National Football League

Black Sunday: Tracking coach hirings & firings around the nation

Published Nov. 30, 2014 10:09 p.m. ET

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Four weeks remain until Black Monday, the annual NFL tradition where the have-nots of the league gut their coaching staffs a day after the regular season concludes. In college football, conference title games, bowl games and a playoff still remain on the schedule, but plenty of head coaches and athletic directors had apparently seen enough to give us Black Sunday ... though not all news was bad news for some coaches.

No move sent more shockwaves than the one made in Lincoln, Nebraska, as athletic director Shawn Eichorst sent Bo Pelini packing after seven seasons as the head man of the Cornhuskers. Nebraska actually won on Friday (37-34 in overtime at Iowa), giving the program at least nine wins in every season under Pelini. And a bowl game still remains for Nebraska. But that wasn't enough for Eichorst.

"I didn't see enough improvement in areas that were important for us to move forward to play championship-caliber football. ... We just, for whatever reason, weren't good enough in the games that mattered against championship-caliber opponents. And I didn't see that changing. It wasn't a lack of effort by him or his staff or our wonderful players, but I think new leadership was in order."

Associate head coach Barney Cotton, a Nebraska alum, will be the interim head coach for the Cornhuskers' bowl game.

Pelini was signed through 2019 and, according to Eichorst, will receive a $7.9 million settlement from the school (though the figure could come down should Pelini land another job). Pelini was 66-27 at Nebraska and led the Cornhuskers to three conference championship games. But he was 0-3 in those games.

As for who could replace Pelini? Here are some possibilities, according to FOX College Football Insider Bruce Feldman.

One man it won't be is Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris, because ...

SMU

Sitting at 0-11 with a trip to UConn on Saturday to close out the season, the Mustangs are set to announce Morris as SMU's new head coach on Monday, according to multiple reports. According to The Dallas Morning News, SMU will pay Morris $2 million per year to replace June Jones, who resigned two games into this season.

Morris, who has coached the high-powered Clemson offense the past four seasons, was the 2013 National Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. He was also named the National Offensive Coordinator of the Year in 2011 by Rivals.com.

Auburn

A year ago, the Tigers were coming off the miracle "Kick Six" win over Alabama in the Iron Bowl and prepping for Missouri in the SEC title game en route to a spot in the BCS Championship Game. On Sunday, they fired defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, a day after losing 55-44 to the Crimson Tide for their third loss in four games to drop their record to 8-4.

Auburn had one of the worst defenses in the SEC, giving up 26.1 points per game and finishing 13th in the conference in pass defense at 239.2 yards allowed per game. Johnson's replacement will be the Tigers' fifth defensive coordinator since the start of the 2008 season.

Washington State

The Cougars went 3-9 this season. According to Feldman, the Cougars fired two defensive coaches on Sunday.

#WashingtonState has let DC Mike Breske & OLB coach Paul Volero both go, source told @FoxSports.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 1, 2014

The school later confirmed both coaches had been let go by coach Mike Leach on Sunday night.

The Cougars finished 10th in the Pac-12 in scoring defense and were particularly vulnerable in the secondary. Washington State was 11th in pass defense and often couldn't get the stops to help the offense. The Cougars had only one interception after Sept. 13. It was a significant step back after the defense was a strength during Leach's second season.

Both Breske and Volero had been with Leach since he came to Washington State before the 2012 season. Volero joined Washington State after coaching in high school in Florida. Before that, he was an assistant at Central Michigan.

Illinois

One coach who will be having a happy holiday season is Tim Beckham, as AD Mike Thomas confirmed Sunday that the Illini head coach will be back in 2015.

Beckman apparently secured his job with a 47-33 victory at Northwestern on Saturday and three wins in the team's final five games. That made the Illini (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten) bowl eligible in Beckman's third season and apparently signified the kind of progress Thomas said he needed to see in the football program.

"Our student-athletes have played their best football of the season down the stretch of a tough schedule that included nine bowl-eligible opponents. It's my expectation that with the upcoming bowl and another offseason of development, that Tim's continued leadership will keep Fighting Illini football moving forward and even more competitive in the conference and nationally," Thomas said in a brief statement.

Illinois is 12-24 under Beckman. His contract expires in January 2017. Sunday's announcement didn't include a raise or contract extension.

Beckman took over at Illinois after Ron Zook was fired following a 6-6 season in 2011. But Zook's team finished with six straight regular-season losses.

Buffalo

Feldman also learned Sunday night that one of the winningest coaches in Division III is moving to the big time of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Lance Leipold who has won 5 D3 national titles, has agreed to become the next head coach at #Buffalo, source tells @FoxSports.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 1, 2014

Those five national championships have come over eight seasons at Wisconsin-Whitewater for the 50-year-old Leipold. In those eight seasons, the Warhawks have 106 wins and just six losses. In October, Leipold became the fastest coach to 100 wins across all divisions in NCAA history. Top-ranked UWW beat Wabash 38-14 this past Saturday to improve to 12-0 and advance to the DIII quarterfinals.

Troy

After finishing 3-9 overall and 3-5 in the lowly Sun Belt Conference, the Trojans turned to the mighty SEC for help and plucked offensive coordinator Neal Brown from Kentucky to be their next head coach.

The school says Brown will be introduced at a news conference on Monday. He was flying into Troy on Sunday with athletic director John Hartwell. The Associated Press and other outlets first reported the hiring on Saturday.

The 34-year-old Brown spent two seasons as Troy's offensive coordinator and held the same post at Texas Tech before joining head coach Mark Stoops at Kentucky in 2013.

He'll replace Larry Blakeney, who coached the Trojans for 24 seasons. They completed their season Saturday with a 42-23 loss at home to Sun Belt Conference rival Louisiana-Lafayette.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story