The college football season is coming to its conclusion soon and during Notre Dame’s 2nd bye week what better time than now to take a look at the head coach’s doing a mighty fine job in 2023. As always, we aren’t including the super obvious candidates (great job over there, Kirby Smart!) and want to focus on the lesser known people who are Doing Good Things™ right now.

Here are 14 names, listed in alphabetical order:

Jeff Brohm – Louisville 

One month ago Louisville was a nice little story but they hadn’t really played anyone worth a lick yet. When they lined up against Notre Dame they were a solid 37th nationally according to FEI. They do have the turnover-filled loss to Pittsburgh since then but an appearance in the ACC Championship Game still looks likely. Plus, they’re now 16th nationally in FEI and even more amazingly they’re 19th in FEI defense (40 spots better than prior to the ND matchup) while they have been one of the best defenses in the country in recent weeks. It feels a little smoke and mirrors to me, but Brohm has exceeded expectations big time so far.

Jason Candle – Toledo

I suspect this could be the last season for Candle at Toledo even though he just signed a contract extension through 2026 this past summer. The Rockets are currently undefeated in the league and Candle is looking for his 3rd MAC crown while also going for back-to-back titles. Candle has also won 11 out of his last 12 games while going unbeaten against non-Power 5 teams over that stretch. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a MAC head coach whose career really took off quickly and maybe Candle is that next guy at 43 years old?

Jamey Chadwell – Liberty

A lot of people thought it was a curious move for Chadwell to leave Coastal Carolina for Liberty when it seemed like maybe a handful of bigger jobs were on the offer. Well, Liberty is looking to go 10-0 this weekend and Chadwell has the Flames putting up big, big rushing numbers on offense. He’s finishing up the first of a 7-year deal worth $28 million so there’s not a huge monetary reason to skip town just yet.

Curt Cignetti – James Madison

The Dukes are in the 2nd year of a transitionary period from FCS and ineligible for the post-season which stinks because undefeated James Madison would be getting a lot more major bowl hype right now if that wasn’t the case. Cignetti is no young pup at 62 years old but has this program cooking at the FBS level with 12 straight wins dating back to last year.

Jedd Fisch – Arizona

After a 1-11 start the Fisch era didn’t look like much was going right for Arizona. Today, the Wildcats are already bowl eligible at 6-3 and honestly Fisch should be squarely in the conversation for National Coach of the Year. They’ve beaten 3 straight (at game time) ranked opponents and a pair of their losses have come in overtime. They’re favored by 11 this weekend over Colorado and could very well finish 8-4 and as high as 3rd or 4th in a really competitive Pac-12 this year.

Lots of smiles this year for Fisch. 

Willie Fritz – Tulane

After last year, Fritz was pursued by several programs and at one point looked like the favored choice to take over at Georgia Tech. However, he decided to stay put in New Orleans and has the Green Wave in position for a 2nd straight major bowl game. At 63 years old–and coming off a hefty contract extension last December that pushes his annual salary reportedly over $3 million–I’m not sure he will be leaving for greener pastures any time soon. Especially after telling the media he’d like to retire at Tulane, but you never know!

Brent Key – Georgia Tech

Speaking of Georgia Tech, it’s your 3rd place in the ACC Yellow Jackets! Maybe the program made the right choice keeping Brent Key and removing his 2022 interim tag after all? They do have to travel to Clemson this weekend and of course finish the season with Georgia. However, we may be looking back at this 2023 campaign and thinking Georgia Tech was this close (they led 28-13 against Louisville in the opener and blew the game!) to making the ACC Championship Game. The suddenly relevant Bees are really a thing now.

Jerry Kill – New Mexico State

I’ll be completely honest, I lost track of Jerry Kill’s career after his health problems forced him to resign at Minnesota 8 years ago. His tenure with the Gophers seems so far away from today. And yet, Kill has been at New Mexico State since 2022 truly doing amazing work. They’re currently on a 5-game winning streak, have won 10 out of their last 13 games, and are on track to play in the Conference USA Championship after moving up from independent status last year.

G.J. Kinne – Texas State

Kinne is probably the least impressive coach featured today because of his inexperience (2nd year coaching and 1st at Texas State) but his upset of Baylor in the season opener put him on the map as a promising young 34-year old. The finish to this season will be important, it could end up being a decent year but also the Bobcats could also possibly sneak into the Sun Belt Championship Game.

Rhett Lashlee – SMU

When Manny Diaz was fired at Miami his offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee left to replace Sonny Dykes as head coach at SMU. Lashlee’s first season with the Mustangs was a touch disappointing against a difficult schedule and now he has the program undefeated in AAC play while he’s looking to move into a Power 5 job next year in the ACC. It’s quite the fortuitous career route!

Barry Odom – UNLV

The Rebels fired Marcus Arroyo last year after he improved the school’s win total from 0 (Covid year), to 2, and then 5 wins in 2022 (their most since 2017) in a bit of a curious decision. Well, it seems to have worked out just fine as Barry Odom has UNLV absolutely cooking at 7-2 and on their way to perhaps the best season in school history this century. Maybe even longer. Odom had a really up and down career at Missouri but this is a major revitalization to his resume.

Rich Rodriguez – Jacksonville State

Could we see Rich Rod back on the national scene again? After a 5-year break he’s back as a head coach finishing up his 2nd season at Jacksonville State where he’s 16-5 overall and has lost only 1 conference game thus far. It’s looking like the regular season finale at New Mexico State is going to decide the final spot in the Conference USA title game. Kill vs. Rich Rod!

He’s back!

Jon Sumrall – Troy

Several years ago, we saw Neal Brown finish his career at Troy going 31-8 leading to taking the West Virginia job. Brown’s replacement Jon Sumrall has continued that success and heads into the weekend on a 6-game winning streak and 19-4 overall record with the program. He’s also coming off a Sun Belt championship in his 1st season and has won 18 out of his last 20 games with a brutal 2-point loss to 2023 darling program James Madison back in week 3 among the defeats.

Jeff Traylor – UTSA

I thought Traylor was headed for a new job last off-season but he’s stayed at UTSA, and while dealing with early season injuries to quarterback Frank Harris, he’s still kept the ball rolling for the Roadrunners. They’ve lost 3 times in 2023 to Houston, Army, and Tennessee (Harris missed the latter 2 games) but Traylor is undefeated so far in his AAC debut season. Stretching back to 2021, UTSA have won 14 straight conference games and in nearly 4 full seasons Traylor is 25-3 in league play.