Lincoln Riley, Deion Sanders and Kyle Whittingham: Inside the jobs that could shake up the coaching carousel

Three FBS jobs are open heading into Halloween weekend, and industry sources say a bigger domino could be next

Oct 28, 2026 at 11:59 am ET • 7 min read

What was initially expected to be a slow college football coaching cycle began to pick up steam over the weekend with NC State and Baylor firing their longtime head coaches on back-to-back days.

That makes three FBS openings heading into Halloween weekend, and there are several other jobs worth watching as the season enters the stretch run.

This is the latest we're hearing at CBS Sports on the open jobs, the status of coaches on the hot seat and even a job that could cause an earthquake in the 2026 carousel.

USC

There is not a situation that elicits more intrigue or industry questions than what will happen between Lincoln Riley and USC. The heat was turned up on Riley after the Trojans lost to Oregon a month ago, and the simmer turned into a near-boil with a disastrous 24-7 loss to Wisconsin last week.

Does Riley, a Texas native, look for an exit ramp and pursue the just-vacated Baylor job to restart his clock? Is there another job in Texas that could open that could present a similar opportunity? 

In that scenario, it would help USC get out from what is believed to be an onerous $70 million buyout if it were to fire Riley outright. Either way, industry sources believe it's increasingly likely the Trojans will have a different head coach in 2027. Of note, USC athletic director Jen Cohen did not hire Riley.

In what was originally expected to be a quieter coaching carousel, USC's opening has the potential to create a significant domino effect throughout the college football ecosystem.

For what it's worth, Riley said he was committed to remaining at USC. "I love it here," he said on Tuesday. "I've told you guys many times. There's not many people in college football history who gave up what I gave up to come here."

Lincoln Riley shuts down USC exit speculation as pressure builds: 'I believe in this place'

Austin Nivison

Florida State

Entering the season, CBS Sports tabbed four coaches as being on the hottest seat. Through late October, two have been fired. One is playing himself off the hot seat (Wisconsin's Luke Fickell). Then there is Florida State's Mike Norvell. 

The FSU coach's fate has never been totally predetermined; some industry sources still believe Norvell has a chance to keep his job going into 2027. The key factors there: some important FSU folks are rooting for Norvell to succeed and believe it's been more of an institutional problem than a coaching one; the school doesn't have a permanent athletic director, and there's that big $50 million buyout to deal with. 

Still, Norvell will have to win games down the stretch, starting this weekend against Clemson. If Norvell goes 4-1 and finishes with seven wins, it seems like there's a real possibility he's back in 2027 as the Seminoles' head coach.

Florida State president Richard McCullough issued a statement Tuesday on the state of the school's athletic director search, which he said is expected to begin "soon."

Rutgers

Despite considerable outside speculation about Greg Schiano's future, multiple industry sources believe the job is less likely to open than the public thinks, at least for now. Schiano's $17 million-plus buyout is more burdensome for the Rutgers athletic department than for many of its Power Four peers, as it faced a $78 million deficit in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Rutgers is 2-5 this season and has a challenging remaining schedule which includes Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

TCU

Despite signing a contract extension in April, the heat continues to turn up on Sonny Dykes after a 1-4 start against Power Four opponents. The Horned Frogs have lost four winnable games by a total of 20 points. It's an early-season stretch that's taken TCU out of the Big 12 title race for a fourth straight season, and that's viewed as the standard for a program funded among the best in the league. There's some thought around the football building that Dykes should be safe -- as he's coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons -- but there are frustrated boosters and decision makers about the lack of championship success since TCU's national title game run in 2022.

One thing to watch with TCU is the recent change in the school's chancellor. Daniel Pullin resigned recently after just 17 months, and the university's former chancellor, Victor Boschini Jr., stepped back into the role. Boschini helped hire Dykes. But as some have pointed out: He's the same chancellor who was part of the decision-making group to move on from Gary Patterson believing the program needed a spark.

South Carolina

Shane Beamer appears to be on solid footing after recent wins over two top-20 teams -- Florida and Tennessee. The Gamecocks are 4-3 with a manageable enough schedule that Beamer could finish with anywhere from seven to nine wins. South Carolina has never shown much interest in paying a buyout of more than $22 million, and the recent win streak makes it easier to avoid doing so.

Colorado

It can get weird in Boulder. Industry sources believe first-year athletic director Fernando Lovo could be interested in making a change -- New Mexico's Jason Eck, who was with Lovo at New Mexico, would be a potential target -- but the feeling around the industry is that the school isn't positioned to pay a more than $25 million buyout to fire Deion Sanders. Is there a negotiated settlement that would allow Colorado and Deion to both move on? It's unclear if Sanders would be open to that. After all the early attention around the Deion Sanders era in Colorado, it hasn't led to much recent success. Sanders is 3-12 in his last 15 games and has two wins over Power Four opponents the last two seasons.

Michigan

A situation that has gotten no media attention yet but is being whispered about behind the scenes in industry circles is the one in Ann Arbor. Athletic director Warde Manuel is on the way out, and first-year coach Kyle Whittingham was a bridge hire. Could that ultimately be only a one-year bridge? It's too early to go that far, but multiple industry sources believe it is at least possible that Michigan could be back in the head-coaching market for a second consecutive cycle. The 66-year-old Whittingham is 4-3 this season and has lost three of his last four games. With games against Oregon, UCLA and Ohio State still to come, there's a possibility the Wolverines go 6-6 this season.

Is that enough to thrust Michigan back in the coaching market? Sources believe Michigan wants to figure out its athletic director search first -- it has hired Turnkey ZRG to assist -- but aren't ruling out a change at the football coach position, too.

"I think they know this isn't the long term," said one industry source. "It's just do you rip it up after one year?"

Boston College

The Eagles are off to a 4-3 start this season, and hot seat talk around Bill O'Brien has cooled. Boston College does have a difficult remaining stretch with games against Duke, Florida State, Notre Dame, Miami and Syracuse. There's acknowledgment in the administration at BC that the Eagles were under-resourced in 2025 when O'Brien went 2-10 in Year 2. That season saw BC operate on one of the smallest Power Four rosters in the country.

Syracuse

Fran Brown started off hot in Year 1 with a 10-3 start, but he's been just 6-13 since, and things have gotten warm in New York. The Orange did pick up an overtime win over North Carolina last weekend, which cools things down for the moment. But pressure is on Brown, especially given the Orange have a new athletic director, Bryan Blair, in place.

Group of Six

UTEP: Scotty Walden is 6-25 at UTEP, including just 1-6 in Year 3. It's been a rough on-field transition to the Mountain West for the Miners. Walden has churned through coordinators -- six in three seasons -- and his seat is among the warmest in college football.

Sam Houston: The Bearkats are still looking for their first win against FBS competition after going 2-10 in Year 1 under Phil Longo. Sam Houston currently lacks an athletic director, which complicates the situation. But industry sources agree that Sam Houston is a job to watch.

Charlotte: Tim Albin had considerable success at Ohio. But it's been a rough go with the 49ers, who have won just two of 17 games in Albin's tenure so far. Charlotte lacks elite resources. But the expectations are higher for the 49ers than for a 2-17 team. Staffers are optimistic they'll get another year, but this job keeps coming up among industry sources.

Tulane: Despite Will Hall being in his first year with the program, some industry sources think this could be a one-and-done situation. Tulane initially offered the job to LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who opted to stay in Baton Rouge. The Green Wave then pivoted to then-Toledo coach Jason Candle, but he opted to take the UConn job over Tulane. That led the school to instead tab Hall, the program's pass game coordinator, as head coach. The Green Wave sit at 3-4 in 2026, a year after a playoff appearance.

Other Group of Six jobs we're monitoring include Akron, New Mexico State and Louisiana-Monroe.