Thursday, September 6, 2018

Coaches on the Hot Seat

It's never too early to start identifying coaches in college football who have not exactly been holding water during their tenures at their current jobs. In this piece, we will identify these coaches weekly who need to start turning their fortunes around, and quickly, or else start risking a slide into the Coaching Dead Pool.

Coaches Swimming in the Dead Pool is a separate piece that will focus on coaches who we believe are already going to be fired at some point this season or just at the conclusion of it. That will be the next piece we post this afternoon, so if you are missing some names on this list, fear not, as they may already be close to done.

Here is the hot list after week zero and week one action:

Geoff Collins, Temple
It's early, but he has not gotten out of the gate blazing, and a loss to Villanova to start the 2018 season will not endear him to the faithful, even if that crowd is hardly overwhelming in size.

Randy Edsell, U Conn
Version 2.0 of the Edsell era has hardly been what version 1.0 was. U Conn is a toxic train wreck of a football program right now, the losses are piling up, and I, personally, do not believe that he can replicate his first run. Sometimes, you just can't go home again.

Dino Babers, Syracuse
Sure, the Orange won their opener against Western Michigan, but they just literally had to outscore a MAC program just to get that win. The defense was a horrific mess, and they won't outscore the better teams on the schedule, and are always an Eric Dungey injury away from tanking it.

Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
A win over Alcorn State is not going to appease anyone. He has to get on track and stay there, and maybe the most erratic coach in the ACC in terms of never having year to year consistency. There is still much to prove.

Larry Fedora, North Carolina
He is incredibly close to the edge of the Dead Pool here, and is 2-11 in his last 13 games dating back to last season. He doesn't have the talent to get it done at UNC, and has never stayed anywhere long enough to show that he can build a foundation. This one is crumbling fast.

Tom Herman, Texas
He is now 7-7 in his first 14 games. This is the guy they went all in on? If this were Charlie Strong, they would already be drafting the exit papers and finding the buyout money. That's exactly what they did to him. Herman is the most over hyped coach in college football, and people are figuring it out.

Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
He isn't going anywhere with 4 years left on his deal, but if anyone had the cash to pull a stunner and buy out that deal, it would be Michigan. The heat is on after the loss to Notre Dame, and it appears that he still has not found an offense worth a damn. By the way, Braylon Edwards was right. Absolutely and completely right.

Brad Lambert, Charlotte
The 49ers won their opener against Fordham with a late surge to take the win. There may not be many more wins on the schedule, if there are any. Another year like last season, and Lambert may be swimming by year end.

Mike Sanford, Jr., Western Kentucky
The exciting offenses that we saw under Brohm and Taggart are long gone, and Sanford has found a way to make the Hilltoppers absolutely boring. That won't last long in Bowling Green.

Doug Martin, New Mexico State
He is an annual visitor to my hot seat. After an 0-2 start that has seen the Aggies score just 8.5 points per game, it would appear that the bowl team from a year ago was the fluke that many thought that it may be. This program is heading right back in the wrong direction once again.

Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
I had believed that Martin would be back on the block again if the Redhawks lost to Marshall in the opener as the favorite. They lost as the favorite. Miami could be in trouble, and Martin may be gone if this does not get corrected quickly.

Mike Neu, Ball State
Hey, he didn't lose to an FCS program last weekend, so that's a start, but faith is not high that he can keep up the early momentum. After a loss to Notre Dame this week, we shall see what direction the Cardinals turn, but they do indeed lose this week.

Bob Davie, New Mexico
If there was any money at all at UNM, he would already be gone. He is just collecting a check now.

Mike Bobo, Colorado State
The window has closed on the Rams, and Bobo has started to have some serious health issues. The team is abysmal this season in losses to Hawaii and Colorado, and let's face it, he has hardly been amazing in Fort Collins to date, and has under performed across the spectrum.

Brent Brennan, San Jose State
I am not certain how long the Spartans take to realize that this hire may have been a bad move, which is something I could have told them that it was when they made it. This program is just getting worse, as if that were possible.

Tony Sanchez, UNLV
The Rebels played USC tough for 3 quarters, but lost by 22. There were intrinsic improvements in week one over last season, but not enough for the seat to get cooler just yet.


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