Larry Coker won the national championship in his first season at Miami (Fla.), nearly won another a year later and was fired four years after that. Nick Saban lost six games in his first season at Alabama. (You know what happened next.)
Successful coaching tenures aren't made or lost in year one, even if how a debut unfolds can often foreshadow what's to come. Some coaches don't have the luxury, particularly those inheriting a sad-sack, bottom-rung program in a Power Five conference.
Others have the good fortune to step right into a good situation. While all success is relative — eight wins might be a disaster for one program and cause for celebration at another — here are the Bowl Subdivision first-year head coaches set to have the most successful debuts in 2019: