Regrading college football's first-year head coaches

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The first-year coaches around college football in 2024 included an interesting mix of characters.

There were notable moves between Power 4 conference programs, including Kalen DeBoer leaving national runner-up Washington to replace Nick Saban at Alabama, and Jedd Fisch exiting a 10-win Arizona program to replace DeBoer in Seattle. Bill O'Brien, who has bounced between college and the NFL for more than a decade, landed the Boston College job in his hometown. Mike Elko and Jonathan Smith, two coaches who had done more with less at Duke and Oregon State, respectively, moved to higher-resourced programs at Texas A&M and Michigan State.

The coaching cycle also featured…