The 10 college football coaches who start the season on the hot seat
Another college football campaign is on the horizon, and like clockwork, pessimistic fan bases all over the country are worried if their coach will be around at season’s end.
Boosters are at the ready with buyout checks worth millions and have no issues in playing a part to ensure a coach gets dismissed who isn’t meeting expectations on or off the field.
When identifying those coaches most in jeopardy, four on the list below actually made bowl games (each of them lost as well) in 2021, which would be good enough in 85% of Division I schools. But, not all of the coaches will receive that dreaded pink slip because there is bound to be a surprise team capable of at least reaching bowl eligibility or even competing for a conference title.
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Here's a look at 10 coaches with the hottest of hot seats entering next season.
Steve Sarkisian, Texas
For all the optimism among Texas faithful every single season, the Longhorns continue to disappoint and finally hit rock bottom after a 5-7 season, which included an overtime loss to Kansas. Armed with a top-notch recruiting class and Ohio State transfer quarterback Quinn Ewers named the starting quarterback, there are no excuses now for Sarkisian. The measuring stick will come swiftly when Alabama pays a visit on Sept. 10. If things don’t change in a hurry, Texas will be back ... to firing coaches and starting over once again.
Scott Frost, Nebraska
Most coaches who have four consecutive losing seasons at a once-proud university would be fired. Frost is still in Lincoln and brings a 15-29 record with the Cornhuskers into the 2022 campaign. It’s obviously a now or never season for Frost and he made wholesale changes, especially getting rid of nearly the entire offensive coaching staff. He will have experience at the quarterback position in Texas transfer Casey Thompson, who led the Big 12 in touchdown passes. But Frost will have to win some of the close games that were losses last year to keep his job.
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Bryan Harsin, Auburn
Where to begin? If your program had a plethora of transfers during the offseason, assistant coaches itching to leave just as fast and a near overthrow of the head coach, that coaching seat would be more than tepid. But, alas, it would seem like a no-win situation, something that happens far too often in the Plains and if the Tigers don’t at least make the SEC Championship game (highly unlikely at this point), the powers that be at Auburn have no problem reaching into their pocketbooks to tell anyone underperforming with almost impossible expectations to exit stage left.
Mike Norvell, Florida State
It’s possible that Florida State will return to national prominence sooner than later. It’s also possible that Mike Norvell is not the coach to take them there. Losing to Jacksonville State of the FCS last season looms as the worst moment of his two seasons. Things need to turn around quickly or the revolving door of coaches since the late Bobby Bowden left the sidelines will continue. Less than a decade ago, the Seminoles were one of the most talented teams in the nation, now Norvell is fighting an uphill battle with recruits to stay amid a culture of undisciplined and erratic play on the field and not much buzz around the program off the field.
Herman Edwards, Arizona State
Besides the middling results on the field, Edwards is facing an NCAA investigation of his program for alleged recruiting violations. His starting quarterback for the last three years, Jayden Daniels, hit the transfer portal and his teammates were all too happy to see him leave. Edwards was also forced to shake up his staff. The point may be moot by the time October rolls around as the Sun Devils face Oklahoma State, Utah, USC and Washington in the first month of the season and a manageable $8 million buyout looms if he is let go before the end of the 2022 season.
David Shaw, Stanford
Here are the cold facts about Shaw: He is a good coach, the winningest in the program’s history. He knows it is tough to recruit at a place like Stanford. Shaw was used to getting the Cardinal to double-digit victories on an annual basis, something he hasn’t done since 2016, before slipping to 11-19 overall in the past three campaigns. Last year’s Stanford team was among the worst in the nation in both running the ball and stopping the run, two of their usual strengths. Maybe the administration gives Shaw a reprieve, but losing, no matter what school, won’t be tolerated for long.
Dino Babers, Syracuse
After having his fifth losing campaign in six seasons at Syracuse, Babers gave insight to his team’s offseason plans. “We're hitting the portal hard,” he said. At this point, what else is he going to say? It may have worked wonders last year for Michigan State, and in the ACC, where most years it’s Clemson and everyone else, everything is up for grabs. Plus, a mandate from athletic director John Wildhack to win more games probably means a bowl game invite at a minimum, and that accomplishment still may get Babers fired.
Scott Satterfield, Louisville
In 2019, Louisville won eight games and Satterfield won the ACC coach of the year award. Back-to-back seven-loss seasons quickly shred any momentum, plus courting the South Carolina job after that second year also soured the fan base. As with most of the coaches on this list, it’s about recruiting and developing that talent once they are on campus. The 2023 class is ranked in the top 10 nationally, so that might be the only thing helping survive another year if the results don't change.
Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech
The stats don’t lie if someone wanted to make a case for Collins not being the coach in 2023. Nine wins in three years, near the bottom in the ACC in total offense and total defense in 2021 (the defense only intercepted three passes all year) plus more than a dozen players hit the transfer portal after another dismal season. Collins’ problem may be twofold: Recruiting and at least getting some talent that don’t commit to Georgia to play for Tech and the overall philosophy. If Paul Johnson can win a conference title with the triple option, then Collins really has no excuses for at least not competing for a bowl bid.
Karl Dorrell, Colorado
Maybe Mel Tucker saw the writing on the wall because after one season at Colorado, he hurried up and jumped ship to Michigan State, leaving Dorrell to pick up the pieces. After a decent 2020, things turned quickly last year. The problem with the Buffaloes was injuries and generating anything that looked like a competent offense. They managed to score 20 or fewer points in 10 of their 12 games. Most administrations want to see progress from year to year and if that doesn’t happen this season, it would be hard to justify bring him back for a fourth season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football hot seat coaches include Steve Sarkisian, Scott Frost
