C-USA Football Will Look a Little Different in 2017
The regular season for C-USA football has come to a close and the bowl season is almost upon us. Seven of the fourteen teams that comprise the conference will be going bowling.
For the list of those seven teams, their opponents and game times, click HERE
As for the seven teams not bowling? Well, they’re not waiting around till next season to improve their respective teams, they are making moves now… and headlines in the process.
Let’s start with the biggest headline. Insert Lane Kiffin at FAU. A man who is no stranger to making headlines (be it a negative narrative or not) On the precipice of the college football playoff, where Kiffin has a stated he will serve out his tenure as OC for his current team, Alabama, Kiffin’s hiring at Florida Atlantic came as a shock. Before the college football season even ended, Kiffin’s name was already in the rumor mill for several head coaching vacancies. Most notably, the Houston Cougars job.
Others speculations consisted of a landing for Kiffin at Texas, the OC job at LSU, and potentially even ousting current Notre Dame head coach.
Once all the smoke cleared and just when the college football community thought Kiffin would stay put at Saban’s side in Bama, he inks a deal to replace Charlie Partridge at FAU. Kiffin, a coach with a bit of tattered history, whether it be from Al Davis coming off his death bed to proclaim Kiffin as a pathological liar when he was the head man for the Raiders. Or taking the Tennessee job only to up and leave in the middle of the night for his “dream job” at USC. A stint that ultimately ended with too many bad losses and Kiffin being left at the airport by then USC AD, Pat Haden.
So, the question is not, will Kiffin succeed at FAU (which should be no problem for a coach with an elite offensive mind and now having tutored under Nick Saban for two years) but instead, how long will it be before Kiffin jets off to his next stop along his tumultuous career?
Kiffin Not the Only New Head Coach in C-USA
Western Kentucky’s head coach, Jeff Brohm, fresh off a 10-3 record and C-USA championship victory will have a new address next year as he has accepted the Purdue head job. His replacement? All sources point towards Notre Dame’s OC, Mike Sanford to succeed.
After FIU started their 2016 season 0-4, then head coach, Ron Turner got the preverbial ax. Fresh off of the ESPN anchor desk and into the coaching office stepped former Miami (where he won a national title in ’01), and North Carolina coach, Butch Davis. Davis, who had been out of coaching since the he was last a consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2012 to 2013 finished his first season back in the city of Miami 4-4 with an overall record of 4-8.
…And the Blue Raiders
No head coaching changes will take place in Murfreesboro this off season. Head Coach, Rick Stockstill has been at his position since 2006 and compiled an over all record of 64-61 at his time with big Blue. The Raiders are coming off of 2016 where they went 8-4 and finished 3rd in C-USA’s East Division. The Raiders were picked by many to win the entire conference in the pre-season. But with an injury plagued season, an 8-4 record is almost a badge of honor after fighting a war of attrition all season.
