19 for ’19: 19 key offseason topics: No. 14, the coaching hot seat rankings for all of the Power Five conferences.
19 for ’19: No. 14 Power Five Coaching Hot Seat Rankings
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As always, when it comes to Hot Seat Rankings, it’s not just whether or not a guy needs to win or he’ll get fired. That’s obviously a massive part of the equation, but it’s about pressure, too.
Maybe, a won’t-get-fired-no-matter-what head coach has to go 11-1 – or beat Ohio State – or else he’ll have to deal with annoying people for an entire offseason. But mainly, this is about the coaches who have to win big, or else.
The rankings go from the coolest seats to the hottest.
ACC Spring Coach Hot Seat Rankings
14. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Two national championships in three seasons? A complete and utter destruction of Alabama to get No. 2? He could go 0-12 and get a raise.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 14
13. Scott Satterfield, Louisville
After the disaster of last year for the program, the new head man for the Cardinals will get a very, very long leash to turn this thing around.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
12. Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia
You’re not totally insane if you want to suggest that no Power Five coach has done more with less over the last two seasons. He has proven himself already, and can afford a clunker of a year – but he won’t have one.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 8
11. Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech
It’s going to take more than a year to pivot to a new style and a new type of team. Even if this year is a mild disaster, it’ll be more than okay considering the transformation and tweaking coming.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
10. David Cutcliffe, Duke
He’s the coach other coaches love. He’d retire if he had a bad season before he’d be fired, but after going bowing last year, he’s okay. However, this is his 12th season – a totally miserable year might signal time for a change.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 7
9. Dino Babers, Syracuse
Hot seat? The fan base is ecstatic the guy is still at Syracuse. However, it’s a rebuilding season, and the expectations are cranked up to be a player in the ACC.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 2
8. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
Clawson has taken Wake Forest to three bowl wins in three seasons, and won all of them. Again … at Wake Forest. He can obviously coach, and Wake Forest is obviously Wake Forest. Even a 3-9 season will be forgivable.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
– ACC Early Rankings, Depth Chart Concerns
7. Dave Doeren, NC State
There’s a problem if the Wolfpack come up with a 4-8 run, but after five bowl appearances in the last five seasons, and two straight nine-win campaigns, it would to take something massively awful for Doeren to get canned.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 5
6. Manny Diaz, Miami
Good luck, Manny. Now win the ACC Coastal. The talent is there to be the best team in the division – even with the quarterback question marks – and Diaz needs to be the force to change things after the 2018 step back. This is one of the big-time gigs – Diaz has to show he’s up to the task.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
5. Steve Addazio, Boston College
There was a time not all that long ago when Boston College could only dream of being a steady winner. Addazzio has five seven-win seasons in six years, but can he do even more? A horrible season would set the tone for a pressure-packed 2020.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 6
4. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
Okay … you get one of those. But if the Hokies can’t tackle for a second straight year, and if there’s another season of drama just to get to a bowl game, there will be rumblings.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 13
3. Mack Brown, North Carolina
You don’t think there’s a wee bit of pressure on the new guy that was a bit of an uninspired hire to begin with? Yeah, North Carolina has to rebuild, but if you’re bringing in Mack Brown, there’s not a whole lot of time to do that.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 4
2. Pat Narduzzi, Pitt
Yeah, he got Pitt to the ACC Championship last season, but he lost his last three games and he’s 12-14 in his last two seasons. Now he’s going into his fifth season, and a second losing campaign in three years would all but erase the nice feelings from 2018.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 1
1. Willie Taggart, Florida State
He got the one year mulligan, but as the head coach of a program that hadn’t missed out on a bowl game since 1981, Taggart had better come up with a monster Year Two. It would help if he could kick in that whole recruiting thing to another level, too.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 9
NEXT: Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC
Big Ten Spring Coach Hot Seat Rankings
14. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
The guy got North-freaking-western to the Big Ten Championship. It’s a minor miracle he’s not the new head coach of the Green Bay Packers. There might be another gig out there for him, but the school will do anything to keep him.
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
13. Scott Frost, Nebraska
Going 4-8 again won’t play, but even a bad Year Two would likely be seen as part of the rebuilding process. He’s The Guy … it would take several bad years to put him on any sort of a hot seat.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 13
12. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
The only head coach in college football who’s been with his team since before the 2000 season, Ferentz is Iowa football. As long as he gets the Hawkeyes to a decent bowl, there’s no pressure.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 14
11. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
The only concern now is consistency. From three wins in 2016, to ten in 2017, to no offense whatsoever in a seven-win 2018, the Spartans have been all over the map. Even so, Dantonio is rock-solid in the gig – as long as there isn’t another 3-9 coming up.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 5
10. Jeff Brohm, Purdue
Don’t underappreciate just how ecstatic everyone around the program is to not lose the guy to Louisville. He could have two miserable years and still be fine.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 11
9. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
This will be an interesting year. After a massively disappointing 2018, this is a wee bit of a rebuilding year, at least on offense. With Nebraska rising up, and Northwestern winning the division last season, there’s pressure to take back the West
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 12
8. Mike Locksley, Maryland
Considering his last head coaching gig at New Mexico was an all-timer of a disaster, a horrible first season at Maryland would be a big concern. This is a good enough team to go bowling, and the new guy has to get it there.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
7. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
The act is wearing thin, but he beat Wisconsin and he got the Gophers to a bowl and won it. Even so, it’s Year Three – this is when Minnesota is supposed to be make a big move.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 6
6. James Franklin, Penn State
Chronically underappreciated, his only issue is being in the same division as Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. Penn State fans might want a College Football Playoff appearance, and ten wins are a must, but he could withstand one bad year.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 9
5. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
Three ten-win seasons in four isn’t enough. No, everyone, he’s never going to be fired – you don’t just go on if you’re and Jim Harbaugh isn’t the answer – but with Urban Meyer gone, now it’s time to finally get over the Buckeye hump and get to the Big Ten Championship.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 1
4. Tom Allen, Indiana
As the Indiana head football coach, you might get two 5-7 seasons with two straight losses to Purdue with bowl eligibility on the line. You don’t get a third.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 3
– Big Ten Early Rankings, Depth Chart Concerns
3. Lovie Smith, Illinois
Three years of going young, and three years of building, Smith is going hard after transfers to help finally produce a winning season and a bowl game. On the plus side, he had his best win total last season. Unfortunately, he went 4-8.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 2
2. Ryan Day, Ohio State
A first year coach can’t be on a hot seat? Don’t lose to Michigan, win the Big Ten title, go to the College Football Playoff. With this team and this schedule, anything less would be a huge disappointment. Day certainly wouldn”t get fired with a bad year, but … see Luke Fickell’s 6-7 2011 season.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
1. Chris Ash, Rutgers
He’s fighting the good fight and doing everything possible in a tough situation, but … three seasons, 7-29, uh-oh.
Last Season Big Ten Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 4
NEXT: Big 12, Pac-12, SEC
Big 12 Spring Coach Hot Seat Rankings
10. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
Urban and Dabo might be college football’s biggest star head coaches, but there’s no one hotter, and somehow, Oklahoma still has him. If Kliff Kingsbury could land the Arizona Cardinal gig, it’s a miracle Riley isn’t the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys … yet.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 7
9. Les Miles, Kansas
He’s Les Miles, and Kansas has him. There’s no pressure whatsoever in his first season. Win four games, and start building the statue.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
8. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
In terms of security, it doesn’t get much better than Campbell’s situation. It’s Iowa State, so a 4-8 season wouldn’t be seen as any sort of a red flag considering what he did with the program over the last two years.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 6
7. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Every year there’s a big job opening somewhere, and every year Gundy is rumored to be on a short list, and every year he stays at Oklahoma State, and every year the team is fun and interesting. He’s overdue to bolt for another gig, but he’s a Cowboy.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 8
6. Gary Patterson, TCU
Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is the only head coach who has been around longer at his school. With four bowl wins and three top ten finishes in the last five years, he’s safe. However, he has failed to hit eight wins in two of the last three campaigns.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 9
– Big 12 Early Rankings, Depth Chart Concerns
5. Matt Rhule, Baylor
From 1-11, to 7-6, to being just this close to being the head coach of the New York Jets, he’s Baylor’s guy no matter what as long as he wants to be there.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 4
4. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
There’s zero hot seat pressure whatsoever in what should be a rebuilding year for the program, but it would hardly be a plus for the four-time national champion at North Dakota State to come out cold. This was a sneaky-amazing hire in the coaching carousel process.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
3. Neal Brown, West Virginia
Considering the finish of the Dana Holgorsen era was just okay, there’s no real pressure on Brown to do anything more than go bowling in his first season.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
2. Tom Herman, Texas
The pressure is really on now. There’s no way he gets fired no matter what the record, but Longhorn fans are expecting and hoping that the team that showed up against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl keeps doing that in 2019. He’s only up this high on the list because of the expectations, and because no one in the Big 12 is on any real hot seat.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 5
1. Matt Wells, Texas Tech
Coming off a strong year at Utah State – the Aggies didn’t beat anyone with a pulse – and now he’s expected to crank up the offense and get Texas Tech to a bowl game. Now he’s replacing Kliff Kingsbury – the current Arizona Cardinal head coach who wasn’t good enough for the Red Raider program.
Last Season Big 12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
NEXT: Pac-12, SEC
Pac-12 Spring Coach Hot Seat Rankings
12. Chris Petersen, Washington
A second Pac-12 title in three years? A Rose Bowl appearance? Turning the program back into the star of the conference? How did someone else not snap up this guy from Boise State earlier?
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
11. David Shaw, Stanford
Somehow, he’s not an NFL head coach yet. The guy has won 76% of his games in eight seasons at Stanford. He continues to be among the best coaches in the game on an annual basis.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 12
10. Mike Leach, Washington State
He’s exactly what a Washington State head coach needs to be. Fun, exciting, offensive-mided, and good enough to make the football program just a relevant date on the schedule. It’s going to be tough to keep him around if he has another amazing year.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 8
9. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Amazing for the Utah program, all that was missing was a Pac-12 South title and a trip to the conference championship. Check. There’s still more to do, but he’s among the steadiest head coaches in the game.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 7
8. Justin Wilcox, Cal
For the moment, as long as Wilcox has Cal competitive and in the mix for bowl games, he’s fine. He can survive one total clunker of a season and still be fine.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 6
7. Melvin Tucker, Colorado
There’s no major pressure on him in his first year, considering no one will expect anything more than five wins. Get to a bowl game, and Tucker’s first campaign will be a massive success.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: First Year
– Pac-12 Early Rankings, Depth Chart Concerns
6. Herm Edwards, Arizona State
It wasn’t a bad first season, considering few predicted anything more than doom and gloom. Edwards got ASU to a bowl game and beat Arizona, but the fan base will still be looking for more. If he has a losing campaign, then the curious hire will come back into question.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 1
5. Jonathan Smith, Oregon State
It’s only the second season, and he’ll absolutely get a third year no matter what. But going 2-10 and being the 12th-best team in a 12-team league isn’t going to cut it. There has to be some progress forward.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 3
4. Mario Cristobal, Oregon
Win, win, win, win, win, win, win. He has the talent, he has the quarterback, he has the experience. There’s absolutely no excuse to not win the Pac-12 title, and the preseason rankings will show why.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 2
3. Kevin Sumlin, Arizona
That’s not how it was supposed to work. It’s one thing to have a losing season, but it’s another to lose to Arizona State with bowl eligibility on the line. Worst of all, a Kevin Sumlin-coached team with Khalil Tate was sort of boring.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 5
2. Chip Kelly, UCLA
Kelly might be a college coaching legend from his short time as the Oregon head man, and he might have been an amazing get for UCLA, but absolutely no one saw a 3-9 first season. He won’t get fired even with another 3-9 year, but there had better be something special coming.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 9
1. Clay Helton, USC
Yeah, 2018 was supposed to be a rebuilding season, and yeah, he won 11 games and a Pac-12 title in 2017, but it’s never, ever, ever okay to go 5-7 at USC. The 21 wins in his previous two seasons helped him keep his gig, but there had better be a big rebound.
Last Season Pac-12 Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 4
NEXT: SEC
SEC Spring Coach Hot Seat Rankings
14. Nick Saban, Alabama
Obviously he can’t coach anymore after what happened against Clemson … whatever. The 2019 Tide will be amazing. Alabama fans refuse to believe there will ever be a time without Saban as the head man
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 14
13. Kirby Smart, Georgia
The only thing missing now is a national championship. It’ll come. Smart will keep on cranking out teams in the mix, and things will eventually break the right way. With the way he’s recruiting, he’s as secure as can be in the SEC.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 13
12. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
The pressure was there last season to come out hot and give the fan base hope, and he more than delivered. How safe is safe? With nine years left on his current contract, he’s in for the long haul as A&M is building into a potential monster.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 1
11. Joe Moorhead, Mississippi State
Can Mississippi State win without Dan Mullen? Yup. The best part about the first year under Moorhead was how the D rocked. Moorhead hasn’t unleashed his O yet.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 11
10. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
Stoops broke the hex against Florida. Start there, and he bought himself a free bad season – if there is one. What he did with his 2018 team wasn’t a miracle, but it was close.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 6
9. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt
Getting Vandy to a bowl game last year might have bought him a free year, but it can’t be a total disaster. The expectations aren’t going to be through the roof, but as long as he gets five wins, he’ll be fine.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 4
8. Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee
While Pruitt was given a free pass for his first season, that withered away late when he needed one win in the final two games to go bowling, and couldn’t get it – losing to Vanderbilt wasn’t okay. He won’t get fired after this year no matter what, but he needs to get to a bowl game.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 12
– SEC Early Rankings, Depth Chart Concerns
7. Dan Mullen, Florida
Yeah, he won ten games in his first year with the Gators. So did Jim McElwain. Now the pressure is on, and the expectations are cranked through the roof after a terrific first season. It’s not too much to ask for an SEC title.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 5
6. Barry Odom, Missouri
As crazy as it might seem, the NCAA issues probably helped him because he did everything right. It was a bad call to ban Mizzou for a bowl game because of a rogue tutor, and now he’s relatively safe with anything other than a four-win campaign.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 3
5. Ed Orgeron, LSU
On everyone’s 2018 preseason hot seat list, all of the good vibes and warm fuzzies will quickly disappear if Orgeron loses four games or more. The pressure cooker for the LSU head coach is always intense, no matter what.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 2
4. Matt Luke, Ole Miss
And now the wins have to start coming, and without the superstar NFL receiver prospects. He did a good job keeping the ship afloat through the NCAA sanctions, but after going 11-13, and now with bowl eligibility on the table, he needs to get the team to a 13th game.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 9
3. Chad Morris, Arkansas
It was an interesting hire that was at least supposed to bring a difference-making offense into the equation. Instead, the Hogs under Morris had a very, very ugly 2-10 season. He won’t get fired with another 2-10 clunker … maybe. At the very least, Arkansas had better be interesting.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
2. Will Muschamp, South Carolina
Virginia 28, South Carolina 0 in your 2018 Belk Bowl. That’s how the 7-6 season ended in what was supposed to be a big third season for South Carolina under Muschamp. At 22-17 so far, this had better be a really, really good year.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 8
1. Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Did the amazing offensive show against Purdue in the Music City Bowl show off the hope needed going forward? Malzahn now has lost five or more games in four of the last five season, and this should be a rebuilding campaign. Throw in the rough schedule, and few head coaches will have a more pressure-packed year.
Last Season SEC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 7
