Bryan Harsin Fired. College Football Coaches Hot Seat Top 10 Ranking: Week 9
After Auburn fired Bryan Harsin, now who are the ten coaches on the hot seat after Week 9 of the college football season?
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College Football Coaches Hot Seat Top 10: Week 9
College Football Week 9 Roundup
How the first CFP top 25 SHOULD be done
Bowl Projections | CFN Rankings 1-131 | Rankings by Conference
AP Poll | Coaches Poll | Predicting CFP Top 25
Bowl Bubble: Bowl eligible teams, who needs a win?
In one of the least surprising moves of the college football season, Auburn fired head coach Bryan Harsin after going 9-12 in two seasons with a 3-5 record this year.
He was front-and-center on the coaching hot seat list, but this can all change in a hiccup.
Louisville’s Scott Satterfield was right there in the mix – and could go right back up top if the team loses to James Madison this weekend to start a rough four game finishing kick – but rolling by Wake Forest to make it a three-game winning streak changed all of that.
Being on a hot seat might not necessarily mean the coach is about to be fired. Just like every top coach is a three-game losing streak away from being in trouble, at this time of year he’s a three-game winning streak away from a contract extension.
Who are the five that desperately need that good run of wins, and who are five that won’t be canned but could use something positive? As always, we start with …
Five college football coaches who won’t get fired and aren’t on any hot seat, but could use a big win
5. Mel Tucker, Michigan State
Up Next: at Illinois
He’s handling the controversy at the end of the Michigan loss well, but on the field he’s on his way to a losing season.
He was 2-0 against Jim Harbaugh since taking over, but dropping the date on Saturday 29-7 was big. That’s the one game the base lives on, and it wasn’t all that close. Now the pressure is on to win at Illinois or else that might be it for a bowl shot with a trip to Penn State still to deal with.
On the plus side, beat the Illini, and with Rutgers and Indiana to follow this can all change fast. At this point, getting to six wins and a bowl would be huge. Lose twice, and it’ll be Tucker’s third losing season in four years as a head coach.
4. Brent Pry, Virginia Tech
Up Next: Georgia Tech
This is a redo, and everyone acknowledges that. It’s going to take a little while for the defensive-minded first year man to get everything in place, but it would be nice to come up with a win or three over the last month.
At 2-6 a bowl game is off the table, but the team remains competitive and the D has been fine – for the most part – over the last few weeks. Georgia Tech, at Duke, at Liberty, Virginia – it would do wonders for the offseason if he could pull off two wins against that, especially against the Cavaliers.
3. Brady Hoke, San Diego State
Up Next: UNLV
Almost any coach who’s on a real hot seat probably isn’t allowed on the plane back to San Diego after the brutal collapse in Saturday night’s 32-28 loss to Fresno State. The Aztecs had it in hand, but two touchdowns – helped by a perfect onside kick – in 13 seconds turned it into one of the most shocking late losses of the year.
At 4-4 there’s still time to win two games and go bowling with three of the last four at home and a road trip at New Mexico. It’s been a rough season on and off the field, and after a great 2021 everyone knows what he can do with this program. After Fresno State, though, this is where the coaching side kicks in to get that team up for UNLV.
2. Kalani Sitake, BYU
Up Next: at Boise State
It’s one of the most stunning disappointments of the season. Before the year started, BYU seemed like it was far more likely to be in the College Football Playoff mix than it was to be fighting for a bowl game.
After losing at home to East Carolina as part of a four-game losing streak, now the Cougars have to win two of the last three just to get to a bowl. They’ll beat Dixie State, but the have to go to Boise State and close out at Stanford.
1. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
Up Next: Florida
Welcome to life in the SEC West, Son.
This is when Texas A&M was supposed to be what Tennessee has become. Fisher was supposed to make the sleeping-superpower program into a College Football Playoff contender, and it really, really, really isn’t happening … yet.
Here’s the crazy thing – stick A&M in the ACC, or Pac-12, or Big Ten West and all might be fine. Four of the five losses were by six points or fewer, the team is still fighting, and …
Texas A&M has to win three of the last four against Florida, at Auburn, UMass, and LSU to get to a bowl.
Texas A&M under Jimbo Fisher shouldn’t be sweating a bowl invite.
– 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
College Football Hot Seat Coaches: Win NOW, Or Else
These five coaches will likely hang on to their respective jobs with an okay final record, but they all need to put together a strong string of wins NOW.
5. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Up Next: Ohio State
The man probably can’t get fired considering he is Northwestern football, but his team is about to go 1-11 and not be all that terribly close in any of the final four games.
Seriously, who gives up 33 points to Iowa and makes the offense look like the Greatest Show on Turf?
What’s the perfect antidote for a struggling team that could use something positive? Come on in, Ohio State …
That, then at Minnesota, at Purdue, Illinois.
At the moment, Northwestern is 1-13 in its last 14 games and this going to be the third season in the last four with three wins or fewer.
4. Tim Lester, Western Michigan
Up Next: at Bowling Green
This can go either way.
There’s no reason Western Michigan can’t win three of its final four games to get to six wins and a bowl. It’s been a rough year with a whole lot of disappointments, but Lester hasn’t had a losing season in his first five years and he needs to get his struggling team hot to keep the streak going.
Beating Miami University a few weeks ago 16-10 wasn’t pretty, but it was a start. At Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, at Central Michigan, Toledo.
To take this to the positive, sweep this run – or win three of the four with one of them being Toledo – and the Broncos are playing for the MAC title.
3. Justin Wilcox, Cal
Up Next: at USC
The pressure is about as low as it gets for a coach at a Power Five program, but Wilcox can’t get this engine to turn over.
It’s his sixth season at the helm, he’s 29-33 overall, and his teams haven’t been bad. They’re just not able to put anything together on a consistent basis – he’s not getting any semblance of luck – and now they’re on a four-game losing streak and have to win three of the last four games just to get to six wins and bowl eligibility.
At USC, at Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA. There are chances to make noise – and Cal might be just good enough to pull off a few wins – but it’s going to be a fight for this to be anything but the fourth losing season in a row.
2. Jeff Scott, USF
Up Next: at Temple
This might be trickier than it seems.
Scott is just 4-25 in his career so far after the loss to Houston, and the only win over an FBS team was against Temple last year. However, the team isn’t playing that poorly, at least on offense.
The defense is an issue, but considering East Carolina and Tulane are strong this year, none of the seven losses in 2022 are bad – USF should’ve lost all of them and it would be a slight stunner and big upset if it pulled off any of those games.
However, who’s up next? Temple.
Losing those other seven games was actually okay, and USF will likely lose to SMU, at Tulsa, UCF to close.
Don’t lose to Temple.
1. Jeff Hafley, Boston College
Up Next: Duke
Yeah, you don’t lose to UConn 13-3 if things are going well. Now at 14-17 in almost three seasons, he needs a big November.
Boston College can still run the table and go to a bowl, but the offense can’t come up with anything positive on a regular basis, the defense isn’t holding up, and now at 2-6 the remaining run against Duke, at NC State, at Notre Dame, and Syracuse might mean a 2-10 run and the worst campaign since 2012.
To always try hoping for the best, beat Duke this week, come up with one win in the final three, and things might start to trend up a bit. But the O has to start working … fast.
College Football Week 9 Roundup
How the first CFP top 25 SHOULD be done
Bowl Projections | CFN Rankings 1-131 | Rankings by Conference
AP Poll | Coaches Poll | Predicting CFP Top 25
Bowl Bubble: Bowl eligible teams, who needs a win?
