NCAAF · 9 months ago

College Football’s Worst Coaches of 2024: Ranking the Bottom 10

TJ Inman

Host · Writer

10. Mike Locksley - Maryland
There was curiosity about how Mike Locksley would do without Taulia Tagovailoa as his quarterback in College Park. His first season without the difference-making quarterback raised concerns in Maryland. The Terrapins were just 1-8 in the Big Ten and 4-8 overall. The poor results came despite above-average play from quarterback Billy Edwards. Mike Locksley does a nice job of assembling talent, but the roster doesn’t perform up to expectations consistently, and then a lot of the talent in College Park leaves in the transfer portal for better programs. It’s a bad cycle, and Locksley’s time at Maryland is running out.

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1. Kenni Burns - Kent State
Kenni Burns and the Kent State Golden Flashes went from horrible in 2023 to somehow even worse in 2024. Burns was hired before the 2023 season and went 1-11 and 0-8 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). He returned for the 2024 season and lost every game, including one to FCS foe St. Francis (PA), en route to a 0-12 season and a 0-8 conference record. The numbers are jarring: Kent State was outscored 167-529 and surrendered a whopping 324 points to MAC opponents. Burns is being kept around for another season as the head coach at Kent State, and it’s hard to see how things get much better.

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2. Ryan Walters - Purdue
No power conference team was worse than the Purdue Boilermakers. Ryan Walters’s crew got off to an okay start with a win over the Indiana State Sycamores, but things went downhill very quickly after that as the Boilers lost 11 straight to end the campaign. These were often not ordinary losses as Purdue got blown out and embarrassed repeatedly: 66-7 to Notre Dame, 38-21 to a bad Oregon State team, 52-6 to a very average Wisconsin team, 35-0 to Oregon, 45-0 to Ohio State, 49-10 to Penn State and a historic beatdown against rival Indiana 66-0. After just two seasons, Purdue moved on from Walters and hired Barry Odom from UNLV.
3. Mike Norvell - Florida State
To be clear, Mike Norvell did not forget how to coach during the offseason. However, the 2024 season was a catastrophe for Norvell and the Seminoles in every sense of the word, and hard questions are being asked in Tallahassee about the program's future. Florida State has decided to build the program via the transfer portal, and it backfired in a big way as the Seminoles went just 1-7 in the reasonably weak ACC and 2-10 overall, with the lone wins coming over Cal and Charleston Southern. Norvell enters the 2025 season on the hot seat.

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4. Kevin Wilson - Tulsa
Kevin Wilson, the former Ohio State staffer, and former Indiana University head coach, had a tall task entering the season with Tulsa. The Hurricane were blown over on their way to a 3-9 record as they went just 1-7 in the American Athletic Conference. The Hurricanes surrendered 510 points this season, the second-most points nationally! That includes giving up 63 points in each of the campaign's final two weeks. Wilson was fired after the season, and Tulsa hired East Tennessee State head coach Tre Lamb to clean up the mess.
5. Mike Gundy - Oklahoma State
The Big 12 was a wide-open league where anything could happen—well, anything but Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys winning a league game, apparently. Oklahoma State returned a good core group on both sides of the ball, but it lost nine straight games and finished winless in the league and 3-9 overall. Things appear stale in Stillwater, and Gundy is out of answers to revitalize the program.
6. Gus Malzahn - Central Florida
The Central Florida Knights were supposed to contend for the Big 12 Championship. They were chosen by several analysts as a preseason playoff team thanks to their expected dominant running attack that could control games in the wide-open league. Fast forward to the end of the season, and Gus Malzahn is now the offensive coordinator at Florida State, and the Knights have brought back former head coach Scott Frost and hit the “reset” button as a program. UCF went 4-8 and just 2-7 in the Big 12.

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7. Shawn Clark - Appalachian State
Putting Shawn Clark on this list is perhaps a bit harsh due to the extenuating circumstances in the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Still, Appalachian State has a proud history, and the Mountaineers were beyond dreadful on defense well before the devastation of Helene. They gave up a whopping 66 points (which could have been worse) to Clemson, 48 to South Alabama, 52 to Marshall and 38 to Coastal Carolina. The program was trending down, and the Mountaineers acted quickly, firing Clark and bringing in Dowell Loggains (South Carolina offensive coordinator) as the new head coach.
8. Don Brown - Massachusetts
Winning at UMass is a considerable challenge, and Don Brown proved this season that he was not the man to overachieve there. The Minutemen went 2-10 and lost their final four games. Brown deserves credit for keeping UMass competitive in some challenging games, but the only two wins were over Central Connecticut and Wagner. They failed to beat any future conference foes (MAC) they clashed with. Brown was fired after the season, and Joe Harasymiak was hired by Rutgers (defensive coordinator).
9. Trent Dilfer - UAB Blazers
Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer was an interesting hire by the UAB Blazers before the 2023 season. Dilfer had been the head coach at a prestigious Nashville high school and had no college coaching experience, but he had a plan, and the Blazers gave him a shot. Through two seasons, there are no signs that Dilfer can lead a strong collegiate program. The Blazers only won three games and were manhandled by UL Monroe (32-6), Navy (41-18), Tulane (71-20), Army (44-10) and Memphis (53-18). At numerous times, broadcasters and analysts called out the team for looking like they had quit on the coaching staff. Nonetheless, Dilfer is being given another season to right the ship.
10. Mike Locksley - Maryland
There was curiosity about how Mike Locksley would do without Taulia Tagovailoa as his quarterback in College Park. His first season without the difference-making quarterback raised concerns in Maryland. The Terrapins were just 1-8 in the Big Ten and 4-8 overall. The poor results came despite above-average play from quarterback Billy Edwards. Mike Locksley does a nice job of assembling talent, but the roster doesn’t perform up to expectations consistently, and then a lot of the talent in College Park leaves in the transfer portal for better programs. It’s a bad cycle, and Locksley’s time at Maryland is running out.

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1. Kenni Burns - Kent State
Kenni Burns and the Kent State Golden Flashes went from horrible in 2023 to somehow even worse in 2024. Burns was hired before the 2023 season and went 1-11 and 0-8 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). He returned for the 2024 season and lost every game, including one to FCS foe St. Francis (PA), en route to a 0-12 season and a 0-8 conference record. The numbers are jarring: Kent State was outscored 167-529 and surrendered a whopping 324 points to MAC opponents. Burns is being kept around for another season as the head coach at Kent State, and it’s hard to see how things get much better.

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College Football’s Worst Coaches of 2024: Ranking the Bottom 10

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