Anatomy of a Coaching Carousel: 2012
Anatomy of a Coaching Carousel: 2012  
Podcast: Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast
Published On: Thu Feb 26 2026
Description: This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comIn this subscriber episode, Godfrey, Richard, and Alex revisit 28 head coach transitions before the 2012 college football season. This was one of the most consequential coach carousels of the 21st century, with lots of very good, lots of very bad, plenty in the middle, and also the John L. Smith situation:THE GOOD* 9:29: Urban Meyer to Ohio State* 16:05: Mike Leach to Washington State* 22:39: Bill O’Brien to Penn State* 31:34: Justin Fuente to Memphis* 34:28: Matt Campbell to Toledo* 35:31: Jim McElwain to Colorado State* 36:55: Gus Malzahn to Arkansas State* 39:28: Terry Bowden to AkronTHE WHATEVER* 41:36: Jim Mora Jr. to UCLA* 46:54: Todd Graham to Arizona State* 50:28: Paul Chryst to Pitt* 51:10: Larry Fedora to North Carolina* 53:42: Kyle Flood to Rutgers* 55:45: Bob Davie to New Mexico* 56:46: Tim DeRuyter to Fresno StateTHE UGLY* 58:05: Tim Beckman to Illinois* 59:00: Tony Levine to Houston* 1:00:59: Curtis Johnson to Tulane* 1:01:59: Norm Chow to Hawaii* 1:05:54: Charley Molnar to UMass* 1:06:21: Garrick McGee to UAB* 1:13:08: Carl Pelini to FAU* 1:17:05: Ellis Johnson to Southern Miss* 1:19:25: Charlie Weis to Kansas* 1:28:00: John L. Smith to ArkansasTHE DEBATABLE* 1:20:48: Kevin Sumlin to Texas A&M* 1:21:36: Hugh Freeze to Ole Miss* 1:25:02: Rich Rodriguez to ArizonaProduced by Anthony Vito.Paid subscribers can here this episode and also our other “Anatomy of a Coaching Carousel” shows: * 2001* 2010Everyone else can hear free previews of these episodes. Thanks so much to our paid subscribers for making this show possible.