re: Has a Major D1 Program coach ever taken another job before the end of the season?

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Brian Kelly
During rivalry week.
He then immediately left.

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maybe he took the job but he did not leave before the end of the regular season.

OP needs to clarify because there’s probably been dozens of coaches that have left before a bowl game. Not uncommon at all

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didn't he finish the regular season at ND? I think that is what the OP is asking.

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I’ll give a little fault to the way OP worded question but the context makes it pretty clear he’s asking if any major schools coach has left before finishing the regular season for another job... Don’t know of any examples off top of my head

I don't think it would be Lane leaving Ole Miss...it would be Ole Miss telling Lane to leave...

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didn't he finish the regular season at ND? I think that is what the OP is asking.

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Yes, Notre Dame was finished their regular season schedule already when BK officially accepted the LSU job.

But conference championship games hadn't been played yet and ND was sitting at #6 in the CFP rankings with an outside shot to sneak into the 4 team playoff with some help in the conference title games.

They ultimately finished 5th in the CFP rankings, so it didn't matter. But that would've been some shite if they had gotten one more upset in a conference title game and gotten into the CFP while BK was already in Baton Rouge. Would've been hilarious karma after how he left Cincinnati during their undefeated run.

Yes. Jimbo did it to go to tamu

Lane didn't force the issue on leaving a playoff bound team. Of course Lane wouldn't leave willingly, but I also don't think he will let himself be hostage if he wants to be somewhere else next year.

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No other coach has had to make the decision with the early signing period and only transfer portal window being within a month of the season ending.

It’s a new game.

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Exactly. And the biggest of all those factors may be the expanded playoffs. We will start to see this more often. Or at least the part about coaches being forced to make a decision earlier when they decide to leave jobs.

On the other hand, in this new era, coaches will likely be less inclined to leave, because more schools can compete and are putting more resources into their programs. We’ll see what happens.

I believe Lane really doesn’t want to be the 1st one to do it. Because there’s no precedent for it yet, and he hasn’t seen how it’s worked out for anyone. He goes to LSU and wins an NC, and he’s just 1 of 4 to do it in the past 25 years. Won’t have much of a legacy here unless he wins multiple ones, which the expanded playoff is going to make more difficult. He goes to Florida and wins 1, they’ll be appreciative, but he’ll still be way behind Spurrier and Urban. He’d have to win at least 2, probably 3 to really have a lasting legacy there.

But the real nightmare would be him going to either and not winning any (and it’s still really fricking hard to win just 1–Les and O winning really warped LSU fans perception of the ease/difficulty it is to win an NC. It doesn’t matter how great a coach you are, timing and luck play a huge part in a championship season). And somebody comes in behind him and wins one at Ole Miss. It’s very possible. Especially if they’re so pissed off at him that they pour even more resources into the program, maybe even fiscally irresponsible with resources they don’t really have. Or maybe they do.

The new system has obviously leveled the playing field. The great teams aren’t as great, the good teams are better, and the worst teams aren’t as bad. But everything is so new, we don’t know how sustainable all this is yet. Maybe Ole Miss has the resources to consistently compete now. Maybe so does Indiana. Or Texas Tech. Or maybe they are just going all in right now, that can’t be sustained, and the historical hierarchy will eventually settle back to closer to where it’s always been. We won’t know for a while.

If it were me, I’d make my decision based on what I couldn’t live with. And for me, that would be leaving and never knowing how this season would have played out in the playoffs if I’d stayed. And God forbid, they go on run and win it all, and he had to see some rando interim that has been his subordinate for years, standing under the all that falling confetti hoisting the trophy over his head.

For Lane, it might be something different. Schools have no patience right now, really good jobs are going to be open every year. He can lead Ole Miss into the playoffs and will forever until the end of time be the the only coach in their history to do that 1st. It would be much easier to leave next year or the next after having already done that. BUT, maybe those really good-great jobs don’t mean as much to him as LSU or Florida. Maybe, for whatever reasons, those are literally his dream jobs. They might not come open again for a decade. Or it could be 3. Who knows?

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For Lane, it might be something different. Schools have no patience right now, really good jobs are going to be open every year. He can lead Ole Miss into the playoffs and will forever until the end of time be the the only coach in their history to do that 1st. It would be much easier to leave next year or the next after having already done that. BUT, maybe those really good-great jobs don’t mean as much to him as LSU or Florida. Maybe, for whatever reasons, those are literally his dream jobs. They might not come open again for a decade. Or it could be 3. Who knows?

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This has happened before. Bill Frieder at Michigan hated his AD, Bo Schembechler. On the eve of the 1989 NCAA Tournament he accepted a job with Arizona St. He intended to coach in the NCAAT. Bo told him no. That was the origin of the "Michigan Man". Steve Fisher then led that Michigan team to the National Championship. Frieder went to ASU and is best know for resigning after his star player got busted for point shaving.

The only thing people remember Frieder for is bailing on the would be National Champions.

Jimbo left on December 1 season over.