone whose record has gone backwards from 3 losses, to 5 losses, and an embarrassing 6 losses and under .500 debut in the Big Ten last year. With so much money and resources involved, Riley probably gets at least 2 more years, if not 3, and let’s hope it goes extremely poorly the whole time.

Poor Early Returns

Sherrone Moore – Michigan
Jonathan Smith – Michigan State
DeShaun Foster – UCLA
Jedd Fisch – Washington
Luke Fickell – Wisconsin

Sherrone Moore is and will end up being a sacrificial lamb. He’s carrying a suspension for the upcoming season, will be an easy scapegoat for Michigan to eventually move on wholesale from the Harbaugh era, and his first season as head coach saw him falter to a mediocre 8-5 season and 5-4 in the Big Ten. If you recall, there was a delay finalizing Moore’s contract and his 5-year deal wasn’t officially signed until the second week of this past September. God willing, more losses pile up and he’s on the hot seat as soon as this fall.

It’s early days for Jonathan Smith coming off his first season in East Lansing and it might take a while to build something positive. This program has lost 22 games over the last 3 years, granted we play more games these days but that’s the most defeats for Michigan State since a skid through 1980-82. How about beating Michigan in 2025, let’s start there! Smith’s contract was a big one–seven years for $53 million so he has time to improve.

DeShaun Foster was one of the head scratching hires from last year taking someone with no coordinating experience and elevating them to a power program head coach. Things got off to a predictably rocky start with 5 straight losses following an uneasy opening 16-13 win over Hawaii. However, the Bruins did finish 2024 with wins in 4 out of their last 6 and seemingly made one of the off-season moves of the year by bringing in Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee to play quarterback. That’ll bring an increase in pressure and drama for 2025. Foster’s contract is entirely manageable for UCLA and a huge decrease from Chip Kelly at just $3 million per year with small annual increases. He’s inked through 2028, as well.

The media will watch UCLA like a hawk in 2025.

After finishing 11th nationally with Arizona it made sense for Jedd Fisch to jump to Washington with the Huskies coming off a National Championship Game appearance and leaving for the bigger payday of the Big Ten. Although, this was always going to be a tough first year with a lot of turnover on the roster (natty appearance to not ranked pre-season is pretty crazy) so a 6-7 record wasn’t that surprising. There will be a lot more scrutiny coming up in year two. This was a big bag for Fisch with Washington, signing a 7-year deal worth $54.3 million.

The situation with Fickell and Wisconsin is one of the more interesting to watch unfold over the next couple years because it has not gone very well and he was given (a school customary) extension this off-season taking his deal through 2031. He’s making nearly $8 million per year and has been producing .500 football with the Badgers. Things could get dark in 2025 with Alabama, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, and Indiana packed into the middle of the schedule.

The Headline Grabbers

Curt Cignetti – Indiana
Matt Rhule – Nebraska
Ryan Day – Ohio State

Cignetti has brought Indiana into the national spotlight and will be looking to nail the off-season transfer portal for the second straight season. Never shy about thumping his chest in the media, you have to wonder how a school like Indiana can follow up a 11-2 season. Remember, late last season before the playoffs Indiana already signed Cignetti to a new contract that more than doubled his salary to nearly $9 million and runs for the next 8 seasons. That’s a lot of dough for the Hoosiers to commit but do they have any other option?

This is a big year for Matt Rhule at Nebraska. He’s gone from 5-7 to 7-6 (although 6-12 in the Big Ten) but the FEI ranking shot up 32 spots to 27th overall last year. He signed a massive $74 million deal that runs through 2030 and increases in base salary each season. With one of the best young quarterbacks in the nation the spotlight is on Rhule to start delivering some quality results.

A big year of hope awaits for Nebraska. 

We were so close to Ryan Day flaming out at Ohio State, taking a sabbatical year, and coming back to run the offense at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Instead, he finally picked up the elusive National Championship, still carries a hefty 0.875 winning percentage, and has provided himself some job security with a new 7-year deal averaging a whopping $12.5 million per season. That’ll buy a lot more beard coloring for years to come.

The Proven Crew

Bret Bielema – Illinois
Kirk Ferentz – Iowa
Dan Lanning – Oregon
James Franklin – Penn State

Bret Bieleman was firmly in the Wheel Spinning category prior to 2024. Through 3 years at Illinois he was 18-19 in a very winnable side of the Big Ten West. They got rid of the divisions and Illinois was one of the positive surprises of the season going 10-3 with a Citrus Bowl win. Odds are this won’t last (Bert wasn’t a head coach for 3 years during 2018-20, but this was his first double-digit win season since 2011) and he’s back to the Wheel Spinning section a year from now. Today, we allow the good vibes for the Fighting Illini and we’ll probably hear about a contract extension sometime in 2025 (a few days after writing this Illinois gave him a new 6-year deal worth $46.2 million).

The longest serving head coach in FBS might not be at Iowa for that much longer. Kirk Ferentz turns 70 this summer and retirement could be around the corner, lurking at any point. However, his current deal runs through the 2029 season so perhaps not. The Hawkeyes feasted on the Big Ten West in the past and actually did pretty well with a 6-3 league record in 2025 (6th best). That didn’t bring any big wins (0-3 vs. ranked teams) including a tough 1-point loss to Iowa State.

Lanning should be in the Headline Grabbers section yet a 20-point loss in the playoffs stings quite a bit for the playoff no. 1 seed last year. Still, Oregon is a good shout for the most consistent and best Big Ten program right now, well except for the Ohio State team that took them out in the post-season and went on to win it all. Lanning is 35-6 through 3 seasons with the Ducks and with the Big Ten financial security there aren’t many better jobs on the market right now. He also just signed a re-worked deal paying him almost $11 million for 6 more seasons. He might be a threat to leave for an Alabama or top-tier SEC school but that’s about it.

Oregon will look to put the bad ending to 2024 behind them. 

For a couple years it seemed like James Franklin was poised to leave Penn State. At one point, his contract was running down and his buyout was paltry compared to many other coaches across the country. A few years ago, the Nittany Lions locked him up to a 10-year deal worth $85 million which seemed like an overpay given that PSU was coming off back-to-back struggling seasons and a combined 11-11 record for 2020-21. Good job for his agent then and since Franklin has gone 34-8 coming off a top 5 finish last year. His current deal runs for 7 more seasons and I think he’s settled for a while in Happy Valley.