Coaching Progress Report: 1st-Year Coaches Meeting, Exceeding Or Below Expectations?

Through five weeks of the 2025 college football season, some first-year head coaches have exceeded their expectations, and others… not so much.

UCLA's Bob Chesney is in his first year as head coach of a Power Four program, and has brought UCLA into its first 4-0 overall and 2-0 conference play start since the 2022 season. For a coach like Penn State's Matt Campbell, suffering a loss to Northwestern on the road was not supposed to be in the cards in his first year in the Big Ten. Michigan, Utah, Oklahoma State and more also all have first-year coaches, and have already found success or failure all along that spectrum.

For FOX Sports' Joel Klatt, here's a look at how first-year coaches are fulfilling their expectations:

Below Expectations

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Klatt's thoughts: "It's easy to forget what Kyle Whittingham inherited … they want to contend for a playoff spot. I think that's a realistic expectation for Michigan and Michigan fans. They want to return to the top tier of the Big Ten. They owned the Big Ten for a few years there … it might be unfair to Kyle Whittingham in year one, but that's the expectation. Now what have we gotten? Well, all offseason we kind of wondered what this marriage was going to look like. More specifically, the marriage between his new offensive coordinator (Jason Beck) and Bryce Underwood and what that offense is going to look like. 

"I think we have less questions about the defensive side of the ball. Because you just assume like ‘OK, Michigan can play solid defense. They've got solid players.’ And the assumption was, because of what Jason Beck was able to do at Utah last year, that he would come in and transform this offense into something more potent … they're going into this bye week and they're trying to figure out what is this offense going to look like, and what do we need to do to succeed. 

"I think this is a progress report that even [Whittingham] would admit to, and they are below expectations."

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Klatt's thoughts: "The expectation (for Matt Campbell) is to go further than what James Franklin had given him. James Franklin had given him a program that had an insanely high floor, but unfortunately a low ceiling. James Franklin beat everybody that he should beat. And they could not beat the teams they desperately wanted him to beat … For Matt Campbell, it's win the big games in the Big Ten. We expected Matt Campbell's floor to be high as well, coming from Iowa State and the program he had built at Iowa State … that floor is way lower. And the last two weeks, it has gotten bad … this is not what they signed up for. 

"I love Matt Campbell. I think he's a great coach. But he clearly has taken a step back. The last six quarters of football have not been good. I think this is more of a rebuild than we realize. That roster is an Iowa State roster. And at times, they're not even playing to that level. They've got some work cut out for them. Progress report is below expectations for Matt Campbell."

Meeting Expectations

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Klatt's thoughts: "Jon Sumrall at Florida year-one goals: return to the top half of the SEC. I thought that this was even a low, low bar for Florida. This is a proud program. Now they have struggled and they have been underachieving for a number of years it feels like. But [Sumrall] is a coach that seems like he's going to get the most out of them. I know that was a disappointing performance against Missouri last week. But the game against Ole Miss, you're like, 'All right, you know, I'm into that.' 

"Now they've done that before. And so Sumrall, what he has to do, is he has to make sure that he's not getting the [Billy] Napier big win over Ole Miss and then fall by the wayside, because that's kind of where we're at right now. So, I don't think he's below expectations, and I don't think that he is exceeding expectations. I think right now if I'm a Gator fan that Ole Miss showed me that I can play at the high end. Last week showed me like, all right, we've got work to do but I'm meeting expectations."

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Klatt's thoughts: "Year-one goals: compete for an ACC championship. That might be too high – if I'm giving a pass to Jon Sumrall, this might be too high. But I put it up there because it's the ACC, right? It's Virginia Tech. I think that's what they want eventually. I thought that was really tough for him to lose his first kind of big game against Pitt, and I think there's going to be some people who are like, ‘Well this is James Franklin, this is what he does. This is what he did back at Penn State.'

"I think that's unfair … I think he's got people thinking about Virginia Tech again, which they weren't for a number of years. This is a program that's got a great fan base. They got Metallica playing as they're coming in. They've got ‘Enter Sandman,’ all of that going on. And he needs to produce at a level that's got them competing toward a potential ACC championship game. I think there are some huge games coming later."

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Klatt's thoughts: "What are his expectations, and what are his goals? For LSU fans, it's be in the top tier in the SEC and make the playoff. Not just contend for the playoff, make the playoff. This is what you expect when you pull this guy out of a playoff race at Ole Miss, when you deal with all the crap that comes with Lane Kiffn and the attention that he gets … He's got a ton of resources down there … I do know one thing, this LSU defense can play. They were almost going to come back and win that game against Ole Miss in the middle of that environment. They're kind of where they need to be at this point. They have, what I think, is one of the most important things to have in the SEC, a pass rush. They have things on the defensive side that will cause problems for their direct schedule and competitors. 

"I think Lane is meeting expectations. I don't think he can exceed yet. The only way for Lane to exceed is for Lane to go all the way to the playoff and go all the way to the national semifinals and maybe even the national championship."

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Klatt's thoughts: "Now he's been at Utah for a long time, so it's not his first year at Utah, but it is his first year as the head coach. The goal for Morgan Scally is to keep their kind of tier-one position in the Big 12. And he has absolutely done that. Utah has gone out and taken care of business. QB Devon Dampier has played very well. Their offense is playing well. It does not hurt that they're sitting there and they're ranked No. 12 in the country, and Michigan is unranked with Kyle Whittingham having left Salt Lake.

"They're on track to play BYU in the Holy War later in the year. I think the winner of that game is going to go to Dallas and play for the Big 12 title. And if you're playing for the Big 12 title, you are 60 minutes away from a spot in the College Football Playoff. There's only two ranked games left on their schedule. Both are at home. I think it's one of the tougher places to play in the Big 12. Houston and BYU both go to Utah. … Utah is right where they expect to be, want to be, and as a first-year head coach he's doing a really nice job meeting those expectations."

Exceeding Expectations

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Klatt's thoughts: "I think Oklahoma State fans were used to Mike Gundy playing at a very high level. Mike Gundy had a bunch of 10-win years. He was excellent at Oklahoma State. It did not end well. And granted, we know that. One win, Mike Gundy fired. I think they want Oklahoma State to be back as a Big 12 title contender because that's what they were for a long time under Mike Gundy. They were a top-tier, tier-one, Big 12 title contender, and that's what they want from Eric Morris.

"This program was in rough shape, and then they went out Week 1 and lost to Tulsa. … Don't worry, they just turned around and beat Oregon, and they put up all those rushing yards – 270-plus rushing yards in that one. So they immediately come back and, by the way, they beat Oregon and they're averaging over 600 yards per game over the last three games. It's like the traditional, old-school, Big 12 offense which Oklahoma State fans love. … This to me is a team that is absolutely going to contend for a Big 12 title this year. I think they're that good, in particular on the offensive side."

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Klatt's thoughts: "If you're UCLA, and you're a fan of UCLA, and you're really honest with yourselves, you want two things: you want relevancy and some competitiveness. They weren't relevant, and they weren't competitive before Bob Chesney … this is a much lower bar than Kyle Whittingham has at Michigan, and that's OK. Here's the deal. I think there are times when it's easier to go into a teardown rather than go into a remodel … He can have his fingerprints on that program right away.  He has full autonomy to go in there and do what he wishes and do what he pleases, and everyone's going to follow him … this is a (Curt) Cignetti model. You bring your coaching staff, you bring your players, it's all yours. 

"They're off to an incredible start. They're 4-0. They're running the ball like crazy, they're one of the best teams running the football in the country … Here's the thing, there's buzz about UCLA … The last five years that was not the case. Bob Chesney is exceeding expectations right now at UCLA."

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Klatt's thoughts: "If you're Kentucky coming off the Stoops era, I think for Will Stein it's like, ‘Can you establish us as a true middle SEC team?’ Can we just be middle to top half? Because I think Kentucky fans would be like, ‘You know, I would take that right now.’ And Will's got Kentucky just outside of the top 25. I think that has been a great start.

"Now granted, they didn't play great in the second half against Alabama, but man how about a couple of their road wins in SEC play? They go to A&M and get a win, they go to South Carolina and get a win. That was an emotional win, obviously, with the 2-point conversion. … Will's a really good coach … Now he's got his own program. Played his college ball at Louisville, he's been around that area. I think he can succeed there. I don't know what level Kentucky can ever get to in the SEC, but if you're asking him to establish a top-half SEC program, you're kind of seeing it."

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