College football news is nonstop, and we’re breaking it all down week by week this season.
Here’s the latest on what’s happening around college football entering Week 15:
The Nittany Lions are finalizing a deal to hire Iowa State Cyclones coach Matt Campbell as their new head coach, per ESPN. Campbell has been Iowa State’s head coach the past 10 seasons, with the Cyclones 8-4 this season and a combined 72-55 since he took over in 2016. He was previously the head coach at Toledo from 2011-15. Penn State fired head coach James Franklin after 11-plus seasons in October and are 6-6 this season.
Castellanos looks for fifth year of NCAA eligiblity
Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos is appealing to the NCAA for another year of eligibility. Attorney Darren Heitner announced Friday he’s representing Castellanos in his legal fight after the NCAA denied the player’s waiver request for a fifth season.
Castellanos, who transferred to Florida State last December after one year at Central Florida and two at Boston College, believes college football’s sanctioning body should grant him another season because he played in only five games with the Knights in 2022.
Castellanos played against Tulane in the American Athletic Conference title game after starter John Rhys Plumlee aggravated a hamstring injury. Backup Mikey Keene opted out of the game because he wanted to preserve a year of eligibility before entering the transfer portal.
Castellanos played “only because of circumstances beyond his control,” Heitner said. “Just weeks after Tommy’s participating, the NCAA issued a blanket waiver allowing future players in his exact situation to maintain their redshirt status,” Heitner said. “Players today can participate in four regular-season games plus a conference championship game without losing eligibility.”
Heitner added that Castellanos is “being penalized for the timing.”
James Madison hires Billy Napier as new HC
JMU and Napier agreed to a five-year deal that makes the ex-Florida coach the Dukes’ next head coach. Napier spent four seasons with the Gators before being fired seven games into the 2025 season. The last two JMU head coaches, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and newly hired UCLA coach Bob Chesney, both went on to earn power conference jobs.
Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer denies interest in Penn State job
Despite recently being linked to the PSU vacancy, DeBoer isn’t interested in any other college coaching jobs. The 51-year-old, who’s in his second season with the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide, boasts a 19-6 record with Alabama.
“Love this place,” DeBoer said Thursday, according to ESPN. “There’s never been any link, there’s never been any conversation, there’s never been any interest either way. So I’m glad we can put that to bed right now.”
Florida hires Brad White as new DC
Jon Sumrall made his first official hire as Florida’s football coach Thursday, bringing aboard Kentucky’s Brad White as defensive coordinator. The 43-year-old White spent the last eight years in Lexington, including seven of those in charge of the Wildcats’ defense. Sumrall and White overlapped on that side of the ball between 2019 and 2021, including working their final year together as co-DCs. Sumrall left Kentucky to become Troy’s coach in 2022 and spent the last two years at Tulane. Under White’s direction, Kentucky fielded defenses that ranked in the top 25 nationally in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022; his unit ranked sixth nationally in 2018.
Lousiville HC Jeff Brohm staying put
Brohm has informed Louisville that he’s staying put, per ESPN. Brohm, who was a quarterback at Lousiville from 1989-93, is in his third season coaching the Cardinals. This season, Louisville is 8-4 overall and a combined 27-12 under him since 2023. Brohm, who had been linked to Penn State’s head-coaching vacancy, had previous head-coaching stints at Purdue and Western Kentucky.
Georgia Tech HC Brent Key gets five-year extension
Georgia Tech announced a new five-year contract for coach Brent Key on Wednesday, rewarding the coach with an extension for the second consecutive year. Key led the No. 24 Yellow Jackets to a 9-3 regular season. Georgia Tech announced the athletic association’s board of trustees approved the new deal, which will extend through the 2030 season. Key also received a new five-year deal in 2024, when the Yellow Jackets finished 7-6.
Georgia Tech did not release terms of the new deal. Yahoo Sports reported the contract’s average value is $6.5 million per year, which would be an increase of about $2 million in total compensation.
Key, a former Georgia Tech player, has led the Yellow Jackets to a 27-19 record in three-plus seasons, including eight games as interim head coach in 2022. He was named the permanent head coach for the 2023 season. He has been mentioned in speculation about vacant coaching positions at other schools and has said he intends to remain at his alma mater. “There is no other place or opportunity out there like Georgia Tech,” Key said in a statement.
Kansas State HC Chris Klieman retires
K-State’s Klieman is retiring, according to FOX Sports college football reporter Bruce Feldman, and Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein is becoming the Wildcats’ new head coach. Klieman was Kansas State’s head coach from 2019-25, with the Wildcats winning the Big 12 in 2022 and posting a combined 54-34 record over seven seasons. He was previously the head coach at North Dakota State from 2014-18. Klein, who played quarterback for the Wildcats from 2008-12, was an assistant coach at Kansas State from 2017-23. It is unclear whether Klein would be allowed to help coach the Aggies if they are selected for the CFP.
South Florida hires Brian Hartline as HC
USF is bringing in Hartline, the long-time Ohio State offensive assistant, to be its new head coach, per ESPN. Hartline, a Buckeyes wide receiver from 2005-08, held numerous roles on OSU’s coaching staff from 2017-25, including offensive coordinator, WRs coach and offensive quality control assistant. USF (9-3) lost HC Alex Golesh to Auburn.
Ole Miss OC will finish season with Rebels
Charlie Weis Jr., the Rebels’ offensive coordinator, will finish the 2025 season with Ole Miss before officially becoming the new offensive coordinator at LSU under head coach Lane Kiffin, who officially left Ole Miss for LSU on Sunday. Ole Miss announced that Weis would be on its coaching staff on Tuesday, with Kiffin releasing a statement on the matter.
“With the playoff committee releasing updated rankings tonight, I wanted it to be known that after conversations with LSU, we are allowing Charlie to return to Ole Miss to coach the team during the playoffs,” Kiffin said in a statement. “I’ve already made the committee aware of this and I’m hopeful this decision will allow Ole Miss to receive the highest ranking possible because these great players are very deserving of that. I’m excited that Charlie will be back to help coach the greatest team in the history of Ole Miss.”
Weis, who has been the Rebels’ OC/quarterbacks coach since 2022, said in a statement that he’s “grateful” to LSU for letting him stay at Ole Miss through the end of the season. The Rebels (11-1) are the No. 7-ranked team in the country.
Cal identifies top target for HC vacancy
On the heels of firing its head coach, Cal is reportedly targeting Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi to become its next head coach, per CBS Sports. The expected move to bring in Lupoi, Oregon’s defensive coordinator since 2022, fills the void left by the dismissal of Justin Wilcox, who was fired after nine seasons on Nov. 23 following the team’s loss to Stanford. Wilcox coached the Golden Bears from 2017-2025, going 48-55 overall and 6-5 this season.
Kentucky has sights set on next head coach
Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein is the target to be the next coach at Kentucky, and both sides are actively working toward a deal, according to multiple reports. Kentucky fired Mark Stoops, the SEC‘s longest-tenured coach, on Monday, ending his tenure in his 13th season with the Wildcats after back-to-back losing records.
Stein, a Kentucky native, would be the sixth SEC head coach hired in the past few days. Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to take over for conference rival LSU, the Rebels promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to take over, Florida hired Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Arkansas hired Memphis‘ Ryan Silverfield and Auburn hired South Florida‘s Alex Golesh.
Nebraska fires defensive coordinator
Nebraska first-year DC John Butler was fired Monday after the Cornhuskers lost four of their past six games and struggled all season to stop the run. Head coach Matt Rhule named associate head coach Phil Snow the interim DC for the Huskers’ bowl game and said he hoped to hire a permanent replacement for Butler in the coming weeks.
The Huskers (7-5, 4-5) are 14th in the Big Ten in rushing defense, allowing 171.3 yards per game and 183 yards in nine conference games. They are 15th in the Big Ten and tied for 104th nationally with 19.0 sacks. Nebraska was outscored 77-26 by Penn State and Iowa in its last two games, gave up a combined 444 rushing yards and recorded one sack.
Nebraska is second-to-last in the nation in red-zone defense, with opponents coming away with points on 30 of 31 (96.8%) of their trips inside the 20-yard line. The Huskers are last in stopping touchdowns in the red zone.
Butler was hired by Rhule after spending six seasons in the NFL as the Buffalo Bills’ defensive backs coach. He spent the last two years there as the Bills’ passing game coordinator. He previously was on the Houston Texans’ staff for four seasons. Snow was Rhule’s DC with the Carolina Panthers from 2020 to 2022. He also has been a DC at Arizona State, UCLA, Washington and Baylor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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