The kickoff of a new college football season means a lot of things: big rivalry games, tailgating, and spending weekends on the couch. But if your favorite team’s coach is new to the building or on the hot seat, your Saturdays may be more tense. Can your school finally break through, or will it be spending another bowl season at home?
Ahead of the 2025 college football season, CableTV.com surveyed hundreds of college football fans nationwide about this year’s coaching class. Which new coaches will find success out of the gate? Who’ll be packing their boxes in December? Here’s what football fans like you thought.
Which new college football coaches will win the most games?
There’s a simple reason why coaches get jobs: The old guy didn’t win enough. Among this year’s new coaching class, who’ll finish the year with the most wins?
- UNC’s Bill Belichick led the way among our respondents, as 46% of college football fans think that he’ll win the most games among 2025’s new coaches.
- Fans were split for second place, as Bronco Mendenhall (Utah State), Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia), and Scott Frost (UCF) each snagged around 15% of the vote. All three coaches have history with their current stops—Rodriguez and Frost are in their second go-arounds at West Virginia and UCF, respectively, while Mendenhall had a successful 11-year run at BYU, another Utah school.
- Jake Dickert (Wake Forest, 7%) and Dan Mullen (UNLV, 5%) filled out the final spots of our survey. Dickert kept Washington State above water last season amid realignment drama, while Mullen returned to the field after a stint with ESPN.
CableTV.com’s take:
Between his hiring at UNC and relationship with Jordon Hudson, Belichick was the story of the college football offseason. Belichick’s strong showing in CableTV.com’s college football fan survey highlights a few big trends for UNC.
- Name recognition means buzz. Colorado’s success with Deion Sanders has spurred a number of imitators, as former NFL players like Michael Vick landed head coaching jobs this year. But Belichick’s surprise hiring—he’s never worked in college across a 50-year career—takes the cake when it comes to the NFL-to-college coaching pipeline.
- It’s translated to dollars. In July, UNC announced that it had sold out its season and single-game tickets. Networks are also banking on the Belichick effect for ratings—UNC’s Week 1 game against TCU will close out Labor Day weekend as Monday’s sole matchup.
- Fans believe in Chapel Bill. Belichick’s final seasons in New England were inconsistent, but fans aren’t blaming him for these struggles. Belichick’s Hall of Fame-level NFL career means huge name recognition among fans and they firmly believe that he can convert this credibility into wins for UNC.
Do college football analysts agree with fans?
Fan attitudes count for a lot, but the Vegas sportsbooks feel decidedly different than the fans.
| New coach | Expected wins |
|---|---|
| Dan Mullen | 8 wins |
| Bill Belichick | 7 wins |
| Rich Rodriguez | 5 wins |
| Jake Dickert | 4 wins |
| Scott Frost | 4 wins |
| Bronco Mendenhall | 3 wins |
UNLV had its share of offseason turnover, as former coach Barry Odom left for Purdue along with a number of former Rebels. But Vegas seems confident that UNLV can continue its hot streak on the field.
Outside of UNLV, analysts were stingy with their win predictions. Vegas expects Belichick to finish with seven wins, but they also have the rest of our top new coaches missing bowl eligibility. RichRod’s a toss-up in third place with a five-win total—he racked up wins during his original West Virginia run and at Jacksonville State. That said, the Mountaineers are doing a sizable transfer overhaul. Elsewhere, Vegas thinks that Dickert, Frost, and Mendenhall have their work cut out for them.
CableTV.com’s take:
- Double down on UNLV. Mullen has the biggest gap between fan and analyst expectations, as he landed at the bottom of our survey and at the top of the sportsbooks’ win totals among new coaches. It’d take a lot for UNLV to top last year’s 11-win season, but we still think fans are sleeping on the Rebels. They stocked up in the transfer portal with 26 former Power Four players, and Mullen is capable of getting more out of potential quarterbacks Anthony Colandrea or Alex Orji. Outside of Boise State and UCLA, the Rebels can also collect wins with their manageable schedule.
- Bet on Bill? Seven wins is nothing to sneeze at for UNC, but Vegas isn’t sold just yet on Belichick’s move to college. While Belichick’s coaching abilities go without saying, the offseason noise around UNC and their historically middling record made analysts hesitant to go all-in on the Tar Heels. But considering how fired up fans and networks are for Belichick, they’ll likely consider a seven-win season to be a disappointment after last year’s six-win season.
Which coaches are most likely to get fired?
Hot seat season never takes a day off—we asked fans which coach is most likely to get sacked after the season.
- USC’s Lincoln Riley took first place in our polling with 26% of the vote. While Riley is a respectable 22–11 with the Trojans, he’s largely underperformed relative to expectations since leaving Oklahoma.
- Speaking of the Sooners: Brent Venables landed in second place with 23% of the vote. The Sooners’ jump to the SEC has been bumpy with two losing records in Venables’ three seasons.
- Mike Norvell’s $63 million buyout might make letting him go a nonstarter, but if the Noles’ big rebuild gambit fails, it’s anyone’s guess what Florida State will do.
- Finally, Mike Gundy and Luke Fickell bring up the rear in fourth and fifth place. Gundy comes back to Stillwater on the heels of a pay cut and last year’s 3–9 record. Meanwhile, Fickell has been a clear disappointment among Badgers fans. Not only that, but Wisconsin’s punishing schedule features Alabama in non-conference play, and a four-game stretch against Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, and Oregon in October.
How to watch 2025’s new college football coaches
College football kickoff week is full of great games and high-profile matchups. Use the table below to see when and where these new coaches will kick off the 2025 season. Bookmark our college football streaming guide and weekly college football watch column for even more CableTV.com college football coverage.
| Game | Date | Time (ET) | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho State at UNLV | Saturday, Aug. 23 | 4:00 p.m. | Mountain West Network/App, SSSEN |
| Jacksonville State at UCF | Thursday, Aug. 28 | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN+ |
| Kennesaw State at Wake Forest | Friday, Aug. 29 | 6:00 p.m. | ACC Network |
| Robert Morris at West Virginia | Saturday, Aug. 30 | 1:00 p.m. | ESPN+ |
| UTEP at Utah State | Saturday, Aug. 30 | 6:30 p.m. | CBS Sports Network |
| TCU at North Carolina | Monday, Sept. 1 | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN |
Data effective as of post date.
Methodology
This survey of 500 Americans was conducted using Pollfish in August 2025. The survey data was post-stratified to accurately reflect the U.S. population.
