The 5 NCAA Football Coaches on the Hot Seat

It's been a while since I put in a college football response. Partly because the format on the site does not really show up for college football, but I want to start talking about it since we are now less than 2 months of college football (HOORAY!) and get it in the mood a bit.

So let's look at the coaches who are on the hot seat this year. Ironically, some of them have been on this seat for a while. So, the question begs, "will it FINALLY come to fruition?"

1. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M: I drank the Kool-Aid last year on Kevin Sumlin a bit, believing he figured out how to go up against the SEC powers of winning on the lines and for the first half of the year, they played physical, including beating Auburn in Jordan-Hare. And for a half, they played tough with Alabama. But quarterback issues hurt the Aggies and Texas A&M did their new traditional swoon after. Some seemed surprised Sumlin kept his job after last year with his ability (or inability) to control players and have quarterbacks (Kenny Hill) leave. Adding on, the two schools that you desperately begged to replace Texas as your primary rivals (Alabama, LSU), you are 1-9 against and haven't won a home game against either one. Any more 7-5 seasons and another 0-2 run agianst the Tide and LSU Tigers, and Sumlin is shown the door.

2. Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech: Amazing how a coach can get an offense to score 50+ points and lose twice, 40+ points and lose 3 times, and 30+ points and lose 5 times. And this isn't a freak event, but a trend. Sooner or later you have to adapt to what goes on. What gets me was that one of the highlights of the year was their OT win in Ft. Worth, beating TCU where the Red Raiders changed their scheme and not played Air-Raid offense, and the defense was actually a defense. And then Kingsbury goes back to his style the week after and loses 66-10 to Iowa State. Kingsbury showed he can change, but it seems like he does not want to and wants to try to score 50 points and win, but what kills him is his defense is out there too long (he needs to look at the National Championship game this year). I mean how many times can you score 30, 40, or 50 points again and still manage to lose 5 of those games? Kingsbury is trying to figure it out. But 5 losses of those and still having to face the likes of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and possibly Texas will make sure it is 7 or 8 losses and end Kingsbury's tenure at Texas Tech.

3. Todd Graham, Arizona State: Similar to Kingsbury where he wants to use the no-huddle (but spread), and try the quick strike offense. But he seems more stubborn about changing in a conference that is starting to become more & more physical up on the lines with defense, especially. Add in the players who can be fast AND physical such as Stanford, Washington, and Colorado, and it isn't good. But Graham sounds like his style can take them ahead of those teams and win the PAC-12 South. However, given the rises of USC, Colorado, and you still have a physical team of Utah, and it is going to be hard to win those games. Even a 6-6 & a bowl game perhaps doesn't save his job in Tempe.

4. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame: Perhaps no coach is more vilified from his own fan base than Kelly. Even when the Irish win, there are few Notre Dame fans that back Kelly. So when the Irish went 4-8, the fans were ready to drop the ax on him. And for good reason. Kelly threw everybody under the bus, from his quarterback in DeShone Kizer, to his center Sam Mustipher, to his defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder (who got canned midway through the season) and to anybody with a pulse. Kelly has practically a new staff, a new quarterback, and new schemes on both sides of the ball. 7-5 or 6-6 won't cut it for Kelly. Heck, maybe not even 8-4.

5. Butch Jones, Tennessee: At some point, you have to wonder when the ceiling finally hit for Jones at Tennessee. We keep hearing how Tennessee's talent ranks up there with the rest of the SEC, but 8-4's won't win a division, even in the SEC East. Tennessee was to be a threat to Alabama and the National Championship last year, but after a near-loss to Appalachian State, a struggle against Ohio, and a Hail Mary win against Georgia, the Vols crashed after, including an embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt. But it seems like Butch's antics on the sideline, his comments ("brick by brick" and "champions of life" moniker) are more of show than anything. Yeah, it may be cute for the players but seeing him blow a gasket every time out, it doesn't do any favors for the players. Add on the fact the Vols struggle against poor teams does not help Jones any. And this year Butch has a rough schedule with Alabama & Florida on the road (as well as Georgia Tech to kick off the year in the new Atlanta stadium), and home games against a vengeful Georgia and LSU. Any more 8-4 records and Jones is gone.

OTHERS THAT HAVE WARM SEATS: Jim Mora-UCLA, Rich Rodriguez-Arizona, Bret Bielema-Arkansas, Hugh Freeze-Ole Miss

Time will tell if some of these guys get it together. Maybe some enjoy having that hot seat on them and do better similar to Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech. Or we may see somebody else that isn't on here that could be gone.

-Fan in the Obstructed Seat

Follow me on Twitter