College football has come to the busiest part of its calender that doesn’t immediately involve real football: Everyone is prepping for signing day, good teams are getting ready for bowl games, bad teams are hiring coaches, and some unlucky teams are getting ready for bowl games while hiring coaches. This year’s hiring season has been marked by surprises (Urban Meyer’s retirement), the return of one of the game’s most popular personas (Les Miles at Kansas) and several 30-somethings getting their first chances at a top gig. So far, 20 jobs have come open, and as each one is filled, we’ll be grading them here on five criteria that receive scores between 1 (the worst) and 5 (the best) that are averaged:
• Splash quotient: Looking at the reaction to the hire from media, fans, players, anyone.