Welcome to what will be a eight part series. I will give a grade to each college football FBS and NFL hiring for the 2025 coaching cycle based on how much I think the hire fits the team and will give my thoughts as well. I have decided to break it down in different conferences to be able to make it easier to read for everyone.
Here is the link to the other coach grades:
https://fanspo.com/nfl/s/general/p/-cOh94hJfm4Q7c/2025-coaching-hiring-grades-link
Mountain West
In 2026, there will be no first year head coaches as of February 16, 2026. Instead, Colorado State was part of the Mountain West in 2025 which they will now be participating in the Pac 12.
Pac 12
Colorado State (2025 HC: Jay Norvell; 2026 HC: Jim Mora): A
The first A of the series. This is a really good hire and a really good move for the new Pac 12 bringing in an experienced Head Coach who also has experience in this conference and is well aware of the old Pac 12 traditions and expectations hoping to revive them using Fort Collins. In UConn, he was able to take a bottom tier program three bowl games in his four seasons there and had a top 25 offense back to back seasons in 2024 and 2025. My main concern is the fact he is not bringing his OC or DC from UConn with him and instead will rely on his QB coach from his previous school and the Interim coach. Overall, this might be the best hire a non P4 could make at this time.
Oregon State (2025 HC: Trent Bray; 2026 HC: JaMarcus Shephard): C+
This could be a sneaky hire, this could be a bad hire. This quite possibly be one of those low risk, high reward hires where you don't know what to expect from them but you don't have high expectations for them until he proves otherwise. I have followed him since his Purdue days working with names like Rondale Moore and David Bell and then he left to go to Washington and worked with their three headed monster in Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, and Jaylin Polk and then followed DeBoer to Alabama and was handed Ryan Williams and brought Germie Bernard with him while also recruiting a treasure trove of talented receivers in the past two years. I think this is the best WR coach, but can he be more than just a WR coach or is he just stuck in this box? Right now, I am iffy, but I am leaning it towards optimism.
Washington State (2025 HC: Jimmy Rogers; 2026 HC: Kirby Moore): B-
The brother of New Orleans Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore is getting his own chance as a HC after a successful stint as the OC at Missouri. I am giving him a notch above Shephard for two reasons. 1. He has been a coordinator while Shephard has never been a sole coordinator or called plays which may or may not hurt him in coaching. To my knowledge, Dan Campbell never called plays until he became a HC and is probably a top five current HC in the NFL while Sam Pittman never called plays and he looked solid for a year or two then he crashed and burned, so grain of salt here. And 2. I am looking at the similarities in the brothers and feel like both have enough stability to take a team to the playoffs (or in Kirby's case, a bowl game) as long as they have a QB that fits their system, which I believe Caden Pinnick will fit Kirby's system quite well who he got in the transfer portal from UC Davis.
There is part one of my coach candidate grades as I have another group of conferences planned to post tomorrow. Let me know your thoughts on these three coaches and if you agree with my grades?