College football first-year coach grades: Lincoln Riley earns ‘A-‘ as Mario Cristobal starts with ‘F’

The 2022 college football season is complete, which means it’s time to look back on first-year coaching campaigns from across the country. The previous cycle was one of the busiest in recent memory as 29 FBS jobs became available, a massive increase from 18 during the previous cycle. 

Perhaps more notably, the 2022 cycle featured some of the biggest jobs in the sport changing hands. USC poached Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, making him the first coach to voluntarily leave Norman for another college job since 1947. LSU also grabbed a big name with Brian Kelly from Notre Dame. The Group of Five level also had some real difference-makers, including Troy adding Jon Sumrall and SMU nabbing Rhett Lashlee. 

Now, it’s time to grade all of the first-year campaigns. Please note, As are limited for the most impressive first-year jobs in the country. Bs are for signs of promise. Cs are average. Ds are for disappointing debuts, while Fs are for first-year failures. The rare A+’s are reserved for success that would have been completely incomprehensible before the season started — and there are four of those. 

Let’s get started.