Now that Scott Frost is out at Nebraska, who are ten other coaches on the hot seat after Week 2 of the college football season?
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It was hardly surprising after a 16-31 including an ugly 1-2 start.
Nebraska collapsed against Northwestern to kickoff what was supposed to be a breakthrough season, the team struggled against North Dakota, and on Saturday it lost to Georgia Southern 45-42.
That was enough for the Huskers to fire head coach Scott Frost. Assistant Mickey Joseph will take over, and now the search is on to restore the glory – Iowa State’s Matt Campbell is reportedly one of the main targets, but this is a big gig that will attract other star prospects.
Which coaches will now get all of the hot seat attention? Which ones are under pressure to come up with something big to show that they’re going to give the respective fan bases and schools the fun they’re looking for?
The coaching hot seat top ten rankings are done in two ways. First, the five who aren’t going to get fired anytime soon unless something crazy happens, but could really use a big run of wins to relieve the stress. Then, the five who had better come up with a string of victories and a positive direction, or else.
Five coaches who have almost no chance of getting canned, but could desperately use a win …
– 5 college football coaches who had better win now, or else
5. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
Up Next: New Mexico State
He’s great for the program, he has three Big Ten West titles in his seven years before this season, and he was one final stalled 2017 Big Ten Championship drive away from going to the College Football Playoff, but this remains the Power Five program that has won the most in the CFP era without getting into the tournament.
Three turnovers and a 17-14 loss to Washington State later, Wisconsin went from looking like a potential lock to win the West to needing to reestablish its dominance. There’s a big trip to Ohio State coming up in two weeks that could reset the narrative.
4. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
Up Next: Miami
We all know what’s coming.
We all know that Texas A&M just cranked up one of the greatest recruiting classes in the history of college football – at least according to the people who get into those things – and we all know that the program is just this close to being the next big thing. It’s not crazy to see Texas A&M coming up with a 2019 LSU or 2021 Georgia very, very soon. However …
Losing at home to Appalachian State 17-14 with 186 yards of total offense isn’t a sign that things are going well. Worst of all, last week is as light as it gets until UMass on November 19th.
3. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Up Next: Nevada
He’s the longest-tenured head coach at one school in major college football – he started at Iowa in 1999 – the next closest are Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State and Kyle Whittingham at Utah, who have been there since 2005 – and it’s impossible to argue with the results after getting to the Big Ten Championship last year, but …
316 yards of total offense and one touchdown in two games, a 10-7 loss to rival Iowa State, and a passing game that’s just plain sad isn’t how 2022 was supposed to start.
We all know how this works, and we all know the glitch will be fixed. Scoring more than seven points in a game would be nice, though.
2. Brian Kelly, LSU
Up Next: Mississippi State
The problem is there there’s no honeymoon period whatsoever, and the start to his tenure has been, let’s just say, weird.
The brutal fact is that LSU needs a little while to get back to a national title level, but that’s not where the expectations are. LSU isn’t supposed to struggle against Florida State, it’s supposed to win the SEC Championship, and Kelly is supposed to step in and win a national title like Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron did.
LSU fans aren’t insane – of course they know this is going to take a little bit – but … beat Mississippi State. And then beat Auburn, and then Tennessee, and then Florida, and then Ole Miss, and then Alabama, and then Arkansas …
1. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
Up Next: Cal
Yes, Freeman is the first Notre Dame head coach to lose his first three games. Yes, the team collapsed in the bowl loss to Oklahoma State, didn’t open it up in the season-opener against Ohio State, and couldn’t handle a home game at Marshall.
Call it all a step back to possibly take a massive step forward.
It’s hard to sell a fan base on recruiting cycles when it’s expecting a College Football Playoff appearance – and that was exactly the right bar to set with a not-that-bad-other-than-Clemson schedule after going to Columbus.
Everyone loves the hire, no one has a negative word to say about him, and it’s acknowledged that there will be a learning curve of sorts in his first head coaching gig. That’s fine. Now the O needs to work on a nice-long, winning streak.
By the way, the BYU game in Vegas is in two weeks.
– 5 college football coaches who had better win now, or else
NEXT: 5 College Football Hot Seat Coaches Who Need To Win Now, Or Else
