I don't put too much stock in these types of rankings but I was curious how all the first year coaches did last year with their respective programs. According to the linked article, CLF was graded at "C-" and ranked 21st out of 23 first year coaches. FWIW, Randy Edsall finished with a worse record than Fick but was given a "C" grade and ranked 18th. Jeff Tedford (Fresno State) was ranked #1 with an "A+" grade. I realize there are circumstances for every coach that factored into his degree of success. Here is the article link:
Ranking of First Year Seasons
Below is ranking the 23 coaches purely on won/loss record:
Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma (12-2)
Lane Kiffin, FAU (11-3)
Charlie Strong, USF (10-2)
Jeff Tedford, Fresno State (10-4)
Ed Orgeron, LSU (9-4)
Butch Davis, FIU (8-5)
Shawn Elliott, Georgia State (7-5)
Willie Taggart, Oregon (7-5)
Major Applewhite, Houston (7-5)
Jeff Brohm, Purdue (7-6)
Geoff Collins, Temple (7-6)
Tom Herman, Texas (7-6)
Matt Luke, Ole Miss (6-6)
Tim Lester, Western Michigan (6-6)
Mike Sanford, WKU (6-7)
Justin Wilcox, California (5-7)
Tom Allen, Indiana (5-7)
P.J. Fleck, Minnesota (5-7)
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati (4-8)
Randy Edsall, UConn (3-9)
Jay Norvell, Nevada (3-9)
Brent Brennan, San Jose State (2-11)
Matt Rhule, Baylor (1-11)