College Football: 10 assistants who will become head coaches in 2021

College football programs looking for a new head coach look for the “hot” coordinator. Here are 10 candidates to be head coaches next season.

Every college football program is looking for the head coach that will lead them to the promised land. When athletic directors search for their “guy” they search amongst the Group of Five or hire a coach with previous head coaching experience.

Of all the places athletic directors look, they often look for the “hot” coordinator from a top-end program.

One coach that knows all too well about losing assistants is Nick Saban. Jeremy Pruitt, Kirby Smart and Jim McElwain are three of many coordinators under Saban who are now head coaches. Dabo Swinney and Ryan Day are now learning that lesson.

The coordinator an athletic director brings in all depends on what type of program they want to become. A place like Wisconsin has an identity. It would be a shock if they ever brought in anyone who attempted to install a spread offense in Madison.

Programs looking to rebuild scout the elite programs so those assistants can bring what they learned and hopefully build an elite program of their own. That’s why so many athletic directors and university presidents look to Alabama and Ohio State to hire their assistants.

This list is comprised of coordinators who have never been head coaches save one. Here are 10 of the hottest assistants who will be head coaches in 2021.