The first three Power 4 college football coaches to become household names by the end of the season

The 2025 coaching carousel in college football ended up being one of the most dangerous recruiting cycles in recent sports memory.

Many, big-time blue-blooded jobs opened up and were filled by a few top coaches looking to prove their worth in the burgeoning division.

But for all the established, well-known names like Lane Kiffin and James Franklin, there were plenty of other former hot coordinators or Team of Five coaches who were hired more for their promise than their list of accomplishments.

I decided to give you three Power Four coaches for the first time in 2026 who will be household names by the end of the season.

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If you're a die-hard college football fan, these names may sound familiar to you, but to the average fan, these three head coaches couldn't be picked from the list.

I expect that to change six months from now.

3. Will Stein (Kentucky Wildcats)

I actually chose between former Oregon coaches, as both offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi became head coaches for the first time this offseason, but I decided to go with the former based solely on the existing infrastructure and more exposure to coaching in the SEC.

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No one is going to mistake Kentucky for Georgia or Alabama, but the Wildcats were a really strong program under former coach Mark Stoops in terms of development and production on the field.

Kentucky is in much better shape than when Stoops got there, and even though things fell apart toward the end of his tenure, I believe he left a well-stocked cabinet for his successor.

Stein's offensive background will help shake things up at a school that has been a solid, defensive-first program for the past decade, and the fact that he's been in Oregon coach Dan Lanning's program for three years means he knows what coaching a big-time college program looks like up close.

I don't expect the lights to be too bright for Stein in 2026 and I truly believe Kentucky will surprise a lot of people this coming season.

2. Bob Chesney (UCLA Bruins)

The UCLA flag is raised during the Cactus Bowl college football game between Kansas State and UCLA at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., on Dec. 26, 2017. (Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)

After more than a decade of coaching in the lower levels of college football, Bob Chesney took over from Curt Cignetti at James Madison and had the Dukes in the College Football Playoff just two seasons into the job.

There is something to be said about coaches who take over from coaches who are successful and then end up in turmoil because that is not often the case.

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Chesney has been a winner everywhere he's coached, but now he's faced with resurrecting a once-proud program that fell on hard times.

The UCLA Bruins have been in obscurity for years, but Chesney feels he deserves to bring them back to the land of the living.

He is a hell of a coach, which is proven by his track record and CFP appearances where he ends up, but the big question that plagues most of these first-time coaches is how they choose when they are facing the big boys.

I wrote about this recently, but the Bruins and Chesney are historically recruiting relative to their average, and while I stand by what I said about their class not being as elite as it appeared in May, the fact that they're still sitting in the top 15 proves that Chesney still has plenty of juice on the recruiting trail.

If you marry that ability to find talent with his obvious coaching chops, I have no doubt that Chesney will have UCLA on the map in the long run.

1. Eric Morris (Oklahoma State)

The Oklahoma State Cowboys logo is displayed on the field before a college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., on Sept. 9, 2023. (Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)

If I had to bet a month's salary on the first Power Four coach to succeed in his first year, I'd put my money on Eric Morris at Oklahoma State.

The new head of the Cowboys takes over one of the longest tenured coaches in the country in Mike Gundy, and, like Stoops at Kentucky, I believe Gundy left the program in good shape for a new guy to take over.

Morris has ties to the Big 12 dating back to his playing days at Texas Tech, meaning he is an Air Raid student of former Red Raiders coach and college football legend Mike Leach.

His offense will emphasize every defense in the conference from the jump, and he brings a little help in his front position to make sure his scheme is executed correctly.

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North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker led the nation in passing yards last season and was second in touchdown passes, and now he will be able to reunite with the creator of those top passing games after transferring to Oklahoma State.

Mestemaker isn't the only Morris caller to ever be nominated for the Heisman, as the 40-year-old Cowboys coach is seen as a whisperer from his days at Incarnate Word and Washington State, coaching both Cam Ward and John Mateer, respectively.

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His offensive prowess paired with his hand-picked quarterback, Morris is poised to do well in Stillwater on day one, and everyone across the country will know his name by season's end.

Agent Morris better have his phone on him at all times, because his client is going to be making calls to every blue blood program in America in the not too distant future.