First-year report card: Letter grades for every college football coach after debut season

History strongly suggested that Curt Cignetti wouldn’t succeed at Indiana, mostly because no coach succeeds at Indiana. Entering the 2024 season, the Hoosiers had spent over a century on the bottom rung of the Big Ten ladder, never winning more then even nine games in a season.

The ninth win of 2024 came on Nov. 2, with 47-10 rout of Michigan State. Indiana would add two more wins to earn an at-large berth to the College Football Playoff and complete the greatest regular season in program history.

Maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised. Asked last December about how he planned to sell his program to prospective recruits, Cignetti replied, “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.” Cignetti had never posted a losing season in his 13 seasons as a college head coach across three different stops, most recently orchestrating James Madison’s record-setting transition from the Championship Subdivision to the Bowl Subdivision.

Whether or not we saw this coming, what Cignetti achieved this season will go down as perhaps the greatest first-year coaching job in college football history.

That’s why Cignetti leads the way in the USA TODAY Sports grading of every first-year FBS coach from the 2024 season — and not just with an A+, but with an extra-special A++ to recognize the uniqueness of his debut.

A++: Curt Cignetti, Indiana (11-1)

The program’s previous single-season wins record was set in 1945 and tied in 1967. Six other teams had won eight games in a year, including in 2019. Cignetti lifted Indiana into a different stratosphere and deserves every piece of postseason hardware as the unquestioned coach of the year in the FBS.

WHO WINS IT ALL?: Our College Football Playoff bracket prediction

FROM NO. 1 TO NO. 12: Ranking the national championship contenders

A+: Spencer Danielson, Boise State (12-1)

Danielson took over as the interim coach for Andy Avalos late last season and led Boise State to the Mountain West championship. In his first full year, the former defensive coordinator piloted the Broncos to another conference crown and the No. 3 seed in the playoff. This has been a remarkable start for him and the program.

A: Fran Brown, Syracuse (9-3)

Brown has the Orange at No. 25 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after upsetting Miami to end the regular season. After inheriting a program with just two winning seasons in the previous decade, Brown’s nine wins are the second-most by a first-year coach in program history. The success was spearheaded by the addition of Ohio State transfer quarterback Kyle McCord.

A: Manny Diaz, Duke (9-3)

Diaz also posted nine wins in his debut, tying his predecessor, Mike Elko, for the most wins by a first-year hire in Duke’s history. That included four wins against eventual bowl teams. The Blue Devils also came within a whisper of knocking off SMU in late October but still managed defeats of rivals North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest.

A: Pete Lembo, Buffalo (8-4)

Back in the MAC for the first time leaving Ball State in 2015, Lembo led Buffalo to eight wins for the fifth time since the Bulls transitioned to the FBS. A win against Northern Illinois in September was just the second ranked victory in school history.

A-: Mike Elko, Texas A&M (8-4)

Elko’s debut lost some steam down the stretch with losses to Auburn and Texas. But to take over the messy wreckage of the Jimbo Fisher era and have the Aggies in the mix for the SEC championship game in the season finale makes this an outstanding start.

A-: Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State (7-5)

SJSU exceeded expectations and then some under the former Navy coach. After being picked 10th in the preseason Mountain West poll, the Spartans clinched bowl eligibility in early November. Four of those five losses came to teams with at least eight wins, including Boise State and UNLV.

A-: Jon Sumrall, Tulane (9-4)

Like Elko, Sumrall’s debut tailed off late in the year with losses to Memphis and Army, the latter in the American Athletic championship game. The former Troy coach still put together the sort of season that supports his case for being seen as one the up-and-coming stars in college coaching.

B+: Major Applewhite, South Alabama (6-6)

South Alabama matched last year’s regular-season win total but were much better than that, with four losses by a single possession and a marquee win in November against Louisiana-Lafayette.

B+: Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico (5-7)

Mendenhall is already on the move, signing a new deal with Utah State not long after the Lobos’ loss to Hawaii left them one win short of bowl eligibility. The program hadn’t won more than four games in a season since 2016. Losing one of the most consistently successful coaches of this generation is incredibly painful for UNM.

B: Bob Chesney, James Madison (8-4)

JMU did smoke North Carolina in non-conference play for one of the biggest wins in the program’s FBS existence. But amid a pretty large exodus of talent after Cignetti’s move to Indiana, the Dukes lost four times in the Sun Belt and were never a player in the Group of Five's playoff chase.

B: Kalen DeBoer, Alabama (9-3)

There were good moments, including wins against Georgia, South Carolina, LSU and Missouri. There were also some pretty sour moments, most recently in the 24-3 loss to Oklahoma that held Alabama out of the playoff. DeBoer's first year reinforced how hard life will be for Alabama in the post-Nick Saban era.

B: Sherrone Moore, Michigan (7-5)

Moore’s grade would’ve been much lower had he not led Michigan to yet another win against Ohio State. That changes the complexion of a season that had to that point been defined by missed opportunities and one of the worst offenses in recent program history.

B: Bryant Vincent, Louisiana-Monroe (5-7)

Winning five games at ULM is cause for some celebration. The Warhawks were picked dead last in the preseason Sun Belt poll. But the disappointment comes from the fact they were 5-1 at the midseason point before swooning down the stretch.

B-: Jedd Fisch, Washington (6-6)

The Huskies also petered out as the schedule grew tougher in October and November, capped by a blowout loss to rival Oregon to end the regular season. Given what the team lost from last year’s national runner-up, though, this was an acceptable debut for the former Arizona coach.

B-: Willie Fritz, Houston (4-8)

This was only Fritz’s second losing season since 2017 and just his sixth overall since starting as a college head coach at Central Missouri in 1997. A weak offense was a season-long concern, but the Cougars showed enough fight to suggest another Fritz-led turnaround is coming fast.

C+: Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso (3-9)

UTEP went 3-3 in the second half and made some noticeable strides on offense in wins against Kennesaw State and New Mexico State. The Miners lost twice to Power Four competition and another four times to teams that finished with eight or more wins.

C-: Trent Bray, Oregon State (5-7)

This was a definitely a step-back season given the Beavers’ easier schedule as the one of two remaining members of the disbanded Pac-12. Oregon State lost to Nevada and was blown out by California and Air Force.

C-: Jeff Choate, Nevada (3-10)

Nevada added only one win from 2023 and still finished last in the Mountain West. But the Wolf Pack were much, much more competitive, losing by a possession to SMU, Georgia Southern, San Jose State, Fresno State, Boise State and Air Force.

C-: Jonathan Smith, Michigan State (5-7)

Michigan State had a very nice win against Iowa in October. But the remaining four wins were Florida Atlantic, Maryland, Prairie View and Purdue. Smith’s grade is docked for the Spartans’ 41-14 loss at home to Rutgers in the season finale to fall one win short of the postseason.

D+: Sean Lewis, San Diego State (3-9)

SDSU failed to score more than 27 points in a game against FBS competition, a surprising development given Lewis’ background as an offensive coach. The three wins were the Aztecs’ fewest in a season since 2008 and tied for the fewest by a first-year coach since 1945.

D+: Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee State (3-9)

Picked fourth in the preseason Conference USA poll, MTSU beat only Kennesaw State and UTEP to finish in a three-way tie for last place. Mason’s first year was defined by a series of blowouts; all nine losses were decided by double digits, and all but one of those nine by at least 17 points.

D+: Jay Sawvel, Wyoming (3-9)

Sawvel’s debut seemed to turn a corner in November with wins against New Mexico and Washington State. But the season was littered with close losses, including a near miss against Boise State in November. Sawvel will have to put some tough lessons to use this offseason in order to get Wyoming back into the top half of the MWC.

D: Brent Brennan, Arizona (4-8)

Arizona was ranked No. 21 in the preseason Coaches Poll and fifth in the preseason Big 12 poll, as one of five teams to earn at least one first-place vote. The Wildcats ended up one spot from the bottom in the conference standings and were embarrassed in November with blowout losses to Central Florida, TCU and rival Arizona State. While not a Florida State-level disappointment, Arizona was one of the biggest letdowns in the FBS.

D: Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State (2-10)

The former Mississippi and Oklahoma offensive coordinator and first-time head coach led the Bulldogs to wins against Eastern Kentucky and Massachusetts — and that’s it. MSU was blown out by an average Toledo team in non-conference play and lost all eight SEC games by double digits.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football coaching grades after first seasons at schools