The curse of a departing coach

Every head coach that took a new gig this cycle lost their final game at their previous job

In what is the craziest time of the year in college football with transfers, bowl games, and of course early signing day one thing that really changes the landscape of the sport is the movement of coaches.

Coaches have always been able to move freely, and last season marked one of the most exciting coaching carousels we've ever seen. Lincoln Riley departed from the juggernaut at Oklahoma, to rebuild one of the sports sleeping giants in USC. We also saw Brian Kelly jump ship from Notre Dame to head down to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU job.

There weren't any premier openings this time around, but there are certainly big names moving around as we saw Deion Sanders, Luke Fickell, and Hugh Freeze all find a new home. We don't know the reasoning behind everyone's decision whether it was returning home, money, or maybe just a better opportunity but one thing we do know is that no head coach that left for another gig did so on a high note. 

For a little background as to what even made me think of this, I saw a tweet mocking Deion Sanders for losing the HBCU National Championship against NC Central on Saturday that insinuated that because he lost that game he won't succeed at Colorado. A take that really holds no weight, but nonetheless here I am writing about it. I thought it would be interesting to look at every head coach that took a new head coaching job during this coaching carousel, and how they fared in their final game.

Side note, them losing their final game as head coach at the previous job really means nothing. Nick Saban lost his last game at LSU before taking the Alabama gig, and I think we can all agree he has done alright. This is not to say that any of these coaches are even remotely close to being the best ever, but I do think the college football world needs to realize that one game at your previous gig doesn't effect a coaches next tenure.

Now, all of these losses could be attributed to the coach having one foot out the door, the team hearing rumors, or of course they just got beat by the better team that is up for you to decide. I just thought it was fascinating that of the eight head coaches so far to take a new job, none of them were able to win their final game at their previous stop. 

Jamey Chadwell

David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports

New Job: Liberty

Old Job: Costal Carolina 

Final Game: 45-26 Loss to Troy 

Troy Taylor

New Job: Stanford

Old Job: Sacramento State 

Final Game: 66-63 Loss to Incarnate Word 

Luke Fickell

Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

New Job: Wisconsin 

Old Job: Cincinnati 

Final Game: 27-24 Loss to Tulane 

Scott Satterfield

Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

New Job: Cincinnati 

Old Job: Louisville 

Final Game: 26-13 Loss to Kentucky 

Jeff Brohm

Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

New Job: Louisville 

Old Job: Purdue

Final Game: 43-22 loss to Michigan 

Deion Sanders

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

New Job: Colorado 

Old Job: Jackson State 

Final Game: 41-34 loss to NC Central  

Hugh Freeze

Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK

New Job: Auburn 

Old Job: Liberty 

Final Game: 49-14 loss to New Mexico State

GJ Kinne

Jason Bean/Reno Gazette-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK:

New Job: Texas State 

Old Job: Incarnate Word

Final Game: 35-32 loss to North Dakota State