College football coaches debut with varied success in week one

Thirty-one college football coaches made their season debuts during the opening weeks of the 2026 season. Lane Kiffin began his tenure at LSU with a 51-10 victory over Clemson, marking the most notable result among the new coaching hires. Other coaches saw varying success, with UCLA's Bob Chesney directing a 45-24 win against California and Colorado State's Jim Mora securing a 35-13 victory over Wyoming. Charles Huff holds a 2-0 record early in his time at Memphis, while Pete Golding guided Mississippi to a 41-38 win against Louisville. The list of debuts also included coaching changes at programs such as Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Michigan State, as teams evaluated new staff under competitive conditions. These initial games provided an early look at how new systems and personnel adjustments will function across the collegiate this season.

• 9:09 AMYahoo Sports — How did college football coaches making debuts fare? We ranked all 31 of them