Three first-time Power 4 college football head coaches who will be household names by season’s end

College football’s 2025 coaching carousel has become one of the sport’s craziest recruiting cycles in recent memory.

Numerous big blue-blood jobs have opened up and are filled by many high-profile coaches looking to prove their worth on the brightest stage.

But for every established, well-known name like Lane Kiffin and James Franklin, there were many who were either accomplished coordinators or Group of Five head coaches who were hired on promise rather than merit.

I’ve decided to give you three first-time Power Four coaches in 2026, who will be household names by the end of the season.

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If you’re a die-hard college football fan, these names may sound familiar, but to the casual fan, these three head coaches wouldn’t be a roster pick.

I expect this to change six months from now.

3. Will Stein (Kentucky Wildcats)

I really had to choose between former Oregon coordinators; Both offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi became first-time head coaches this summer, but due to the existing infrastructure as well as the increased spotlight of coaching in the SEC, I decided to side with the former.

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No one will confuse Kentucky with Georgia or Alabama, but the Wildcats were a really solid program in terms of both on-field development and production under former head coach Mark Stoops.

Kentucky is in a much better position than it was when Stoops got there, and although things got stale towards the end of his tenure, I believe he left the cupboard stocked enough for his next successor.

Stein’s offensive background will help shake things up at a school that has been a stubborn, defense-first program for the last decade, and being in Oregon coach Dan Lanning’s system for three years means he knows intimately what it’s like to coach a major college program.

I don’t expect the lights to be too bright for Stein in 2026, and I truly believe Kentucky will surprise a lot of people next season.

2.Bob Chesney (UCLA Bruins)

The UCLA flag flies during the Cactus Bowl college football game between Kansas State and UCLA at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on December 26, 2017. (Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)

After more than a decade of coaching in college football’s minor leagues, Bob Chesney replaced Curt Cignetti at James Madison and led the Dukes to the College Football Playoff after just two seasons on the job.

There’s something to be said about coaches who replace their successful predecessors and keep things humming along, because that’s not always the case.

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Chesney has been a winner wherever he has coached, but now he is faced with reviving a program he was once proud of but has fallen on hard times.

The UCLA Bruins have been mired in mediocrity for years, but Chesney thinks he’s the perfect fit to bring them back to the land of the living.

He’s a great coach, as evidenced by his performance record and appearance in the CFP at his last stop, but the big question that haunts most coaches entering the power conference for the first time is how to recruit against the big men.

I wrote about this recently, but the Bruins and Chesney have historically been recruiting well by their typical criteria, and while I stand by what I said about their classes not being as elite as they appeared in May, the fact that they’re still ranked in the top 15 proves that Chesney still has plenty of leverage on the recruiting trail.

When you combine his knack for recruiting talent with his obvious coaching skills, I have no doubt Chesney will put UCLA back on the map in no time.

1. Eric Morris (Oklahoma State)

The Oklahoma State Cowboys logo is displayed on the field before a college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium on September 9, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. (Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)

If I had to bet a month’s salary on a first-time Power Four head coach being successful in his first year, I’d put my money on Eric Morris at Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys’ newest head man takes over from one of the longest-tenured coaches in the country in Mike Gundy, and much like Stoops at Kentucky, I believe Gundy left the program in good shape for the new man to take over.

Morris has ties to the Big 12 dating back to his playing days at Texas Tech, which means he is an Air Raid disciple of former Red Raiders coach and college football legend Mike Leach.

His offense will challenge any defense in the conference, and he got some help from his previous stop to make sure his system is working correctly.

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North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker led the nation in passing yards and was second in touchdown passes thrown last season, and now he is reunited with the architect of those elite passing performances after transferring to Oklahoma State.

Mestemaker isn’t the only signal caller Morris has turned into a Heisman candidate; because the 40-year-old Cowboys head coach is viewed as a quarterback whisperer from his days at Incarnate Word and Washington State, where he coached Cam Ward and John Mateer, respectively.

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With his offensive prowess and hand-picked point guard, Morris is poised for success in Stillwater from day one, and by the end of the season, everyone in the country will know his name.

Morris’ agent better have his phone with him at all times, because his client will be asking every major program in America to call him in the not-too-distant future.