Former FBS head coach expected to join Pac-12 coaching staff

Arizona State is expected to hire veteran college and NFL coach DeWayne Walker as an analyst, sources tell On3.

Walker, who was the cornerbacks coach at Arizona the last two seasons, has been a head coach at New Mexico State, a defensive coordinator at UCLA and Oklahoma State and a defensive backs coach for 14 seasons in the NFL.

Walker worked for the Cleveland Browns from 2017 to ’19 and Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013 to ’16. He also spent time with the Washington Commanders (2004-05), New York Giants (2002-03) and New England Patriots (1998-2000).

In addition, Walker was the defensive backs coach and associate head coach for Pete Carroll’s first team at USC in 2001 after working under Carroll when Carroll was the head coach of the Patriots.

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The 2022-23 coaching cycle

For the seventh time in the last eight coaching cycles, there were more than 20 head coaching changes at the FBS level.

The only exception during this stretch that dates back to the 2015-16 coaching cycle was following the COVID season in 2020, when there were 18 FBS head coaching changes.

During the 2022-23 cycle, there were 24 head coaching changes. That includes 11 at the Power Five level, headlined by hires such as Deion Sanders at Colorado, Matt Rhule at Nebraska, Hugh Freeze at Auburn and Luke Fickell at Wisconsin.

Other Power Five head coaching changes came at places such at Arizona State, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Mississippi State, Purdue and Stanford.

It came after there were 30 head coaching changes during the 2021-22 coaching cycle, which included Lincoln Riley being hired at USC, Brian Kelly being tabbed as the new head coach at LSU and Marcus Freeman then being selected as his replacement for the Fighting Irish. 

There were also other moves like Billy Napier replacing Dan Mullen at Florida, Brent Venables being hired at Oklahoma following Riley’s departure, Mario Cristobal leaving Oregon for Miami and Dan Lanning being hired as Cristobal’s replacement at Oregon after helping Georgia win the national championship as the defensive coordinator of the Bulldogs’ dominant defense.

The only other recent coaching cycles with more than 24 head coaching changes were the 2018-19 cycle with 28 and the 2015-16 cycle with 29.