College Football Coach Hire Grades: UL-Monroe

UL-Monroe Warhawks: Bryant Vincent

Why the job was open: UL-Monroe is such a tough job, one of the toughest in FBS. They’ve gone many routes with their coaching hires and there’s little success to show for it. ULM was once a successful FCS program but their highlights in FBS are having the rare distinction of winning their conference but not making a bowl in 2005, the magical 2012 season where they beat Arkansas, then nearly took down Auburn/Baylor on their way to their first and only bowl appearance. Then of course the win over Nick Saban’s Alabama program in 2007. It’s has been so tough to draw positive attention to the program and their latest hire was Terry Bowden, an experienced coach with recent success at another tough job but it simply didn’t work out.

Coach Profile: Vincent’s career did not start out like most, after graduating high school he was an elementary school teacher and became an assistant high school coach. He eventually rose through the ranks as a high school head coach before getting into college football as a TE coach for South Alabama. He got his first OC job at UAB in 2014, and if you know anything about the Blazers program, you know it folded after that year. Vincent was among those who sought refuge at South Alabama after UAB’s program folded, but at the end of the 2017 season South Alabama’s head coach was fired despite making a bowl and Vincent returned to the revived UAB program yet again. He found immediate success alongside Bill Clark in that 2018 season when UAB won their first ever conference title, and overall he played a huge part in the revived UAB program quickly becoming one of the best in CUSA. In 2022 Bill Clark had to suddenly medically retire in the summer, and Vincent took over as the interim head coach of the season, despite the difficult circumstances he led the Blazers to a winning season and Bahamas Bowl victory. Despite support from within Vincent didn’t get the full time job at UAB and went to New Mexico as the OC, the Lobos were 2nd to last on offense the year before and in just one year he improved their offense to being decent.

Why he will succeed: Vincent is an experienced coach and has won in difficult circumstances before. Wherever he goes, a good offense follows and that’s the first step. His player development and offensive scheme is something this program really needs, they need someone who can show promise at first to get a skeptical fanbase on board. There is actually decent talent in the area and the new AD is trying to rally more support.

What obstacles are in the way of success: You can probably tell already there’s a lot. For one, support isn’t there yet ULM has a very small budget, easily the smallest in the Sun Belt. Finding early momentum will be extremely difficult because the Sun Belt is such a competitive league. The Warhawks were 1 of only 2 teams that didn’t go to a bowl from the conference last year and the other (Southern Miss) has a much greater history of success. In short, this is one of the toughest jobs in College Football.

Grade: B+ – This hire isn’t a complete steal which is why it doesn’t hit the “A” category but I believe the Warhawks gave themselves a great chance with this hire. I felt like they needed someone who will show promise on the field first, the fans are too skeptical at this point to be won over by a press conference and Vincent feels like he is that guy. I’ll be rooting for him to finally find success for the Warhawks!