'We're working to the end': How interim coaches handle their short time in charge

Ed Orgeron needed a rope.

In late September 2013, Orgeron had been named interim coach at USC, following the school's infamous middle-of-the-night firing of Lane Kiffin on the tarmac at LAX. Orgeron had been a head coach at Ole Miss, and now had another opportunity, at a program he loved. He wrote down several things he wanted to do in operating the USC program.

First, he borrowed an exercise from former Trojans coach Pete Carroll, and obtained a rope from the fire department. He assembled everyone involved in the program -- players, coaches, support staff, even administrators -- and paired up groups for tug-of-war: running backs against linebackers, offensive line against defensive line, and so on.

"I got the coaching staff to pull against the administration, and I let the damn administration win," Orgeron told ESPN. "If I knew what [would happen] at USC, I would have pulled a little harder."

His main point was that neither side really gained an edge when pulling in opposite directions.

"I said, 'I want everybody in this room -- and there's a lot of people -- get on the same side of the rope, and let's pull,'" Orgeron said. "That sent a message: One team, one heartbeat. When a firing happens, something is segmented, and you've got to try to piece it together as much as you can."

Orgeron led USC to a 6-2 finish that fall but wasn't retained. When he was named LSU's interim coach in early 2016, he once again did the tug-of-war exercise. After going 5-2 that fall, Orgeron had the interim tag removed. Three years later, his LSU squad won the national championship.

Interim coaches inherit vastly different situations at different points in the calendar, but they share a mission: to guide a ship jostled by change through choppy waters.

"When you become the interim head coach, it's never a good thing," said Tim Skipper, appointed UCLA's interim coach in September after spending the entire 2024 season as Fresno State's interim. "It's never a good time."

Interims must guide teams through a range of games, while dealing with a range of emotions. Amid uncertain futures for both players and coaches, interims make decisions for the moment. Some have major success, like Orgeron, and end up getting the tag removed. Others fully know they're just placeholders and try to keep things from falling apart until resolutions are reached.

The 2025 season has placed a spotlight on interim coaches, as jobs have opened in every major conference ahead of a wild coaching cycle. We've already seen one game featuring opposing interim coaches. As most seasons wrap up this week, ESPN spoke with current and former interim coaches and identified some of the key things to do, and avoid, as they navigate a bumpy landscape.

The initial transition

Some coach firings are anticipated for weeks or months, while others, like Penn State's ouster of James Franklin after a three-game losing streak this fall, are jarring. But whatever circumstances surround the coaching change, interims are thrust in front of teams filled with emotion.

"When that happened on Sunday, it was like a funeral," said Oregon State interim coach Robb Akey, named to his role after the school fired Trent Bray on Oct. 12. "We had to be able to pull the guys up and get them moving on."

The timing of the changes also factors in for interims. Both Virginia Tech and UCLA fired their coaches only three games into this season.

"That's a long time to try to hold a team together," said Philip Montgomery, appointed to be Virginia Tech's interim coach from his offensive coordinator role Sept. 14. "Most of these guys were recruited by Brent and signed on for that part of it. When you rip that away from them, then all of a sudden, there's a lot of emotions, and you're trying to handle all of that and trying to somehow keep them focused, keep them jelled together, and for us, find a way to go win games and have a productive season."

After Pry's firing, Montgomery relied on his eight-year tenure as Tulsa's head coach. He addressed the team, went over general guidelines and gave players the platform to vent.

"Once you laid [those guidelines] down, you can't go back and forth with it," he said. "It's got to be steadfast."

Skipper didn't have the same experience to lean on, but he had been an interim the year before at Fresno State, taking over in July when Jeff Tedford stepped down and guiding the team to a 6-7 record. Skipper had played at Fresno State and was in his second stint as a Bulldogs assistant.

He arrived at UCLA this summer as special assistant to coach DeShaun Foster. Upon being named interim coach after Foster's firing, Skipper had a plan from what he had done at Fresno State, but he barely knew the UCLA team. Since UCLA had an open week, Skipper held a mini training camp. He met individually with players and had them clean and organize the locker room.

"We were oh-fer," Skipper said, referring to the team's 0-3 record. "We just needed a win."

He then took the whole team bowling, an activity usually reserved for the preseason or bowl game prep, and ensured every lane had a mix of players from different position groups.

"They just bowled their ass off and talked s--- and had a good time," Skipper said. "It was another opportunity to get them smiling."

Managing the coaching staff

When schools fire head coaches, they usually retain the rest of the staff to finish out the season. The remaining coaches face uncertain futures. Unless the next permanent coach keeps them on, they'll be looking for fresh starts.

"We all go home and you've got wives that want to know where we're going to live and where we're going to eat and how the bills are going to get paid," Akey said. "We're all in the coaches' portal, too. It's a unique situation that you wouldn't wish on anybody. You wouldn't wish it on an enemy."

Interim coaches say the key is not letting the anxiety seep into the program's daily operation.

"What to avoid is ... to become these independent contractors that do our own thing, our own way," LSU interim coach Frank Wilson said. "It's not having letdowns and having self-pity."

Interim coaches almost always come from within the existing staff. One day, they're sitting among their assistant peers; the next, they're at the head of the table.

"You need to take charge of the staff and make them accountable and be the head coach, but don't be a butthole," Orgeron said. "Don't come across too hard because the day before, you were an assistant with those guys."

After firing Troy Taylor in late March, Stanford general manager Andrew Luck brought in Frank Reich, who coached Luck in the NFL, to lead the program. Reich had more time to prepare for an interim season -- he said he never would have taken the job any other way -- but also didn't know the players or assistant coaches when he arrived.

"I lean on them a lot," Reich said of the assistants he inherited at Stanford. "I ask them what they think. Give me your perspective. Give me the context and history of this player, this citation. That's a big part of it."

Interim coaches often have to shuffle staff responsibilities, including playcalling. Montgomery kept offensive playcalling duties at Virginia Tech while also serving as head coach, just as he had done at Tulsa. Arkansas did the same thing when offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino was elevated to interim coach. Montgomery saw value in keeping Pry's staff together, noting the stability would help the players.

Oregon State fired its special teams coordinator shortly before it did Bray, who also served as the team's defensive playcaller. When Akey became the Beavers' interim coach, he had to sort out responsibilities.

Skipper had an even more chaotic situation at UCLA, where defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe parted ways with the school after Foster's firing. Then, after Skipper's first game as interim, offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri also parted ways with UCLA. Skipper had defensive coordinator experience but wanted no part of the role, given everything on his plate.

He asked Kevin Coyle, who had been Skipper's defensive coordinator when he played, to make a midseason move from Syracuse and lead the defense. Skipper then looked internally and had Jerry Neuheisel, the 33-year-old tight ends coach who played quarterback at UCLA and had spent almost his entire career there, to become offensive coordinator. They were both coach's kids -- Neuheisel's father, Rick, coached UCLA from 2008 to 2011 -- and Jerry was among the first staff members Skipper got to know after he arrived.

"I was always like, 'This is a smart dude, he knows ball, he's going to be a coordinator one day,' just me saying that to myself," Skipper said. "And it just worked out that I had the opportunity to hire him and we made it happen."

Recruiting and the future roster

As a longtime assistant and then Ole Miss' head coach, Orgeron built a reputation as a ravenous recruiter. So what did he do when he became interim coach at USC and then LSU?

"I recruited even harder," he said.

He held recruiting "power hours" every Monday with calls to prospects and recruiting meetings on Friday mornings and evenings. On Saturdays before games, Orgeron and the staff would gather, put on "College GameDay," eat breakfast and FaceTime recruits, asking about their high school games the night before.

Orgeron's pitch?

"This is USC, this is LSU," he told the players. "Most of the things that you are committed to or the things that you loved about it are always going to be here. They're going to make the right choice, and they're going to get a coach that helps us win a championship. Stay with us, stay to the end, don't change now, let's see what happens."

Orgeron made sure never to lie to recruits. He didn't tell them he would be the next coach, even though he wanted to be.

The difference now from Orgeron's two interim stints is that coaches also must monitor their own roster. Until a recent rule change, players were able to enter the transfer portal in the first 30 days after a head coaching change. Skipper's main goal when named interim at Fresno State and UCLA was to have no players enter the portal. He also didn't let up in contacting UCLA's committed recruits and those considering the program.

"We're trying to still spread the good word about UCLA football, UCLA as a university, as an academic institution, all of that," Skipper said. "So we're working to the end, 'til they tell us to leave."

Interim coaches have limits in recruiting, though. They typically aren't offering scholarships, as those decisions ultimately fall on the permanent head coaches. Reich, who knows he's done at Stanford following the season, has deferred most questions about the team's future to Luck.

Montgomery has spent most of his recruiting energy on the prospects who initially committed to Virginia Tech.

"Most of those guys are saying, 'Hey, I'm committed but I'm open. I want to see what happens and who they hire and what they're going to do, what's the next move going to be before I fully say, hey, I'm back in 100 percent again,'" Montgomery said.

Managing the end of seasons

There's nothing tidy about the end of the college football regular season. Even when there hasn't been a coaching change, teams are scrambling to finish recruiting. Assistant coaches are often moving jobs. Players are thinking about what's next.

Finishing the season with an interim coach only adds to the chaos.

This week, Montgomery will lead Virginia Tech into its rivalry game at No. 19 Virginia, but the Hokies last week hired their new coach in Franklin, who was out of work for barely a month. Franklin is contacting recruits and putting together his staff, while letting the current team finish out 2025.

John Thompson twice was named Arkansas State's interim coach for bowl games, as the school went through three consecutive one-year coaches (Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin). When Malzahn left for Auburn in early December 2012, he took several staff members. Eight days later, Arkansas State hired Harsin. Thompson, meanwhile, was unsure of his future and charged with guiding the team through the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

"You've got coaches going everywhere, who's going with this group, who's going with that group?" Thompson said. "That was the most difficult thing. You've got guys that are trying to get a job, some that already have taken another job, but they're still there with you."

After his hiring, Harsin began sitting in Thompson's meetings.

"Never said a word," Thompson said. "I conducted the staff meetings, conducted practice, did everything, and he just sat there, you know? And he ended up hiring me [as an assistant], but that was kind of a strange deal. I said, 'I'm not going to pay him any attention,' but it was uncomfortable."