Which states have produced the most college football head coaches?

By Nick Pecoraro Nov 6, 2025, 11:00am

Fort Bend Clements of Texas and Cardinal Mooney of Ohio have produced multiple head coaches at the FBS level.

With just a little over four weeks remaining in the college football regular season, the head coaching carousel is spinning like never before.

A record number of in-season firings have occurred according to a recent story from The Sporting News as 11 FBS coaches are no longer leading the program with whom they began the 2025 season. Entering this week, at least a dozen programs will have head coaching vacancies to fill before the 2026 season.

In all the aftermath, Texas high schools leads the way when it comes to producing active coaches at the FBS level, including those on interim basis, with 16. That includes seven among the Power Four conferences. Ohio is the only other state in double-figures with 11, including five from Power Four schools.

Fort Bend Clements (Sugar Land, Texas) and Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown, Ohio) are the only schools to produce multiple head coaches on this list. Clements is home to brothers Clay and Tyson Helton. Clay coaches at Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Conference while Tyson coaches at Western Kentucky in Conference USA. Cardinal Mooney boasts Tim Beck of Coastal Carolina and Mark Stoops of Kentucky.



The city of Youngstown is responsible for four head coaches at the FBS level. Along with Beck and Stoops, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi of Ursuline and Auburn interim head coach D.J. Durkin of Boardman, who took over for the recently-fired Hugh Freeze on Nov. 2, round out the most fertile head coaching city.

California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania rank third with seven current head coaches apiece.

Read on to see a complete breakdown by state of current FBS head coaches' alma maters.
GRAPHIC: Ryan Escobar

TEXAS (16)
Louisiana Tech: Sonny Cumbie, Snyder
TCU: Sonny Dykes, Coronado (Lubbock)
Georgia Southern: Clay Helton, Fort Bend Clements (Sugar Land)
Western Kentucky: Tyson Helton, Fort Bend Clements
Texas State: G.J. Kinne, Canton
Florida Atlantic: Zach Kittley, Frenship (Wolfforth)
Mississippi State: Jeff Lebby, Andrews
Appalachian State: Dowell Loggains, Cooper (Abilene)
Texas Tech: Joey McGuire, Crowle 
Oklahoma State: Doug Meacham (interim), Sam Houston (Arlington)
Virginia Tech: Philip Montgomery (interim), Eastland
North Texas: Eric Morris, Shallowater
Florida State: Mike Norvell, Grace Prep (Arlington)
USC: Lincoln Riley, Muleshoe
UTSA: Jeff Traylor, Gilmer
UTEP: Scotty Walden, Cleburne

OHIO (11)
Coastal Carolina: Tim Beck, Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown)
Iowa State: Matt Campbell, Perry
Toledo: Jason Candle, West Branch (Beloit)
Kent State: Mark Carney, St. Edward (Lakewood)
Auburn: D.J. Durkin (interim), Boardman (Youngstown)
Wisconsin: Luke Fickell, St. Francis DeSales (Columbus)
Notre Dame: Marcus Freeman, Wayne (Huber Heights)
South Florida: Alex Golesh, Dublin Scioto (Dublin)
Pittsburgh: Pat Narduzzi, Ursuline (Youngstown)
Wyoming: Jay Sawvel, Barnesville
Kentucky: Mark Stoops, Cardinal Mooney

CALIFORNIA (7)
Baylor: Dave Aranda, Redlands
Arizona: Brent Brennan, Saint Francis (Mountain View)
Boise State: Spencer Danielson, Horizon Christian Academy (San Diego)
New Mexico State: Tony Sanchez, Granada (Livermore)
Texas: Steve Sarkisian, West (Torrance)
Ohio: Brian Smith, Thousand Oaks
Michigan State: Jonathan Smith, Glendora

NEW JERSEY (7)
Syracuse: Fran Brown, Camden
Delaware: Ryan Carty, Somerville
Texas A&M: Mike Elko, South Brunswick (Monmouth Junction)
Washington: Jedd Fisch, Hanover Park (East Hanover)
Massachusetts: Joe Harasymiak, Waldwick
Sam Houston: Phil Longo, Central Regional (Bayville)
Rutgers: Greg Schiano, Ramapo (Franklin Lakes)

PENNSYLVANIA (7)
James Madison: Bob Chesney, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional (Coal Township)
Iowa: Kirk Ferentz, Upper St. Clair
Temple: KC Keeler, Emmaus
Akron: Joe Moorhead, Central Catholic (Pittsburgh)
Stanford: Frank Reich (interim), Cedar Crest (Lebanon)
Nebraska: Matt Rhule, State College
Penn State: Terry Smith (interim), Gateway (Monroeville)



ALABAMA (6)
Jacksonville State: Charles Kelly, Long (Skipperville)
Georgia Tech: Brent Key, Hewitt-Trussville (Trussville)
UCLA: Tim Skipper, Abbeville
Tulane: Jon Sumrall, Grissom (Huntsville)
Clemson: Dabo Swinney, Pelham
Western Michigan: Lance Taylor, Citronelle

GEORGIA (6)
New Mexico: Jason Eck, St. Pius X Catholic (Atlanta)
Tulsa: Tre Lamb, Calhoun
Georgia State: Dell McGee, Kendrick (Columbus)
UAB: Alex Mortensen (interim), Landmark Christian (Fairburn)
Georgia: Kirby Smart, Bainbridge
Colorado State: Tyson Summers (interim), Tift County (Tifton)

ILLINOIS (6)
Illinois: Bret Bielema, Prophetstown
Minnesota: P.J. Fleck, Kaneland (Maple Park)
San Diego State: Sean Lewis, Richards (Oak Lawn)
Miami (OH): Chuck Martin, Rich East (Park Forest)
Army: Jeff Monken, Joliet Central (Joliet)
Ball State: Mike Uremovich, Providence Catholic (New Lenox)

FLORIDA (5)
Miami: Mario Cristobal, Columbus (Miami)
Duke: Manny Diaz , Miami Country Day (Miami)
Colorado: Deion Sanders, North Fort Myers
Memphis: Ryan Silverfield, Bolles (Jacksonville)
Florida International: Willie Simmons, James A. Shanks (Quincy)

KANSAS (4)
North Carolina State: Dave Doeren, Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission)
Michigan: Sherrone Moore, Derby
Oklahoma: Brent Venables, South (Salina)

KENTUCKY (4)
Missouri State: Ryan Beard, Bowling Green
Louisville: Jeff Brohm, Trinity (Louisville)
Troy: Gerad Parker, Lawrence County (Louisa)
UL Monroe: Bryant Vincent, Glasgow



ARIZONA (3)
Arizona State: Kenny Dillingham, Chaparral (Scottsdale)
Middle Tennessee: Derek Mason, Camelback (Phoenix)
Washington State: Jimmy Rogers, Hamilton (Chandler)

COLORADO (3)
Oregon State: Robb Akey (interim), Wasson (Colorado Springs)
Florida: Billy Gonzales (interim), Thornton
Old Dominion: Ricky Rahne, Bear Creek (Lakewood)

IOWA (3)
Central Michigan: Matt Drinkall, Bettendorf
Fresno State: Matt Entz, Waterloo West (Waterloo)
Kansas State: Chris Klieman, Columbus Catholic (Waterloo)

LOUISIANA (3)
South Alabama: Major Applewhite, Catholic (Baton Rouge)
Louisiana: Michael Desormeaux, Catholic (New Iberia)
LSU: Frank Wilson (interim), St. Augustine (New Orleans)

OKLAHOMA (3)
Charlotte: Tim Albin, Woodward
Navy: Brian Newberry, Westmoore (Oklahoma City)
Purdue: Barry Odom, Ada

TENNESSEE (3)
Liberty: Jamey Chadwell, Anderson County (Clinton)
Vanderbilt: Clark Lea, Montgomery Bell Academy (Nashville, Tenn.)
Kennesaw State: Jerry Mack, Whitehaven (Memphis)



VIRGINIA (3)
Rice: Scott Abell, Western Albemarle (Crozet)
South Carolina: Shane Beamer, Blacksburg
Bowling Green: Eddie George, Fork Union Military Academy (Fork Union)

WEST VIRGINIA (3)
Indiana: Curt Cignetti, Morgantown
Marshall: Tony Gibson, Van
West Virginia: Rich Rodriguez, North Marion (Farmington)

WISCONSIN (3)
Northwestern: David Braun, Kettle Moraine (Wales)
Wake Forest: Jake Dickert, Kohler
Kansas: Lance Leipold, Jefferson

ARKANSAS (2)
Missouri: Eliah Drinkwitz, Alma
SMU: Rhett Lashlee, Shiloh Christian (Springdale)

HAWAII (2)
Hawaii: Timmy Chang, St. Louis (Honolulu)
San Jose State: Ken Niumatalolo, Radford (Honolulu)

MARYLAND (2)
North Carolina: Bill Belichick, Annapolis
Southern Miss: Charles Huff, North Caroline (Ridgely)



MISSOURI (2)
Oregon: Dan Lanning, Richmond
BYU: Kalani Sitake, Kirkwood

NEW HAMPSHIRE (2)
Ohio State: Ryan Day, Manchester Central (Manchester)
UNLV: Dan Mullen, Trinity (Manchester)

NORTH CAROLINA (2)
East Carolina: Blake Harrell, Franklin
Cincinnati: Scott Satterfield, Orange (Hillsborough)

OREGON (2)
Air Force: Troy Calhoun, Roseburg
Cal: Justin Wilcox, Junction City

SOUTH DAKOTA (2)
Alabama: Kalen DeBoer, Milbank
Tennessee: Josh Heupel, Aberdeen Central (Aberdeen)

UTAH (2)
Utah State: Bronco Mendenhall, American Fork
Utah: Kyle Whittingham, Provo



WASHINGTON (2)
Eastern Michigan: Chris Creighton, Roosevelt (Seattle)
UConn: Jim Mora, Interlake (Bellevue)

IDAHO (1)
Nevada: Jeff Choate, St. Maries

INDIANA (1)
Northern Illinois: Thomas Hammock, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (Fort Wayne)

MASSACHUSETTS (1)
Boston College: Bill O'Brien, St. John's Prep (Danvers)

MINNESOTA (1)
Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin, Jefferson (Bloomington)

MISSISSIPPI (1)
Arkansas State:
Butch Jones, Okolona



MONTANA (1)
Arkansas: Bobby Petrino (interim), Capital (Helena)

NEBRASKA (1)
UCF: Scott Frost, Wood River

NEW YORK (1)
Buffalo: Pete Lembo, Monsignor Farrell (Staten Island)

SOUTH CAROLINA (1)
Virginia: Tony Elliott, James Island (Charleston)

WASHINGTON D.C. (1)
Maryland: Mike Locksley, Ballou