Conference Realignments, Coaching Changes and Expanded Playoffs Make 2024 Unpredictable
The 2024 college football season will soon be here and fans can expect things to look very different. Storied coaches have retired, others have left for new challenges…one report documented more than 500 coaching changes across college football since the beginning of the 2023-24 season. Here’s a look at some of the biggest of those changes, as well as other ways college football will look different this year.
The Coaching Shuffle
Without a doubt, the biggest story in college football coaching was the retirement of Nick Saban, who led the Crimson Tide to six national titles in 17 years. Saban also won a 7th title with LSU.
Saban’s retirement, though, was only the beginning of big news in the college football coaching world. Within weeks, the head coaches of both teams that played for the national championship last year—winning coach Jim Harbaugh of Michigan and runner-up Kalen DeBoer of Washington, departed from those respective schools. Harbaugh returned to the National Football League, looking to pursue the coveted Lombardi Trophy awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl. DeBoer took the head coaching job at Alabama. Michigan filled the vacant head coaching position with assistant Sherrone Moore, who kept the Wolverines undefeated last season when Harbaugh sat out a suspension. Washington gave its top job to Jedd Fisch, who led the University of Arizona’s team for three years.
The Move toward Fewer, but Bigger, Conferences
The trend toward adding more schools to the major conferences continues. The Big Ten now has 18 teams, the most of any conference in the nation. The ACC is a close second, with 17 teams, and both the Big 12 and the SEC will have 16 teams. College football executives say it benefits both the teams joining the conference and the teams already there, giving them more opportunity for big games and TV revenues.
The Longer Playoff Season
In 2024, the number of teams making the playoffs will increase from four to 12. College football officials hope this will avoid a repeat of last year, where an undefeated team from a major conference was shunned in favor of a team many didn’t feel belonged there…don’t count on it. The playoff bids will go to the six highest-ranked conference champions and to six at-large teams.
