Month: January 2026

Each winter, the college football coaching carousel sets social media ablaze with speculation surrounding who might leave for new jobs, which athletic directors and donors will give their existing coach another chance and which up-and-comers might get a big opportunity for the first time. The frenzied discussion is reasonable, considering just how much can change when a team swaps head coaches in the modern era. Not only will a new crew of assistants be coming in, but hordes of behind-the-scenes staffers are shuffled to and fro, as are scores of players via the transfer portal. Modern rules — or the absence of them — really do facilitate fresh starts in every sense of the term. Once the dust settles, few decisions are more important than which coordinators a new head coach will hire, especially if the program’s leader isn’t a play caller himself. The offensive and defensive coordinators will be the ones building the playbook, scheming for opponents and matching wits with their counterparts on the opposite sideline every Saturday. That said, our FOX Sports experts gathered for a discussion about some of the most interesting assistant coach hires of the current cycle: Which college football assistant coaching hire will have an immediate positive impact on the team? Laken Litman: Texas’ hiring of Will Muschamp as its new defensive coordinator Muschamp, who was most recently on Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia, was the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator from 2008-10 and helped the program get to the national championship game in 2009. He was also Mack Brown’s head coach in waiting before later leaving to become the head coach at Florida. Muschamp knows Texas, and he knows Steve Sarkisian — both are former Nick Saban assistants. The Longhorns’ defense was supposed to be one of the best in 2025, but underperformed, leading to Sarkisian firing former defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. Now, it’s Muschamp’s turn to work some magic and help Sarkisian get the most out of a talented defensive roster. Michael Cohen: Northwestern’s hiring of Chip Kelly as its new offensive coordinator If this was two years ago, imagine being able to tell Northwestern head coach David Braun that he’d soon be able to hire someone who won a national championship with Ohio State in 2024 and then became one of the highest-paid play-callers in the NFL in 2025. And before all that, this same individual was the head coach of two different NFL franchises on the heels of an incredible run as the leading man at Oregon that included four consecutive 10-win seasons and a closet stuffed with national coach of the year awards. Talk about a farfetched idea. Yet here we are, entering the 2026 season with Kelly as the new offensive guru for Northwestern. On paper, it’s an incredible hire by Braun and one that should significantly elevate the Wildcats’ ceiling for as long as Kelly remains with the program. He’s as sharp an offensive mind as there is in college football. RJ Young: USC’s hiring of Gary Patterson as its new defensive coordinator Patterson’s hiring at USC stands out. While many were waiting on just who Ryan Day would appoint to call the offense at Ohio State — even if it was Day himself — I was waiting on just who Lincoln Riley would replace departed defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who took the same job at Penn State. When Riley pulled out progenitor of the 4-2-5 defense, a College Football Hall of Fame coach and all-but-retired Gary Patterson, I was taken aback. Riley and Patterson are friends, and each is renowned for their play-calling acumen and innovation on their respective sides of the ball. There’s no question that Patterson will be an asset — not just as head coach of the Trojans’ defense, but as a former Power 4 head coach who has seen and coached against Riley’s offense before — and a sounding board for what might turn out to be a pivotal season for USC. If Patterson can marry his scheme with Riley’s — an offense that is notoriously unfriendly to playing complimentary football — the Trojans might be a dark horse in the race to secure the 2026 Big Ten crown. I’m intrigued to find out just how a coach who hasn’t worked for anyone other than himself (as an on-the-field assistant) in 26 years meshes with Riley in this new era of the sport. [COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Top-10 Most Impactful Transfer Players From 2025] Which college football assistant coaching hire is the most perplexing? Laken Litman: Ohio State’s reported hiring of Arthur Smith as its new offensive coordinator The thing that’s most perplexing or intriguing about this hire is that Smith is the former Atlanta Falcons’ head coach, and most recently, he was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator. That will give Day two former NFL coaches as his offensive and defensive coordinators (Matt Patricia joined the Buckeyes’ staff before last season). Both Smith and Patricia are experienced at what they do and overqualified for their respective jobs. It’s an interesting tactic that Day is implementing in having former NFL coaches on his staff. The players love it, and it prepares them even further for when they’re ready to turn pro. Will this become a trend in college football? We will see. Michael Cohen: Bill Belichick and North Carolina’s hiring of Bobby Petrino Alarm bells rang out around college football in early January when embattled UNC head coach Bill Belichick — whose debut season with the Tar Heels was closer to soap opera than success — made the stunning decision to hire Petrino as his new offensive coordinator. Petrino, who turns 65 in March, was previously the offensive coordinator and interim head coach at Arkansas the past two seasons, overseeing a unit that ranked 23rd in scoring (32.9 points per game) and 13th in total offense (454.8 yards per game) this fall. Nobody has ever doubted Petrino’s football acumen, particularly when it comes to putting together high-level offenses. A résumé that now includes more than five decades of coaching experience in college and the NFL demonstrates how attractive his services have been over the years. Even with all that success, Petrino is perhaps best known for a motorcycle accident that occurred while he was the head coach at Arkansas in which his significantly younger mistress was riding with him. The story became a tabloid sensation and has followed Petrino ever since. Is that really the type of figure Belichick, whose own romantic interests have become a defining narrative during his time at UNC, needs by his side? Some messes are self-inflicted. [COLLEGE FOOTBALL: 7 Bold Predictions for the 2026 CFB Season] RJ Young: Ohio State’s reported hiring of Arthur Smith as its new offensive coordinator. I’m with Laken on this: Smith as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator is going to feel odd for those who have not followed Day’s career as head coach. Bear in mind, former Ohio State offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline is the only coach to call offensive plays at Ohio State without NFL position coaching experience or better since 2016. With his hiring of Chip Kelly in 2024, Day set a precedent that he has continued to follow through. He wants his play-callers to have experience as NFL coordinators and head coaches. So far, that strategy has been an unmitigated success. Kelly helped lead Ohio State to a national championship, and Patricia fielded the nation’s best scoring defense — all in their first years. Who’s to say Smith won’t be just as good? Not me.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

It’s usually an act of desperation. One last roll of the dice that can produce the most spectacular results. At other times it can be the result of a shambolic mix-up. One for the blooper reel. It doesn’t happen often, but when goalkeepers score, it’s usually memorable for right or wrong reasons. Anatoliy Trubin’s header in the eighth minute of stoppage time for Benfica against Real Madrid on Wednesday produced one of the most dramatic moments in Champions League history. Not only did Trubin seal a 4-2 win over the 15-time European champion, but he also ensured his team clinched the final playoff spot by virtue of goal difference. “I didn’t realize what we needed,” the Ukrainian goalkeeper said. “But then I saw everyone telling me to go up. I also saw the manager, so I went up, went into the box and I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. It was a crazy moment.” No wonder Benfica coach Jose Mourinho celebrated so wildly. The two-time Champions League winner has achieved just about everything in a trophy-laden career, but this was new territory. Leading 3-2 going into stoppage time, the Portuguese club needed another goal to climb into the playoffs. “I remember winning or losing at the last minute, it had happened to me several times before, but in this situation where we are winning, it’s not enough,” Mourinho said. “You have to change things and take risks.” It was a risk that certainly paid off and there is a long history of goalkeepers causing mayhem in the opposition box. The Great Escape — an iconic moment in English soccer While Trubin’s goal came in European club soccer’s elite competition, veteran keeper Jimmy Glass earned iconic status among Carlisle fans his last-ditch effort that saved the then-fourth tier team from falling out of the English Football League. It was back in 1999 when the on-loan goalkeeper volleyed home a stoppage-time winner against Plymouth to secure Carlisle’s survival — a moment that has been dubbed “The Great Escape.” “You just try your luck,” he said at the time. “Never pick up the goalie do they? “I just kept my head down and hit it. I thought I was going to balloon it over the bar, but I couldn’t miss from that distance.” Manchester United’s goalkeeping great Peter Schmeichel scored with a header against Rotor Volgograd in the UEFA Cup in 1995. To prove it wasn’t just a one off, he became the first keeper to score in the Premier League 2001 — netting for Aston Villa. More recently Liverpool’s Alisson glanced in a winner against West Brom in the Premier League in 2021. Paraguay’s prolific penalty-taking keeper Goalscoring keepers don’t have to be agents of chaos, merely sent in to pull off late rescue acts. Paraguay international Jose Luis Chilavert was prolific and once scored a hat trick for Argentine team Velez Sarsfield by converting three penalties. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, Chilavert, who also took free kicks, scored 67 goals in his career. He was the only goalkeeper to score a hat trick and is the highest-scoring keeper in international soccer with eight goals for Paraguay. But, the IFFHS says Brazilian Rogerio Ceni is the highest-scoring keeper of all time. According to Guinness World Records, Ceni scored 129 goals in his career. Colombia’s Rene Higuita — famed for his so-called scorpion kick saves and dribbling the ball out of his area — was another keeper known for scoring from free kicks and penalties. The weird and the wonderful Accustomed to punting the ball long from goal kicks, keepers have been responsible for some of the most outrageous goals from distance — but sometimes it can require a following wind, literally — or an embarrassing blunder from their opposite number. Stoke’s stadium is known as one of the windiest in English soccer and that certainly seemed to help keeper Asmir Begovic in 2013 when he scored after just 13 seconds against Southampton. He entered the Guinness Book of Records for the longest goal of all time, with his effort measured at measured at 91.9 meters. But it didn’t come without a little assistance from Southampton’s Artur Boruc, who was wrong-footed and left red-faced as the ball bounced over him. “It’s a cool feeling but it was a fortunate incident. I feel a bit bad for Boruc,” Begovic told the BBC. Tottenham’s Paul Robinson similarly caught out Watford’s Ben Foster with another launched effort from his own half in 2007. And to prove it’s not just a modern phenomenon, Tottenham’s Pat Jennings scored from his own area against Manchester United in 1967. The iconic Bobby Charlton, who played in that match later said: “I immediately turned around to look at the referee because I thought well maybe that’s illegal because I’d never seen it done before.” Reporting by The Associated Press.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports