Last summer we examined coaching turnover trends in two major sports – Division I Football and Division I Women’s Basketball. With the new year beginning, we thought it would be a good time to update and add to those numbers. As with last year, we did not delineate between head coaches who retired, were dismissed, or left to take another job – the only metric used was whether or not there was a new head coach in the position the following season.
Last year we found that in DI-A and DI-AA, the number of schools that replaced their head coaches averaged just over 41 from 2007-08 to 2012-13 , a number that stayed relatively steady for those six seasons. Adding in the 2013-14 data, when 50 coaches will be leading new teams onto the field, that average has increased slightly, but not by much.
| Football | 07-08 | 08-09 | 09-10 | 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 |
| New Coaches | 45 | 37 | 37 | 44 | 40 | 44 | 50 |
| % New | 13.1% | 10.8% | 10.8% | 12.8% | 11.6% | 12.8% | 14.5% |
And in D-I-A Women’s Basketball, the number of schools that replaced their head coaches averaged just under 44 over the last six seasons. The 2013-14 data shows this trend holding steady, with 43 new head coaches coming on board.
| Women’s Bball | 07-08 | 08-09 | 09-10 | 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 |
| New Coaches | 46 | 53 | 24 | 36 | 37 | 67 | 43 |
| % New | 13.4% | 15.4% | 7.0% | 10.5% | 10.8% | 19.5% | 12.5% |
This year we also decided to examine D-I-A Men’s Basketball, looking at data going back four seasons. The average from 2010-12 was 57.5 new coaches per year, or about 16.7% of the D-I-A teams, though that number started decreasing in 2012-13, to 49. That decrease has continued so far this season, with only 42 new head coaches being named. (The final number when the season starts will probably be between 42-45, since we found that 89% of all coaching changes are made in March, April, and May – 86.7% for Women’s team changes, and 90.0% for Men’s team changes. In DI-A and DI-AA Football, 86% of head coaching changes are made in November, December, and January.)
| Men’s Bball | 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 |
| New Coaches | 57 | 58 | 49 | 42 |
| % New | 16.6% | 16.9% | 14.2% | 12.2% |
We also decided to examine the duration between the announcement of the former head coach and the new coach’s arrival.
Average Time between Announcements (in days):
| 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 4-yr Avg. | |
| Football | 17.8 | 21.0 | 23.1 | 21.4 | 21.2 |
| Men’s Bball | 22.7 | 15.5 | 19.4 | 26.2 | 20.9 |
| Women’s Bball | 27.7 | 28.7 | 32.8 | 29.7 | 30.3 |
The Men’s teams head coaches are announced about 50% faster, taking an average of just over 20 days, while Women’s Basketball head coach announcements take an average of just over 30 day. These numbers have held relatively steady for the past four seasons, even though Men’s Basketball has shown a big fluctuation from year to year, with a low of 15.5 days in 2011-12, and a high of 26.2 days so far this year.
