Colorado State seemed to be heading in the right direction with Jay Norvell as head coach.
After going 5-7 in 2023 and nearly making a bowl game, the Rams went 8-5 and appeared in the Arizona Bowl last season. But this year, the Rams started the season 2-5 overall following a 31-19 loss at home to Hawaii.
Colorado State didn’t sign Norvell to a contract extension this past offseason with just one year left on his deal, though, and CSU’s current decision-makers weren’t the ones who hired him. That made some believe he was on the hot seat.
And after the slow start, Norvell was fired. Here are some potential candidates to replace him.
Montana State Head Coach Brent Vigen
Considering Vigen has reportedly been in the mix for multiple FBS head coaching jobs, it would make sense for Colorado State to consider him as well.
Vigen has been Montana State’s head coach since 2021. That first year, he led the Bobcats to their first national championship appearance since 1984. The year after that, Montana State reached the national semifinals before losing to the eventual champion, South Dakota State.
And in 2024, the Bobcats went undefeated during the regular season – including a victory at New Mexico – and returned to the FCS national championship.
Vigen also was an offensive coordinator at Wyoming under head coach Craig Bohl from 2014-20, most notably coaching now-NFL star quarterback Josh Allen, and was an assistant at North Dakota State before that.
New Mexico Head Coach Jason Eck
Eck recently helped New Mexico beat UCLA, and the football program has a new-found energy. Unfortunately for New Mexico, the Lobos lost Bronco Mendenhall to Utah State last offseason, another school going to the Pac-12 next year. So it’s not impossible UNM losses another coach after one year.
Eck was one of the top head coaches in the FCS before going to New Mexico this last offseason. He went 26-13 as the head coach at Idaho from 2022-24.
In Eck’s third season at Idaho in 2024, the Vandals made it to the FCS Playoff quarterfinals. The Vandals went 7-4 during the regular season in 2022, earning a trip to the postseason for the first time since 2016, and were 9-4 a year later as they reached the FCS quarterfinals.
Before going to Idaho, he was the offensive coordinator at South Dakota State from 2019-21 and the team’s offensive line coach from 2016-19. Going back to 2000, he’s also been an assistant at Montana State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Western Illinois, Hampton, Ball State, Winona State, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
USC Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn
Among Power Four coordinators in the region, Lynn stands out to me. He may be looking for head coaching experience before he moves on elsewhere, and CSU would make sense.
Lynn helped USC make massive strides in his first year there, going from 34.4 points per game allowed in 2023 to 24.1 in 2024. And he’s regarded as a rising star in the coaching profession.
He was previously the defensive coordinator at UCLA in 2023. The Bruins were top 10 in the country in total defense (301.5 yards per game allowed) and 14th in scoring defense (18.4 points per game allowed). UCLA allowed the second-fewest rushing yards per game in the nation with 80.8.
Previously, Lynn was a safeties coach with the Baltimore Ravens and worked with the Houston Texas’ secondaries before that. He was also an assistant for the Los Angeles Chargers when his father, Anthony Lynn, was the head coach there and focused primarily on linebackers. He’s also worked for the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets in the past.
Western Kentucky Head Coach Tyson Helton
Helton stands out among current G5 coaches because of what he’s done at Western Kentucky.
Helton is 53-34 as WKU’s head coach. His background primarily involves offense. He began his coaching career at Hawaii as a graduate assistant in 2000 and worked with special teams the following three years.
He then coached tight ends and special teams at Memphis from 2004-06. The next five seasons, he coached quarterbacks at UAB and then focused on running backs there in 2012.
In 2013, he was a tight ends and special teams coach at Cincinnati. He coached at WKU for the first time from 2014-15 as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He was also a QBs coach and a passing game coordinator at USC from 2016-17. He then became the offensive coordinator and a quarterbacks coach at Tennessee for one year before going back to WKU to be a head coach.
