College Football Coaches On The Hot Seat: Week 9 Pressure Cooker Rankings

As the end of October approaches, 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. Charlie Strong, Texas

The bleeding has stopped following back-to-back wins over Oklahoma and Kansas State. And it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that the plug will be pulled on Strong after two seasons. But there’s more to be done to fully heal the wounds associated with a dreadful 1-4 start that included lopsided losses to Notre Dame and TCU. If the Horns can keep taking care of business prior to the Dec. 5 Waco trip, Strong will be fine. Stumbling to Iowa State or Kansas, or missing the postseason, though, would be a damning regression for the entire staff.

9. Mark Richt, Georgia

Would the Bulldogs do better by ushering Richt to the door at the end of the season? Oh, heck no. But you can bank on the calls for his dismissal to grow louder than ever if Georgia loses this weekend to rival Florida in a key SEC East showdown. If the Dawgs, which have looked bad in their last three games, fall behind the Gators and rookie head coach Jim McElwain in the pecking order, hysteria is liable to break out in Athens.

8. Mike Riley, Nebraska

No. he’s not going to get fired, but when you start doing things at a decade-level worst, you’re on an instant hot seat. It’s only Year One, but it’s not working. Riley is too old to come up with a big rebuilding process, and while no one was expecting national titles right away, a 3-5 start, ranking 125th in the nation in pass defense, and with a soft ground attack that’s not able to come up with any decent wins – Minnesota doesn’t really count – this hasn’t worked out well. Granted, all five losses came by a combined 13 points, but 3-5 is 3-5 is 3-5.

7. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia

The Mountaineers enjoyed a much-needed break in Week 8, using the bye to evaluate what went wrong during the current three-game losing streak and what needs to be done over the final six weeks. West Virginia got blown out by TCU Thursday in Fort Worth, with an embarrassing loss on national TV further chiping away at Holgorsen’s security. The coach has failed to elevate WVU since it joined the Big 12, and the guy that hired him, Oliver Luck, is no longer a part of the administration.

6. Kevin Wilson, Indiana

The annual slide in Bloomington has begun, with the Hoosiers suffering a fourth-straight loss on Saturday to fall back to .500 after a 4-0 start. In all likelihood, the skid will reach six games since Indiana hosts Iowa and Michigan following a Week 9 bye. And that would mean road wins over Maryland and Purdue would be necessary to qualify for a first bowl game in eight years, and possibly earn Wilson a sixth season with the program.

5. Kyle Flood, Rutgers

As expected, Flood’s Scarlet Knights were outclassed by top-ranked Ohio State, 49-7, to fall a game below .500. While Rutgers helped its cause with last week’s stunning comeback to beat Indiana, it’ll still need to topple a traditional power, Wisconsin, Michigan or Nebraska, to have a crack at one of the Big Ten’s bowl bids. Even then, the administration still needs to decide if Flood, who’s overseen a program with so many off-field issues, is the right guy to be in charge.

4. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech

Of all the potential coaching vacancies in 2015, this one is by far the most delicate situation. Obviously, Beamer is a legend in Blacksburg, and nothing is going to change his legacy. Equally obvious, though, is the reality that the Hokies may not be contenders again until the coach steps down and makes room for someone else. Va Tech fell to 3-5 with a quadruple-overtime loss to Duke, and with three road games left, its streak of 22 straight years in a bowl game is once again in serious jeopardy.

3. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State

There’s no discounting how difficult it is to win at Iowa State, one of the two worst jobs in the Big 12. But the central problem for Rhoads is that his teams have gotten worse over the years. And that lack of progress could be his eventual undoing. In his first four seasons, the coach was a respectable 24-27, with a dozen conference wins and three bowl appearances. Since 2013, though, he’s 7-24, with three Big 12 victories and not a postseason invitation in sight.

2. Darrell Hazell, Purdue

The Boilermakers return to action this Saturday against Nebraska after sitting out Week 8. The team is 1-6, with the only win coming against FCS Indiana State, and Hazell is 5-26 overall, including 1-18 in Big Ten play, midway through his third season. Progress, both on the field and in the Ross-Ade Stadium stands, has been imperceptible, leaving AD Morgan Burke to decide if Hazell is the right coach to guide Purdue out of its decade-long funk.

1. Mike London, Virginia

London is long past the point of being hopeful about the future. He peaked in 2011, which is an eternity in the coaching profession. Since that 8-5 season four years ago, which artificially raised expectations in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers have gone 13-30 under London’s watch. And qualifying for a 2015 bowl game, the minimum standard to earn a seventh year at the helm, became increasingly unlikely following Saturday’s 26-13 loss to Carolina in Chapel Hill.