With how wild this past college football head coaching carousel was, the new head coach hires grabbed most of the attention this offseason. How a head coach fills out his staff though, especially at the coordinator positions, is just as important. Coordinator roles often feature some familiar faces that were once prominent head coaches along with rising young coaches looking to move up the ranks.
Outside of the head coach, few people take more heat when things go wrong than the offensive coordinator, making it a position that sees major turnover every year. Heading into next season, 32 Power Four programs will have a new offensive coordinator. Here are five notable new college football offensive coordinators to keep an eye on in 2026.
Ohio State is now on its third offensive coordinator in three seasons, but for good reason. The Buckeyes brought in longtime NFL coach Arthur Smith, who is coming off a two-year stint as OC for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The former Atlanta Falcons head coach rose through the coaching ranks during his time with the Tennessee Titans, where his offense was built around running back Derrick Henry and a strong run-heavy scheme. Smith has spent only two years of his 19-year coaching career at the college level and that was all the way back in 2006 with North Carolina as a graduate assistant and in 2010 as an assistant with Ole Miss. He’ll now take over a Buckeye offense with two of the best returning players in college football with quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
New Florida head coach Jon Sumrall brought in an experienced offensive mind in hopes of turning things around in Gainesville. Faulkner has spent 14 years as an offensive coordinator, most recently serving as OC at Georgia Tech for the past three seasons. Prior to that, he was part of the staff at Georgia that won back-to-back national championships. Faulkner originally came up through Mike Leach’s Air Raid system at Valdosta State, but his offenses at Georgia Tech relied much more on the run game, especially utilizing quarterback Haynes King’s legs. He brought several players with him to Gainesville who spent time with him at Georgia Tech, including last season’s backup quarterback Aaron Philo and wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr.
Coach Prime brought in a young rising coach Brennan Marion to run the offense in 2026. Marion gained notoriety during his 2023-24 stint as offensive coordinator at UNLV with his fast-paced and explosive “Go-Go offense”. He spent last season as head coach at Sacramento State, improving the program’s record from 3-9 to 7-5 with one of the top offenses in the FCS in his lone season there. Now, the 38-year-old will step onto a much bigger stage leading a Buffs offense with sophomore QB and 5-star recruit Julian Lewis, and the pressure will be significant. Over his three seasons at Colorado, Sanders has already stripped play-calling duties from his offensive coordinator in the middle of the season on two different occasions.
Bill Belichick and Bobby Petrino together on the same college football staff may have sounded more like a fever dream not too long ago, but it will become a reality in 2026. Petrino was most recently at Arkansas where the Razorbacks may have not been the best team overall, but his offenses were very productive and consistently put up impressive numbers. The veteran coach brings much needed college football experience to Belichick’s staff and should help improve a Tar Heels offense that ranked near the bottom in the ACC in nearly every major offensive statistical category last season. Bringing in Petrino this offseason was a key move as North Carolina looks for major improvement in Year 2 under Belichick after what was at times a disastrous first season in Chapel Hill.
Texas A&M lost both coordinators after an 11-win season in 2025, including OC Collin Klein who left to become head coach at Kansas State. Holmon Wiggins will now step in to lead the Aggies offense after spending the past two seasons in College Station as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. Wiggins will have sole control of the offense in what will be his first season as a full-time offensive coordinator and play-caller. Before going to Texas A&M, Wiggins spent five seasons on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. To his benefit, he’ll take over an offense led by returning starting quarterback Marcel Reed, but one of his biggest responsibilities this season will be helping Reed make a much needed step forward in his development as a QB.
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