COACHING CAROUSEL - BCS Schools


Cincinnati - Butch Jones

Previous Gig:  Head coach, Central Michigan
Fantasy Impact: This coaching change is about as seamless as you can get, from a fantasy standpoint.  Jones followed Brian Kelly to CMU, where he inherited a legend-to-be in quarterback LeFevour.  Now he follows Kelly once again to Cincy where he inherits an offense ready to roll.  The Bearcats shouldn’t skip a beat in 2010.

Florida State - Jimbo Fisher

Previous Gig:  Offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher
Fantasy Impact: Fisher has been a big part of designing the offense over the past few seasons.  His change in title will likely not have much effect on the offense.  We expect Jimbo & Company to build off of last year, and continue to ride the arm of QB Christian Ponder this fall.

Kansas - Turner Gill

Previous Gig:  Head coach, Buffalo
Fantasy Impact: It might take a little while for Gill to get the pieces in place in Lawrence as he looks to replace the departed trio of QB Todd Reesing, RB Jake Sharp and WR Dezmon Briscoe.  Look for KU to take a big dip in fantasy production in 2010, with a few players emerging as the season progresses as possible waiver wire pick ups.

Kentucky - Joker Phillips

Previous Gig:  Offensive coordinator, Kentucky
Fantasy Impact: Like Jimbo at FSU, Joker was a “coach in waiting” the past season.  There should be little to no fantasy impact this fall from what we have seen from UK in past years.  Look for Randall Cobb to continue to get the ball in his hands in a variety of ways.

Louisville - Charlie Strong

Previous Gig:  Defensive coordinator, Florida
Fantasy Impact: Strong brings a defense-first mentality to the struggling Louisville program.  While this new philosophy might help the Cardinals win football games, it isn’t exactly the kind of hire that has fantasy junkies drooling over their draft cheatsheets. 

Notre Dame - Brian Kelly

Previous Gig:  Head coach, Cincinnati
Fantasy Impact: There’s not much to say here that you don’t already know.  Kelly has had great offensive success everywhere he’s been, and expectations are high in South Bend that he will continue to put points on the board.  The Irish should produce fantasy talent for years to come, starting with Dayne Crist, Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph this fall.

Tennessee - Derek Dooley

Previous Gig:  Head coach, La Tech
Fantasy Impact: Dooley coached RBs for Nick Saban’s LSU squads in 2003-04 before landing the head job at La Tech.  There, he had decent success churning out decent fantasy RB’s (Patrick Jackson, Daniel Porter).  This could bode well for RB Tauren Poole.

Texas Tech - Tommy Tuberville

Previous Gig:  Head coach, Auburn (2008)
Fantasy Impact: To the dismay of fantasy geeks nationwide, the Mike Leach Era is over in Lubbock.  Coach Tubbs takes over the reigns and figures to be a great hire from a Win-Loss standpoint.  But will he destroy the fantasy value of the Red Raiders?  Maybe.  Tuberville claims he will continue to run the spread offense, but one can expect a natural dip in production without Leach calling the plays.  And if he isn’t successful with this offense, will Tubbs go back to his roots - trying to win with defense and a running game?  Time will tell.  In 2010, we expect Texas Tech to run the ball a bit more, but still try to toss the rock around quite a bit.  Just not as much as in the Leach years.

USC - Lane Kiffin

Previous Gig:  Head coach, Tennessee
Fantasy Impact:  It’s business as usual at USC with Kiffin replacing Pete Carroll. Expect the Trojans to run the same offense as in past years, and have similar success.  The USC QB is always a fantasy factor in BCS leagues, and they are usually good to produce a solid WR option.  The question, as always, will be whether or not they go RBBC.  Maybe if Lane threw us a bone and went with a feature back, we would actually begin to like him a little bit.  Or maybe not.

USF - Skip Holtz

Previous Gig:  Head coach, East Carolina
Fantasy Impact: Holtz produced a few fantasy standouts during his time at ECU (RB Chris Johnson, RB Aundrae Allison, WR Dwayne Harris).  However, his QB’s were unspectacular, averaging 15 TD passes during Holtz’s 5 seasons at the school.  Holtz brings his OC with him from ECU (Todd Fitch).  They inherit a big-time playmaker in dual threat QB B.J. Daniels.  If they allow Daniels to tuck it and run, he should be in for a nice fantasy season.

Virginia - Mike London

Previous Gig:  Head coach, Richmond
Fantasy Impact: London brings with him an impressive college and pro resume, which should help the Cavs in the long run.  In two years with the Spiders, London based his offense on the running game.  He also had a mobile QB who he let run quite a bit.  We don’t foresee UVA making any fantasy noise in 2010 as they seem to lack playmakers.