2. UCLA: Rick Neuheisel
Grade: A-
Neuheisel’s last head coaching gig ended when he was fired for participating in a March Madness betting pool. A 1984 graduate of UCLA, Neuheisel spent the last three years on the Baltimore Ravens staff. Neuheisel has a reputation as a good quarterbacks coach, and with the way UCLA’s quarterbacks and offense as a whole have performed lately, this appears to be a perfect match.

3. Duke: David Cutcliffe
Grade: B+
Former head coach Ted Roof finished his Duke career with a 6-45 record. Cutcliffe, who tutored Peyton Manning at Tennessee, was unfairly fired at Ole Miss in 2004 after he posted a 44-29 record. The Duke program needs a lot of help to become even respectable, but hiring a well-known assistant like Cutcliffe, who has had success both as a head coach and as an offensive assistant, is a great move.

4. Arkansas: Bobby Petrino
Grade: B+
If it wasn’t for the character questions, Petrino would be number one on this list. An offensive guru, Petrino had a lot of success as offensive coordinator at Auburn and head coach at Louisville before moving on to coach the Atlanta Falcons for only 13 games. Houston Nutt had a good amount of success with the Razorbacks, but Petrino has the ability to guide Arkansas to good quarterback play and to become a consistent SEC West contender. Of course, that is assuming he doesn’t leave for another job.

5. Georgia Tech: Paul Johnson
Grade: B
Johnson did a great job with one of the most difficult jobs in college football at Navy. Despite how difficult it is to recruit at an academy, Johnson led the Midshipmen to five consecutive bowl games. Prior to coaching at Navy, Johnson led Georgia Southern to two 1-AA national titles. He has recruiting ties to the state of Georgia and has had consistent success at Navy, but the biggest question is whether or not his triple option flexbone offense will be successful in a major conference.

6. Mississippi: Houston Nutt
Grade: B-
It didn’t take long for Nutt to be named head coach at Ole Miss, a division rival of his old school, after resigning. While he led the Razorbacks to 75-48 record in his ten years, Nutt had some off the field issues that caused controversy, most notably the hiring of Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator before the 2006 season. But maybe all that Nutt needs is a fresh start, and he should be able to duplicate the success he had at Arkansas with Ole Miss.

7. Washington State: Paul Wulff
Grade: B-
After the Cougars won 10 games three straight years, they have failed to make a bowl game in each of the past four seasons. Wulff, a center for Washington State from 1985-1989, has no Division 1-A head coaching experience, but he won three Big Sky Conference coach of the year awards while at nearby Eastern Washington. While not a big name coach, Wulff has a solid track record and has the charisma to be a successful recruiter for a program that is not in the easiest location to recruit for.

8. Baylor: Art Briles
Grade: B-
Baylor has not made a bowl game since 1994, and now it is up to Briles to bring Baylor out of the Big 12 South basement. Briles enjoyed a good amount of success at Houston, recording winning seasons in four out of five years and winning the 2006 Conference USA title. He will attempt to compensate for the talent disadvantage at Baylor by bringing a wide-open passing attack that shares similarities to Mike Leach’s offense at Texas Tech.

9. Texas A&M: Mike Sherman
Grade: C
Texas A&M wasted little time in naming Sherman the new head coach just three days following the resignation of Dennis Franchione after the Aggies’ victory over rival Texas. Sherman served two terms as offensive line coach for Texas A&M and has spent the last decade in the NFL, including six seasons as head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Texas A&M administrators obviously believe that Sherman is a perfect fit, but while he has ties to the program, there is not much reason to believe that he will do much better than most other former NFL coaches who have moved back to the college game.

10. Nebraska: Bo Pelini
Grade: C-
Following the disastrous Bill Callahan/Steve Pederson era, Tom Osborne and the Cornhuskers decided to find a strong defensive mind with ties to the program to rebuild it into the power that it once was. Pelini spent a year as defensive coordinator at Nebraska before moving on to the same position at Oklahoma and LSU. While he is a strong defensive mind and a good motivator, Nebraska may have been better off offering the job to a proven college head coach (i.e. Jim Grobe of Wake Forest) instead of focusing on hiring someone with a Nebraska connection.

11. West Virginia: Bill Stewart
Grade: D+
It will be difficult to replace Rich Rodriguez, and many names were thrown around as possible replacements. But after leading the Mountaineers to a big win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl as interim head coach, Stewart was quickly promoted to be the successor. While he is a favorite of the players and has strong ties to the program, his only head coaching experience occurred at VMI, where his record was 8-25. He resigned in 1996 after allegedly using a racial slur directed at one of his players. At West Virginia, he was associate head coach and in charge of fullbacks, tight ends and special teams. Stewart may be popular with his players and many fans, but this may simply be a case of the administration being afraid of losing another coach to another school.