Does your current school prestige affect your coaching offers?

[GordoJ]

If I have an identical resume at a small school vs. at a more prestigious school, everything else being equal, am I more likely to get HC offers from more/better schools?

In other words, if I go 12-0 and make the playoffs for 3 straight years at BYU, will I get the same offers with an identical resume and coach at , say, Penn State?

I'd love to start as a smaller school and earn my way up, but with my very limited playing time, I don't want to have to wait 10 seasons to get to a school I would really want to coach.

[Raumdeuter]

Quote: Originally Posted by GordoJ

If I have an identical resume at a small school vs. at a more prestigious school, everything else being equal, am I more likely to get HC offers from more/better schools? In other words, if I go 12-0 and make the playoffs for 3 straight years at BYU, will I get the same offers with an identical resume and coach at , say, Penn State? I'd love to start as a smaller school and earn my way up, but with my very limited playing time, I don't want to have to wait 10 seasons to get to a school I would really want to coach.

Yes. Current school prestige will affect what schools are likely to be interested in offering you a job

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Quote: Originally Posted by GordoJ

If I have an identical resume at a small school vs. at a more prestigious school, everything else being equal, am I more likely to get HC offers from more/better schools? In other words, if I go 12-0 and make the playoffs for 3 straight years at BYU, will I get the same offers with an identical resume and coach at , say, Penn State? I'd love to start as a smaller school and earn my way up, but with my very limited playing time, I don't want to have to wait 10 seasons to get to a school I would really want to coach.

Just a heads up...and this is my experience so your mileage may vary...

I started as an OC at Ball State, had one mediocre 5-7 year and got a 1-year extension. Second year, we make the MAC title game, and I get offers to be HC at a couple Group of 5 schools, so I took the offer I was given from Colorado State.

First year there, I went 8-4 and win a bowl game. During that coach carousel (year was 2026), I was offered Power 4 HC jobs at Iowa, Minnesota, SMU, and North Carolina. I passed on those, hoping other offers from P4 schools would come in future seasons.

Since those offers, I have not gotten ANY P4 HC job offers, despite 5 conference titles, 5 trips to the CFP, multiple top 30 recruiting classes, and taking Colorado State's star rating from 1.5* to 3.5*. I am a Level 38 coach now, with A+ prestige...

The last two HC offers I've been given have been from Eastern Michigan and Hawaii.

The offers I do get for P4 schools are all coordinator jobs. I've been extended offers to be OC/DC at Alabama, Michigan, Ole Miss, Penn State, Clemson, Stanford, etc. But there have been no HC offers from any bigtime schools since 2026...and I am now in 2033.

Basically my point is that no matter what your record is or school prestige is, you may not even get any HC offers for power programs if you pass on initial ones offered to you early in the Dynasty. I got offers to Minnesota, Iowa, etc. when CSU was a 2* program and I was a level 20-ish coach...but now when CSU is a 3.5* school and I am almost level 40, I get none? Seems off...