This could be the most active coaching carousel college football has seen in many years. Before the end of September, five Power 4 programs were searching for new head coaches for 2026, and three more firings following Week 7 have bumped the number of open jobs to nine (counting some late-offseason dismissals.

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The 2024-25 hiring cycle was historically slow at the Power 4 level, as schools waited to see the impact of budgeting more than $20 million for athletes in the House v. NCAA settlement, but with that revenue sharing system now set, the focus has turned back to coaching changes.

Here is our ranking of college football’s open head-coaching jobs. The ranking leans heavily on the chances for a coach to succeed there. That might mean more stock put in a program’s upside than its recent success, but it’s not just coach pay or quality of life. Coaches want to take jobs where they believe they can win, and this is how most coaches would view these jobs. This list will be updated throughout the fall as jobs open and close.

1. Penn State

Record over the last five years: 44-17

The Athletic’s estimated valuation: $1.2 billion (11th among Power 4 programs)

Job grade: A

This place has it all: tradition, money, facilities, support and recent success. It’s a top-15 job in college football. Penn State is paying around $45 million to get rid of James Franklin coming off a CFP semifinal appearance. That signals how serious the Nittany Lions are about getting over the hump.

Franklin deserves a lot of credit for getting Penn State back near the top of the sport. He won a lot of games, just not the big ones.