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College Football Coaches On The Hot Seat: Week 10 Pressure Cooker Rankings
College football coaches on the hot seat for Week 10 of the 2015 season. It's win or else for a slew of coaches down the stretch.
November 13, 2015
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@RichCirminiello
College Football Coaches Hot Seat: Week 11 Pressure Cooker Rankings
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The college football coaches hot seat rankings entering Week 11 continue to thin out as the number of openings grew to 10 with last week’s announcements that Frank Beamer was retiring and Hawaii had fired Norm Chow after nearly four seasons.
As the regular season enters the final turn, who within the Power Five conferences is working up a sweat on the college football coaches hot seat? We break it all down below.
Top 10 College Football Coaches On The Hot Seat
10. Mike Riley, Nebraska
Handing Michigan State its first loss of 2015? Huge, no matter how controversial the ending may have been. However, since it came just a week after a 55-45 loss to 2-7 Purdue, it’s kind of a wash for Riley. The Huskers are two games below .500 with two left, meaning wins over Rutgers and Iowa are necessary to avoid a bowl-less postseason in Lincoln for the first time in seven years. Riley isn’t going anywhere, but a fourth losing season in his last six years is going to raise more doubts about this hire.
9. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia
Sigh of relief. For now. Holgorsen earned a must-win at home on Saturday, beating Texas Tech to snap a four-game losing streak. Still, the Mountaineers are straddling the .500 mark, and haven’t lost fewer than six games in a season since 2011. Odds are that Holgorsen is back in 2016. However, the guy that hired him, Oliver Luck, is no longer around. And if West Virginia stumbles in November, especially to a Kansas or Iowa State, new AD Shane Lyons could decide to move in a new direction.
8. Charlie Strong, Texas
The Horns had no problems with Kansas, rolling to their most lopsided win of the year. The rout brought the program to within a game of .500 with three left, which in itself is an indictment of the entire staff. Interim AD Mike Perrin, who signed on for a year, doesn’t seem likely to make another coaching change a little over a year after Strong succeeded Mack Brown. But Strong can help his long-term prognosis by at least qualifying for the postseason with wins against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor.
7. Kevin Wilson, Indiana
Wilson is making progress in Bloomington. But will it be enough? On the one hand, the fifth-year coach is still looking for his first winning season at IU, one of the toughest places to win in the Big Ten. On the other, the Hoosiers are clearly more competitive, losing by no more than eight points to Ohio State, Rutgers and Iowa during the current five-game losing skid. Wilson can end all speculation by winning two of the final three against Michigan, Maryland and Purdue to secure the school’s first bowl bid in eight years.
6. Darrell Hazell, Purdue
Reports indicate that Hazell may be spared after all, and not because of the Boilermakers’ upset of Nebraska two weeks ago. The third-year coach fell to 6-27 overall after being throttled at home by Illinois Saturday, 48-14. But the combination of his hefty buyout and Purdue’s frugality means Hazell will likely return for at least the 2016 campaign. While times have changed in the profession, there’s also history on his side, since every Boilermaker coach since 1972 has lasted at least four seasons.
5. Scott Shafer, Syracuse
As the Orange heads south, Shafer moves north on the Pressure Cooking Rankings. Losers of six straight, Syracuse is on the brink of postseason elimination. In Louisville Saturday, the team looked as if already had one foot in the offseason, bowing to the Cardinals, 41-17. Shafer, now 13-21 in his third year, was a link to the Doug Marrone era, which was beginning to show genuine progress. Shafer has failed to build upon what Marrone started, which has not been lost on AD Mark Coyle, who was hired in June.
4. Mark Richt, Georgia
The Bulldogs became bowl eligible with Saturday’s 27-3 win over Kentucky. Only a loss to the fading Wildcats would have impacted the unique dynamic surrounding Richt. Like it not, fair or not, a divorce almost feels imminent at this time. Whether that means the coach leaves on his own accord or is shown the door remains to be seen. While Richt has done a ton of great things in Athens, Georgia is sort of stuck in neutral, as evidenced by losses to Alabama, Tennessee and Florida since the beginning of October.
3. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State
A week after blanking Texas, the Cyclones returned to normal, bowing to Oklahoma, 52-16. Barring some miracle finish that would include upsets of Oklahoma State, Kansas State and West Virginia, Iowa State will finish with a losing record for the sixth straight year under Rhoads. The Big 12’s Mike London has enjoyed a longer career than the results would seem to suggest. But while Rhoads is well-liked and respected, AD Jamie Pollard might have no choice but to try a new direction in Ames.
2. Kyle Flood, Rutgers
There are currently 10 openings in college football. How is Rutgers not one of them? The Scarlet Knights have been equally bad on the field as they’ve been away from it, which is usually the recipe for an in-season dismissal. Flood oversees a program that’s dealt with a spate of problems, including his own three-game suspension. And now the Knights have been hammered in succession by Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan by an average score of 49-11. Rutgers needs three straight wins over Nebraska, Army and Maryland to become postseason eligible.
1. Mike London, Virginia
