The college coaching carousel likely will not start spinning for a few more months, but it's never too early to prepare candidate lists.
As usual, the number of names below will eclipse the amount of head-coaching vacancies in this year's cycle. Last year featured 27 changes, which impacted all 10 conferences and two FBS independents (UMass and Liberty). This year figures to be lighter, lacking many genuine Power 5 hot-seat situations -- and among that group, only two truly premier jobs in USC and Auburn. But anyone who follows the carousel knows not to be shocked by anything. Exhibit A: Kliff Kingsbury.
Speaking of Kingsbury, his performance with the Arizona Cardinals could shape this year's cycle, as more NFL teams could look to hire college coaches.
I went heavy on categorization in this year's candidate list, as there seems to be distinct tiers for both Group of 5 coaches and Power 5 coordinators looking to move up. A reminder: This is not a "best" coordinators list but rather one that assesses the likeliest coordinators to land head-coaching jobs for 2020. I surveyed multiple industry sources to review names but also to get a reasonable number of realistic candidates.