The NCAA Football season is about two-thirds of the way complete, and there have been ten coaches fired so far. Three of these coaches are due a collective sum of millions in buyout money.
Getting fired is one of the most disorienting experiences a professional can have. It does not matter how long you saw it coming or how prepared you thought you were — the actual moment of it still rattles something deep.
But here is the thing that people who have never been fired do not understand: being let go is often the sharpest, most honest career feedback you will ever receive.
The coaches who lose their jobs at one program rarely disappear. They rebuild, recalibrate, and often come back stronger. Some of the best head coaches in the history of college football were fired before they found the right fit.
Most people who get fired spend the first few weeks in shock, the next few weeks feeling angry, and then eventually arrive at a place of clarity they could not have reached while still in the role. The forced pause does something that momentum never allows — it makes you think.
Getting fired is not the end of your story. It is the end of one chapter, and a brutal one at that. But the chapters that come after are usually the ones worth reading.
The people who land on their feet after being let go are not lucky. They are the ones who refused to let the experience become their identity. They used the setback as information, adjusted the direction, and kept moving forward.