{"id":38620,"date":"2025-07-04T17:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T17:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38620\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T17:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T17:35:13","slug":"aac-football-once-again-full-of-great-coaches-and-trent-dilfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38620\/","title":{"rendered":"AAC football once again full of great coaches (and Trent Dilfer)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"67\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4812639 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Group-660936-300x67.png\" alt=\"\"  \/><br \/><strong>Until Saturday Newsletter<\/strong> \ud83c\udfc8\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s college football newsletter. <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/newsletters\/until-saturday\/?source=pulsenewsletter&amp;campaign=9178780&amp;userId=10748855\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up here<\/a> to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Today in college football news, chickens are brining patriotically.<\/p>\n<p>2025 Countdown: Being in the middle isn\u2019t bad<\/p>\n<p>First, yes, I\u2019m pretending I intentionally scheduled the American Athletic Conference edition of this newsletter\u2019s 2025 preview series for the Fourth of July. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u00a0Next, the memory-jogging AAC basics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Last year, Army and Navy took over the league<\/strong>\u00a0in their first-ever year as conference foes. Army won the AAC, but Navy won 31-13 in the game that means infinitely more to both schools. They went 21-4 in games against everyone besides each other, even though they\u2019d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5933644\/2024\/11\/21\/army-perfect-season-jeff-monken-notre-dame\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">had to reinvent themselves<\/a> due to new NCAA rules.<\/li>\n<li><strong>This year, pretty much everyone agrees the AAC favorite is Tulane<\/strong>\u00a0(more on that in a sec), followed in alphabetical order by Army, Memphis, Navy, USF and UTSA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the bigger picture, the AAC remains a transient realm on the fringes of everything, in ways both good and \u2026 tolerable. Not a girl, but not yet a woman, in the words of one Mississippian. Just one example: Other than reigning champ Jeff Monken,\u00a0<strong>every head coach who has ever won an AAC title game has soon wound up in a power-conference job<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chronological order: Matt Rhule, Scott Frost, Josh Heupel, Mike Norvell, Luke Fickell, Willie Fritz and Rhett Lashlee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It often seems like a curse, being the conference long thought of as\u00a0juuust\u00a0a step shy of the powers. Schools with more money turn to you first when they need new coaches, and the same goes for big leagues looking to splatter themselves across even more of the map via realignment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But there\u2019s absolutely an upside. The AAC has a place in the pecking order, and it\u2019s far from the bottom.\u00a0<\/strong>I know AAC fans hate seeing their league constantly referred to as if it\u2019s just a proving ground for ascendant coaches. Of course it\u2019s more than that. It\u2019s the conference that revived the Memphis-UAB\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uab.edu\/reporter\/in-the-know\/smoke-em-if-you-got-em-an-oral-history-of-barbecue-bones-and-the-baddest-trophy-in-college-football\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Battle for the Bones trophy<\/a>, for one thing. [In the newsletter version, I included a photo of the trophy. Subscribe today for photos of trophies.]<\/p>\n<p>But I wonder this: How much does the AAC\u2019s transience really matter, when the conference has long proved itself capable of replenishing?<\/p>\n<p>Consider Tulane. Despite losing Fritz to Houston, the Green Wave returned to the conference title game in year one under Jon Sumrall (swiped from Troy). And this season, despite losing about a dozen contributors to bigger programs, the New Orleans school is arguably the G5 favorite to land a CFP spot \u2014 because Tulane has yoinked \u201ca mid-major all-star team\u201d away from lower-tier programs, as Bill Connelly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/story\/_\/id\/45545011\/2025-aac-college-football-projections-preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">put it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In Chris Vannini\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6198850\/2025\/03\/13\/group-of-5-football-head-coach-rankings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ranking of 2025\u2019s best G5 coaches<\/a>, the AAC dominates the top<\/strong>\u00a0(No. 2 Sumrall, No. 3 Monken, No. 5 Jeff Traylor of UTSA, No. 7 Ryan Silverfield of Memphis), but it\u2019s No. 9 Tim Albin of Charlotte who stands out to me.\u00a0<strong>After going 30-10 in the last three years at Ohio, the Oklahoma native jumped from one of the MAC\u2019s best programs to one of the AAC\u2019s worst<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Now imagine an AAC title-winning coach making a similar move, leaving for a P4 lightweight like Mississippi State or Purdue \u2014 rather than for Tennessee (like Heupel) or Wisconsin (like Fickell). Farfetched!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The AAC has earned its rep as the league always shepherding the nation\u2019s best pound-for-pound collection of coaches.\u00a0And that means its standards are far too high for, say, coaches who have gone 7-17 in the football-revering state of Alabama while also doing frequent gaffes and bloopers. Good god, that\u2019s Trent Dilfer\u2019s music! (It\u2019s probably Kenny Chesney.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s end with a question on the perpetual duality of the AAC: Will this league produce both this cycle\u2019s hottest P4 candidate\u00a0and\u00a0the season\u2019s first firing?\u00a0<\/strong>Looking at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/college-football\/team\/uab-blazers-college-football\/schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">a UAB schedule<\/a>\u00a0in which the Blazers might not be favored in any games after Week 3, along with revisiting this David Ubben story on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6094452\/2025\/01\/29\/trent-dilfer-uab-football-turnaround\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">everything that\u2019s gone wrong in the Dilfer era<\/a>, there\u2019s a good chance.<\/p>\n<p>Quick Snaps<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udf3d Along with the ads you\u2019ve probably seen in our newsletters for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6462219\/2025\/07\/02\/ndamukong-suh-no-free-lunch-podcast\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Ndamukong Suh<\/strong>\u2018s new podcast here at\u00a0The Athletic<\/a>,\u00a0here is the world\u2019s fastest Suh interview, delivered at the speed of one sack of Colt McCoy:<\/p>\n<p><strong>If it were up to you, which of Nebraska\u2019s rivals would you add to the Big Ten?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Easy. Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Roughly how many times have people told you that you deserved more votes than you got in the 2009 Heisman race?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>More times than I can count.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\ud83c\udf00 \u201cSome other schools \u2014 notably Texas Tech, Miami and Oregon \u2014 will have the chance to prove otherwise, but I\u2019m here to crown\u00a0<strong>LSU<\/strong>\u00a0as the winners of the offseason transfer portal.\u201d Manny Navarro\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6469622\/2025\/07\/03\/lsu-football-transfer-portal-brian-kelly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">explains what that could mean this season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa \u201cThe\u00a0<strong>ACC<\/strong>\u00a0is the first conference to use TV figures as a metric for conference payouts. Clemson estimated that the new model could yield an additional $120 million over a six-year period. That\u2019d be enough to make the Tigers financially competitive with top programs in the SEC or Big Ten.\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6472151\/2025\/07\/03\/accs-legal-settlement-with-fsu-clemson-reveals-super-league-escape-clause\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New details on ACC money<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd14 \u201cPerhaps his silence was a product of not being familiar enough with the college media landscape.\u201d On\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6466450\/2025\/07\/02\/sec-big-ten-media-college-football\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the\u00a0<strong>Big Ten<\/strong>\u00a0having less messaging oomph<\/a>\u00a0than its alleged best new buddy, the SEC.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udde2 A month ago,\u00a0<strong>Alabama<\/strong>\u00a0ranked No. 45 in the 247Sports Composite. As of now, make that No. 7. Grace Raynor explains\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6465720\/2025\/07\/02\/college-football-recruiting-alabama-michigan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kalen DeBoer\u2019s national surge<\/a>, plus big developments elsewhere in recruiting.<\/p>\n<p>House Rules: <strong>This week in CFB funny money<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two brief notes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Per Yahoo Sports\u2019\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/McCannSportsLaw\/status\/1940135072687857770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Ross Dellenger<\/a>, \u201c<strong>319 NCAA DI schools chose to opt into the House settlement<\/strong>\u00a0for the 2025-26 academic year.\u201d The remaining 46 Division I schools include service academies and \u201cnon-scholarship\u201d athletic departments\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/college-athletes-pay-ivy-league-6153eedf1e4644d3d4f6dd004a666f00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">like those in the Ivy League<\/a>. Remember when we were told for years that only the very tippy-top schools would have interest in paying their athletes?<\/li>\n<li>The new College Sports Commission, which will\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6414561\/2025\/06\/10\/house-ncaa-settlement-clearinghouse-market-mandel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">attempt to wallet-watch the NIL money<\/a>\u00a0received by college athletes,\u00a0<strong>\u201cwon\u2019t be sharing compensation information for its employees,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportico.com\/leagues\/college-sports\/2025\/college-sports-commission-brian-seeley-compensation-1234858687\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">it said in response<\/a>\u00a0to a question by Sportico about CSC CEO Bryan Seeley\u2019s salary. But how can we be sure Seeley isn\u2019t being paid more than whatever a third party might determine \u201cfair market value\u201d to be? Don\u2019t we need a College Sports Commissioners Commission?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mandel\u2019s mailbag<\/p>\n<p><strong>What if the ACC and the Big 12 made a trade?\u00a0<\/strong><strong>ACC gets:\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Cincinnati,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>West Virginia and\u00a0<\/strong><strong>UCF.\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Big 12 gets:\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Stanford,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Cal and\u00a0<\/strong><strong>SMU.\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Who says no? \u2014 Andy J., Columbus, Ohio<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It makes way too much sense.<\/p>\n<p>Stanford and Cal get to reunite with Arizona\/Arizona State\/Colorado\/Utah, plus frequent nonconference foe BYU. SMU gets back natural rival TCU and fellow Southwest Conference expats Baylor, Texas Tech and Houston. Meanwhile, Cincinnati and West Virginia used to be in the Big East with Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville and Boston College. (The Mountaineers also overlapped with Virginia Tech.) And UCF gets more bus rides to Tallahassee and Miami, fewer flights to Stillwater and Ames.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the Stanford and Cal administrations were pretty dismissive of Big 12 academics last time around, but that was before they got stuck playing 3,000 miles from home for a 30 percent paycheck. Presumably, times have changed. But would the Big 12 want them? On the one hand, they don\u2019t exactly help your football or men\u2019s basketball products. But it\u2019s not like the schools they\u2019re losing are necessarily headliners, either. Not to mention the Bay Area schools would immediately become the best programs in many of the Big 12\u2019s Olympic sports.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6467355\/2025\/07\/02\/college-football-heisman-trophy-revenue-sharing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">More Mandel mailbag here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enjoy a meated and\/or meatless hot dog today. <\/strong>In honor of this holiday, a day celebrating the overthrow of people in charge, email me at untilsaturday@theathletic.com with your prediction on this season\u2019s first head coach to be fired.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">(Top photo: Danny Wild-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Until Saturday Newsletter \ud83c\udfc8\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1428,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-38620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114796175794906019","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}