College Football head coach is a results-based occupation, but 2025 has been disproportionately harsh for big name coaches. College football is big business and the NIL and transfer portal era has only made that more literal. Coaches no longer have 5-10 years to establish their brand of football. With multiple programs executing roster flips, primarily utilizing the transfer portal, the idea it takes a while to change your fate simply no longer exists as it previously did.
For the first time in recent memory, not only are there 11 significant job openings, but most of those openings meant the firing of many big-name coaches. Billy Napier and James Franklin are arguably the biggest on the list, but most of the names of fired coaches in 2025 are big names. Or at least famous names in the sport for a few reasons.
Napier and Franklin are without question the headliners of these coaching firings. Regardless of their significant buyout clauses, it’s a safe assumption both men will find new coaching jobs and its likely just a matter of time vs program fit. Franklin suggested in his interview on ESPN’s College Gameday that he is excited to coach again.
“I thought we were going to win a National Championship there, we were close. That goal hasn’t changed, we’re just going to win a National Championship somewhere else now.”
James Franklin's College Gameday Interview following his firing https://t.co/I9ecWFyOZI via @YouTube
— AFR_Jones (@AfrFiction86890) October 21, 2025
In addition to Napier at Florida and Franklin at Penn State, Oregon State fired Trent Bray, Arkansas fired Sam Pittman, Oklahoma State fired long time coach and former player Mike Gundy, UCLA fired Deshaun Foster, Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry, Stanford fired Troy Taylor, Colorado State fired Jay Norvell, UAB fired Trent Dilfer, and Kent State fired Kenni Burns, to round out the 11 noteworthy college football job openings. Napier, Franklin, Bray, Gundy, and Foster are all noteworthy names and, in some part, constitute either a surprise firing or a situation that had reached the point of no return.
Trent Dilfer’s time at UAB was a great example of simply not being good enough to continue. Dilfer had a combined 9-21 record in Birmingham. That included 0-15 on the road and 5-14 record in conference. While Dilfer’s time will be remembered for a lack of wins in general, Jay Norvell’s story at Colorado State will be remembered for two very specific factors. His record vs front range teams (ie Air Force, Wyoming, and Colorado) and his inability to beat Coach Prime following their "its personal" narrative from 2023. Norvell was 2-6 vs Colorado, Air Force and Wyoming with the only two wins coming against Air Force and Wyoming.
Many of these names will find new coaching jobs and likely very soon. However, the amount of big name coaching who are no longer coaching their teams is significant. Some of these firings were expected while some left fans scratching their heads. As the season continues and transitions into bowl season and the offseason, all of these names are names to follow for upcoming head coaching openings.
More college football news:
- Deion Sanders buyout, contract details as Colorado Buffaloes coach
- Four coaches on the hottest seats in the 2025 college football season
- Was Adidas behind James Franklin's firing? Penn State breaks silence on rumor
- Bill Belichick and UNC didn't want a quarterback who's now tearing up the ACC
- Tim Tebow sends clear message to Texas Longhorns about Arch Manning