College Football: How Warm Is The Hot Seat These Coaches Are On?


Being a college football coach can be glamorous, especially at the Division I level, but there is a lot of pressure to win. Therefore, it is inevitable that a coach will find himself on the proverbial “hot seat” sometime during his tenure.

Every year, several coaches lose their job for a variety of reasons. 15 head college football coaches lost their jobs following the 2014 season, which was slightly below the average of 21 coaching changes that occurred on average between 2009-20013 according to Athlon Sports.

Coaches Hot Seat is reporting that there are potentially 30 coaches on the hot seat this season. This article will look at how warm some of the coaches hot seat really is.

1. Mike London, Virginia. London tops the list as he was considered lucky to have saved his job this past season as the Cavaliers went 1-5 down the stretch to finish the season at 5-7. While the five victories is Virginia’s second most in London’s five-year career, he is 23-38 and has taken the Cavs to just one bowl game.

Hot Seat rating: Very hot. Virginia needs to show improvement on the field to save London’s job again. This likely means the Cavs need six wins and qualify for a bowl game.

2. Kevin Wilson, Indiana. Indiana is a tough place to win and Wilson has produced a 14-34 record overall record, including 6-26 in BIG 10 play. The Hoosiers had several injury issues last year, which was the main reason they closed the season 1-5 to finish with a 4-8 record.

Hot seat rating: Mild. Wilson has led the Hoosiers to 13 victories over the past three years and Indiana has a favorable nonconference slate this upcoming season according to Bleacher Report. Meaning that the Hoosiers need to reach six wins in order for Wilson to feel safe.

3. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State. Iowa State finished 2-10 in 2014, which includes a nonconference loss to North Dakota State by 20 to go along with lopsided losses to Kansas (34-14) and TCU (55-3). What makes last season even more disappointing is that the Cyclones were projected to win nearly eight games according to Coaching Tree Hot Seat. Rhoads is 29-46 in his six seasons in Ames and has led the Cyclones to three bowl games. However, Iowa State is just 5-19 over the last two seasons, including 2-16 in the Big 12.

Hot Seat: Hot. Rhoads may be saved due to the fact that his contract runs through 2021. But the Cyclones need to show significant improvement, in other words Rhoads needs five or six wins this season.

4. Darrell Hazell, Purdue. The Boilermakers went 3-9 last season, which was a two game improvement over Hazell’s first season. Hazell is 4-20 over his first two years at Purdue.

Hot seat rating: Medium. The Boilermakers have struggled since going 9-3 in 2003 and Hazell did a decent job last year, earning a C from Coaching Tree Hot Seat. Unless the Boilermakers completely fall backwards this year, Hazell should return next season.

5. Doug Martin, New Mexico State. The Aggies started the season 2-0 but lost 10 straight to finish the season at 2-10. The Aggies also won just one game in their inaugural Sun Belt season. Martin is 4-20 in two seasons at New Mexico State.

Hot Seat Rating. Mild. The Aggies were expected to improve in year two under Martin but did not. But it doesn’t appear that Martin is really in danger of losing his job unless the Aggies fall back once again.

6. Ron Turner, Florida International. Turner exceeded expectations with FIU in his second year as the Panthers went 4-8 and 3-5 in Conference USA. The Panthers went 1-11 in Turner’s first year.

Hot seat Rating. Mild. Turner, who is ranked No. 119 in the Sporting News coaching rankings, is not highly
respected by the media but did a good job last sason. FIU was projected to win three games last year. However, the Panthers did lose to FCS Bethune-Cookman last season.

7. Trent Miles, Georgia State. The Panthers went winless in their first season under Miles and had one win last year. Miles is 1-23 overall at Georgia State and 0-15 against Sun Belt foes.

Hot seat rating. Medium. Georgia State has failed to meet expectations the last two years and needs a win or two conference wins to save Miles job.

8. Todd Monken, Southern Miss. Monken appears to have Southern Miss heading in the right direction despite being just 4-20 in his two seasons. The Golden Eagles broke their 23-game losing streak during Monken’s first year.

Hot seat rating. Mild.

9. Sonny Dykes, California. A year after failing to meet expectations, the Golden Bears improved to 5-7 in Dykes second year. Dykes is 6-18 in two seasons at California.

Hot seat rating. Mild. If Cal doesn’t fall flat this season, Dykes should be back in 2016. Cal has posted just two winning seasons since 2009.

10. Paul Petrino, Idaho. Petrino is 2-21 in two seasons at Idaho.

Hot seat rating. Mild. Idaho needs to show some kind of improvement this season after posting one victory the past three seasons.

11. Norm Chow, Hawaii. The Warriors are 8-23 in three seasons under Chow though Hawaii exceeded expectations last year, finishing with a 4-9 record.

Hot seat: Medium. Hawaii has a new athletic director and the 69-year old is only the second Warriors coach to begin his coaching tenure at Hawaii with three straight losing seasons.

[Photo by Mike Shroyer/Getty Images]

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