Coaching Changes That Will Impact The 2026 College Football Season

The coaching carousel ran rampant this past offseason.

Lane Kiffin jumped from one SEC team to another.

Kyle Whittingham will try to restore Michigan's prowess.

A handful of top programs are betting their future on up-and-coming former Group of Six coaches.

Coaching changes will affect the 2026 college football season.

Here's a look at the moves that could have the greatest impact.

Kiffin left Ole Miss in November after leading the Rebels to an 11-1 record.

After five years at Ole Miss, Kiffin's departure created chaos around a feel-good College Football Playoff run for the Rebels.

Kiffin hopped to SEC rival LSU, his fifth stop as a Division I head coach and third in the SEC.

Kiffin recruited Arizona State transfer QB Sam Leavitt to join him as he tries to revitalize a Tigers' program that hasn't won the SEC since 2019 with Joe Burrow in the pocket.

Chesney followed the footsteps of Curt Cignetti, going from the Sun Belt's James Madison to the Big Ten, and he settled at UCLA.

In 2025, Chesney led the Dukes to a 12-1 season, including a Sun Belt title and a CFP appearance.

He'll try to turn around a Bruins program that went 8-16 under DeShaun Foster in its first two seasons of B1G football.

UCLA's roster consists of 63 newcomers, 42 of them transfers – 10 of which came from JMU with Chesney.