Off-season in the FCS

[s--k]

FCS Head Coaching Changes Before The 2026 Season

list compiled by Sam Herder - February 17, 2026

Last offseason, there were 23 FCS head coaching changes. That was down from 30 in 2024 and 28 in 2023.

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Southern
Departing coach: Terrence Graves
Date: 10/20
Reason: “Relieved of his duties”
New hire: Marshall Faulk (Colorado RBs Coach)

Samford
Departing coach: Chris Hatcher
Date: 11/9
Reason: “Relieved of duties”
New hire: John Grass (Clemson Senior Offensive Assistant/Assistant QBs Coach)

Weber State
Departing coach: Mickey Mental
Date: 11/10
Reason: “Parted ways”
New hire: Eric Kjar (Corner Canyon High School HC)

UAlbany
Departing coach: Jared Ambrose (2025 interim)
Date: 11/18
Reason: Conduct a national search for a new head coach after Ambrose served as the 2025 interim HC
New hire: Tom Perkovich (Susquehanna University HC)

Portland State
Departing coach: Bruce Barnum
Date: 11/22
Reason: “Relieved of his coaching duties”
New hire: Chris Fisk (Central Washington HC)

Hampton
Departing coach: Trent Boykin
Date: 11/23
Reason: “Leadership change”
New hire: Van Malone (Kansas State DBs/assistant HC)

Cal Poly
Departing coach: Paul Wulff
Date: 11/23
Reason: “Change in leadership”
New hire: Tim Skipper (UCLA interim HC)

Penn
Departing coach: Ray Priore
Date: 11/24
Reason: Stepping down from his position
New hire: Rick Santos (New Hampshire HC)

Sac State
Departing coach: Brennan Marion
Date: 12/4
Reason: Accepted the Colorado OC position
New hire: Alonzo Carter (Arizona RBs/assistant HC)

Bucknell
Departing coach: Dave Cecchini
Date: 12/8
Reason: “Leadership change”
New hire: Jeff Behrman (John Carroll University HC)

Florida A&M
Departing coach: James Colzie III
Date: 12/8
Reason: Relieved of his duties
New hire: Quinn Fordham Gray Sr. (Albany State HC)

Mercer
Departing coach: Mike Jacobs
Date: 12/10
Reason: Accepted the Toledo HC position
New hire: Joel Taylor (West Georgia HC)

Monmouth
Departing coach: Kevin Callahan
Date: 12/11
Reason: Transitioning to a special advisor role within the athletic department
New hire: Jeff Gallo (Monmouth associate HC)

West Georgia
Departing coach: Joel Taylor
Date: 12/11
Reason: Accepted the Mercer HC position
New hire: Steve Englehart (Presbyterian HC)

New Hampshire
Departing coach: Rick Santos
Date: 12/13
Reason: Accepted the Penn HC position
New hire: Sean Goldrich (Delaware QBs coach, pass game coordinator)

Gardner-Webb
Departing coach: Cris Reisert
Date: 12/15
Reason: Accepted the Toledo OC position
New hire: Kris McCullough (University of Texas-Permian Basin HC)

Howard
Departing coach: Larry Scott
Date: 12/15
Reason: Stepped down to accept the position as Auburn’s TEs coach
New hire: Ted White (Maryland Senior Offensive Assistant)

VMI
Departing coach: Danny Rocco
Date: 12/16
Reason: Stepped down to accept a job on the Virginia Tech staff
New hire: Ashley Ingram (Carson-Newman HC)

Presbyterian
Departing coach: Steve Englehart
Date: 12/17
Reason: Accepted the West Georgia HC position
New hire: Matt Rahl (Presbyterian OL coach, run game coordinator)

Mercyhurst
Departing coach: Ryan Riemedio
Date: 1/28
Reason: Took the Youngstown State DC position
New hire: Thomas Sydeski (Mercyhurst OC)

Montana
Departing coach: Bobby Hauck
Date: 2/4
Reason: Retired, then was hired as Illinois DC
New hire: Bobby Kennedy (Montana WRs coach)

South Dakota
Departing coach: Travis Johansen
Date: 2/6
Reason: Took the Rutgers DC position
New hire: Matt Vitzthum (USD co-OC/QBs coach)

Drake
Departing coach: Joe Woodley
Date: 2/9
Reason: Took a defensive assistant coaching job at Rutgers
New hire: Matt Walker (University of Wisconsin-River Falls HC)

Yale
Departing coach: Tony Reno
Date: 2/17
Reason: Stepping down due to health reasons
New hire: Kevin Cahill (Lehigh HC)

Lehigh
Departing coach: Kevin Cahill
Date: 2/24
Reason: Took the Yale HC job
New hire: ?

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North Dakota State finally makes it's move to FBS - MVFC revises conference schedule for each conference opponent to play eachother

Sacramento State finally finds a home in the MAC

Saint Francis has joined the PAC at the Dlll level

Villanova and William & Mary will begin FCS competition in the Patriot League

Formerly independent Sacred Heart joins the CAA

Big Sky Conference grows to 13 teams with Southern Utah and Utah Tech from the UAC

Tennessee Tech moves from the OVC-Big South to the SoCon

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Regular Season for FCS starts WEEK 0


Thursday, August 27

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV/Mobile
Maine at Towson	6:00pm	FloSports
Mercyhurst at Youngstown State	6:00pm	ESPN+
Virginia-Lynchburg at Hampton	6:00pm	FloSports
Chattanooga at West Georgia	7:00pm	ESPN+
Glenville State at Elon	7:00pm	FloSports
Winona State at St. Thomas	7:00pm	TV TBA
MVSU at Nicholls	7:00pm	ESPN+
Charleston So. at Lindenwood	7:00pm	ESPN+
Central Arkansas at UT Martin	7:30pm	ESPN+
South Dakota Mines at Drake	7:30pm	ESPN+
Southern Illinois at West Florida	Time TBA	ESPN+
Eastern Illinois at Murray State	Time TBA	ESPN+
Concord at Davidson	Time TBA	ESPN+
UVA Wise at Presbyterian	Time TBA	ESPN+
Gardner-Webb at Austin Peay	Time TBA	ESPN+
Northwestern (IA) at Western Illinois	Time TBA	ESPN+
LIU at North Dakota	Time TBA	ESPN+
Stony Brook at Delaware State	Time TBA	ESPN+
Louisiana Christian at Northwestern State	Time TBA	ESPN+

Friday, August 28

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV/Mobile
Marist at New Haven	6:00pm	NEC Front Row
Colgate at Fordham	6:00pm	ESPN+
New Hampshire at UAlbany	7:00pm	FloSports
Rhode Island at Merrimack	Time TBA	ESPN+
Idaho at Cal Poly	Time TBA	ESPN+

Saturday, August 29

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV/Mobile
Fairmont State at Dayton	12:00pm	TV TBA
Savannah State at SC State	6:00pm	ESPN+
Morgan State at North Carolina A&T	6:00pm	FloSports
North Alabama vs Samford (in Huntsville, AL)	7:00pm	ESPN+
Alabama A&M vs Howard (in Atlanta, GA)	7:30pm	ABC
Miles College at Alcorn State	Time TBA	TV TBA
Southern vs Alabama State (in Birmingham, AL)	Time TBA	TV TBA
Stephen F. Austin at McNeese	Time TBA	ESPN+
UT Permian Basin at UTRGV	Time TBA	ESPN+
Jackson State at Tennessee State	Time TBA	ESPN+
Georgetown (KY) at Butler	Time TBA	TV TBA
Southeast Missouri at Indiana State	Time TBA	ESPN+
Anderson at Furman	Time TBA	ESPN+
Albany State at Florida A&M	Time TBA	TV TBA
Clark Atlanta at Grambling State	Time TBA	TV TBA
Abilene Christian at Lamar	Time TBA	ESPN+
Roosevelt at Chicago State	Time TBA	TV TBA
Winston-Salem State at Norfolk State	Time TBA	ESPN+
NC Central at Texas Southern	Time TBA	TV TBA
CCSU at South Dakota	Time TBA	ESPN+/Midco Sports
Morehouse vs UAPB (in Little Rock, AR)	Time TBA	TV TBA
Robert Morris at Wagner	Time TBA	NEC Front Row
Lawrence Tech at Valparaiso	Time TBA	ESPN+
HCU at Southeastern La.	Time TBA	ESPN+
William & Mary at Villanova	Time TBA	ESPN+
Weber State at Northern Colorado	Time TBA	ESPN+
Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona	Time TBA	ESPN+
Lafayette at Georgetown	Time TBA	ESPN+
Bucknell at Richmond	Time TBA	ESPN+
Eastern Kentucky at Western Carolina	Time TBA	ESPN+
The Citadel at Wofford	Time TBA	ESPN+
Monmouth at Tennessee Tech	Time TBA	ESPN+
Campbell at ETSU	Time TBA	ESPN+
Bryant at Stonehill	Time TBA	NEC Front Row
Prairie View A&M at Tarleton State	Time TBA	ESPN+
Lehigh at Holy Cross	Time TBA	ESPN+
VMI at Idaho State	Time TBA	ESPN+
UC Davis at Portland State	Time TBA	ESPN+
Southern Utah at Montana	Time TBA	ESPN+
Montana State at Utah Tech	Time TBA	ESPN+

 

[twinkie13]

Great stuff

 

[twinkie13]

Faulk at Southern is very interesting for me

 

[s--k]

Just saw that Lehigh promoted their 3 year DC Nagy to be HC. Older guy, has HC experience at Dlll. OC/QB coach retained entering year 4. Guy on staff for 9 years promoted to DC. Because Cahill didn't take any assistants to Yale (Reno's staff looks like it will be fully returning staff for Cahill), both Lehigh and Yale will have rare stability on their staffs despite both hiring new head coaches.

 

[s--k]

NFL Draft: How Many FCS Players Get Drafted Each Year?

How many players from Division I-AA/FCS schools have been drafted in past years? How many were picked in the first round?

herosports.com

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How Many FCS Players Get Drafted?​

Year	Picks	1st Rd	*FCS-to-FBS Transfers Counted
1994	25	1	0
1995	21	1	0
1996	30	1	0
1997	30	0	0
1998	20	0	0
1999	26	0	0
2000	28	2	0
2001	20	0	0
2002	18	0	0
2003	14	0	0
2004	15	0	0
2005	17	0	0
2006	16	0	0
2007	17	0	0
2008	24	2	0
2009	15	0	0
2010	19	0	0
2011	21	0	0
2012	15	0	0
2013	19	0	0
2014	19	0	0
2015	18	0	1
2016	20	1	0
2017	15	0	0
2018	19	0	0
2019	14	1	1
2020	6	0	0
2021	6	1	1
2022	24	2	4
2023	11	0	1
2024	12	0	1
2025	15	1	7

Important note to the above, players who played multiple FCS seasons, but finished their careers at FBS schools get counted by Sam as being an FCS player drafted which to me is misleading. For 2025 there were just 8 players who finished their college careers at FCS drafted.

Players drafted by year:

8 FCS players, 1 HBCU player taken in the 2025 NFL draft

The 2025 NFL draft saw eight former FCS players earn selections. Here's a breakdown of who got picked.

www.ncaa.com

notable FCS prospects (mostly courtesy of ncaa.com, position and draft projections from draft scout)​

• Temi Arjirotutu | OL | Villanova
• TJ Burke | DT | Lehigh
• James Conway | LB | Fordham, position rank 14th - projected 7th round/FA
• Charles Demmings | CB | Stephen F. Austin, position rank 15th - projected 3rd-4th round
• Sam Hagen | OL | South Dakota State
• Erik Hunter | LB | Morgan State, position rank 12th - projected 4th-5th round
• Jalen Jones | CB | William & Mary, position rank 34th - projected 7th round/FA
• Barika Kpeenu | RB | North Dakota State
• Bryce Lance | WR | North Dakota State, position rank 13th - projected 2nd-3rd round
• Delby Lemieux | OL | Dartmouth, position rank 18th - projected 7th round
• Shadwell Nkuba | CB | Illinois State, position rank 33rd - projected 7th round/FA
• Gavin Ortega | OL | Weber State
• Cole Payton | QB | North Dakota State, position rank 9th - projected 5th-6th round
• A.J. Pena | OLB | Rhode Island, position rank 22nd - projected 7th round/FA
• Kaleb Proctor | DL | Southeastern Louisiana, position rank 10th - projected 3rd round
• Maximus Pulley | S | Wofford
• Derek Robertson | QB | Monmouth
• Daniel Sobkowicz | WR | Illinois State, position rank 30th - projected 7th round
• Max Tomczak | WR | Youngstown State, position rank 41st - projected 7th round/FA
• Jalen Walthall | WR | Incarnate Word
• Michael Wortham | WR/RS | Montana

 

[s--k]

New for 2026, Dll West Florida will be playing in the UAC - eligible for conference championship, ineligible for FCS post season. West Florida was 2019 Dll National Champion and perennial playoff qualifier.

The University of West Florida announced in a press conference today that it will be transitioning its athletics programs to the NCAA Division I level. Beginning in Fall 2026, UWF will compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference as a full multi-sport member and the United Athletic Conference as a football-playing member.