Which coaches are on the hottest seats and under the most pressure after Week 4 of the college football season?
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Which ten coaches are going to be feeling it if they don’t win … NOW.
The hot seat rankings are done in two ways. First, the five coaches who need a win for job security – even in a year when most coaches will get a whole lot of benefits of a whole lot of doubts.
Then come the five coaches who aren’t in any real danger of being fired, but could desperately use something positive.
Coaches On The Hot Seat: Win, Or Else
5. Will Muschamp, South Carolina
His Gamecocks played well in the loss to Tennessee, and there’s hope for a decent year with just enough talent to be pesky, but now Muschamp has gone 3-10 in his last 13 games against FBS teams. Beat Florida this week, though, and everything changes.
4. Philip Montgomery, Tulsa
It’s not fair, but the wins likely aren’t going to be there. His team isn’t bad – it pushed Oklahoma State in a tough loss two weeks ago, but Tulsa has won nine games since 2016, and now he gets a trip to UCF followed up by a date with Cincinnati. It’ll take a massive upset – like last year’s win over UCF – to avoid a 2-9 run in 11 games.
3. David Cutcliffe, Duke
Yeah, he’s a legend, but he’s also a phenomenal offensive coach whose offense isn’t doing anything. Turnovers, misfires, and too many mistakes led to third straight double-digit loss on the way to an 0-3 start.
How bad have things been? Duke is 1-8 in the last nine games with seven of those defeats in ugly blowouts. Life doesn’t ease up with Virginia Tech up next.
2. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
This team should be a whole lot better than 0-3. After the rough start, now the Blue Raiders are 4-13 in their last 17 games, with one of those coming in the 2018 Conference USA Championship.
It’s his 15th year with the program, and he’s done a whole lot to get to 91 wins, but beating WKU next week is everything.
1. Matt Viator, ULM
No, you don’t lose 31-6 at home to UTEP. Ever.
The rest of the Sun Belt is having a whole lot of fun, but ULM is 0-3, got whacked by Texas State, too, and is likely going to be a big underdog in the remaining nine games. Now his career record at ULM is 19-32 in just over five years, going 2-7 in his last nine games with Georgia Southern up next.
NEXT: 5 Coaches Who Won’t Get Fired, But Need A Win
Coaches On The Hot Seat: No, They Won’t Get Fired, But … WIN NOW
5. Mike Norvell, Florida State
It’s about as rough a start as any head coach could possibly deal with.
There were own-goal, off-the-field issues/misunderstandings with his players – that were fixed, but only after becoming national stories – and then his team loses at home to a mediocre Georgia Tech team, and then he suffers from getting the coronavirus, and then the Noles get obliterated by Miami in the worst performance in the history of the rivalry.
Beating Jacksonville State this week should help, but good luck finding the game before the season-ender at Duke that FSU will be favored.
4. Les Miles, Kansas
The Jayhawks scored first against Baylor, and lost 47-14.
It’s going to take more than a few recruiting classes and transfers to be merely competitive, but it’s going to take something magical to come up with a win this year.
Going back to the end of his days at LSU, he’s 3-12 in his last 13 games with Oklahoma State up next.
3. Dave Doeren, NC State
He cranked out five straight good years and two nine-win campaigns before clunking in 2019, but this season his Wolfpack have to make a big jump back up. This is an okay team, and it just got whacked around by a Virginia Tech squad missing over 20 players.
The opening weekend 45-42 win over Wake Forest was fun, but now his Pack have to go to Pitt, and then they have go to Virginia. There are built-in wins to get to at least five, and he’ll be fine after State gets to mid-November, but Doeren is now 3-9 in his last 12 games.
2. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
17-12 against Vanderbilt?
Give Jimbo a bit of a break since almost everyone is a bit funky to start the 2020 season, but …
At Alabama, Florida, at Mississippi State. Those are the next three games for the Aggies, and the performance against the Commodores isn’t going to come close to cutting it going forward.
The team is experienced enough and good enough to better, but after losing two of the last three to close out 2019, and going 1-8 over his first two seasons against Clemson, Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Auburn, and 1-1 against Mississippi State. It’s time to start beating the better teams.
1. Gary Patterson, TCU
Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is the only current coach who’s been at his school longer than Patterson, and the guy is about as made a man as it gets in the coaching world – at least outside of the Nicks and Dabos – but that 11-3 2017 season is a long, long time ago.
The Horned Frogs fought back and lost a good one in the opener against Iowa State, but throw that on the pile of recent tough defeats. TCU is now 3-8 in its last 11 games and 10-14 in the last 24.
At Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma. That’s next for Patterson’s team.
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