Week 8 Coaches Hot Seat MUST WIN Games for Coaches and Teams
Week 8 Coaches Hot Seat MUST WIN Games for Coaches and Teams
Tony Levine, Houston vs. SMU – After taking over an Uber-Successful football program at Houston built by Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin new UH head coach Tony Levine started the 2012 season at 0 – 3 with losses to Texas State, La. Tech and UCLA and he followed that with 3 wins against Rice, North Texas and SMU. Levine MUST keep that winning streak going this week against SMU who last week got beat by woeful Tulane.
Keep running away from the Hot Seat Tony!
Paul Pasqualoni, Connecticut vs. Syracuse – Paul Pasqualoni took over a UConn football team from the departing out the back door without saying goodbye Randy Edsall that had won 34 games over the previous 4 seasons and Pasqualoni in his two years on the job has put records of…
Overall (Big East)
2011: 5 – 7 (3 – 4)
2012: 3 – 4 (0 – 2)
From where we sit it looks like the Connecticut football program is going BACKWARDS under Paul Pasqualoni and that makes this week’s game at Syracuse where Pasqualoni used to be the head coach a MUST WIN Game.
Lose this game Paul and you will be on the Hot Seat!
Doug Marrone, Syracuse vs. Connecticut – Doug Marrone has put up the following records in 4 years at Syracuse after taking over a very weak SU football program…
2009: 4 – 8
2010: 8 – 5
2011: 5 – 7
2012: 2 – 4
….which makes 2012 a critical season for Marrone because he REALLY needs 6 wins this year to get his team to a bowl game and get those 10 plus extra practices which makes this week’s Connecticut game a MUST WIN!
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech vs. Clemson – In 2012 Frank Beamer and the Hokies have put up a record of 4 – 3 and Va. Tech has beaten…
Georgia Tech in overtime
Austin Peay
Bowling Green
Duke
….and the Hokies have lost to…
Pitt
Cincinnati
North Carolina
…which means that Va. Tech has beaten NO ONE in 2012 but they are playing SOMEONE in Week 8 in…
Clemson
A loss in this spot would drop Va. Tech’s record to 4 – 4 and they still have to play…
At Miami
Florida State
At Boston College
Virginia
….which means that if Va. Tech doesn’t start playing better football they MIGHT have to beat Virginia in the last game of the season just to get to .500 and get to a bowl game and at place like Va. Tech pretty much anyone including Captain Kangaroo…
….could win 6 games a year and one can only wonder why Va. Tech would be paying a head coach Millions of Dollars a year to put up records that The Captain could match or beat easily?
If Va. Tech LOSES to Clemson Frank Beamer will be headed to the Hot Seat!
Les Miles, LSU vs. Texas A&M – The close loss to a very weak Auburn team and that loss at Florida had the Coon Asses and Gator Hunters in Louisiana out after Les Miles heading into the South Carolina game and since it is no fun having the Coon Asses and Gator Hunters chasing your ass down Les Miles knew full well that he HAD TO HAVE that win over South Carolina and the Bengal Tigers got that win….BUT….if LSU loses to Texas A&M in College Station on Saturday the Coon Asses and Gator Hunters will be back out again looking for some of Miles’ ass to chew on and with Alabama coming to town on November 3 a loss to the Aggies on Saturday could set up a…
WIN or HOT SEAT Game for Les Miles against the Tide
Gene Chizik, Auburn vs. Vanderbilt – Gene Chizik and Auburn may be facing the MUST WIN GAME of the 2012 season this Saturday at Vanderbilt because a loss in this spot by the Tigers would be a continuing of the EPIC Disaster that has been Auburn football in 2012 and with the following SEC games left on the schedule after Vandy…
Texas A&M
Georgia
At Alabama
….it would set-up Auburn to do something under Gene Chizik that it never achieved in the previous 28 seasons under Pat Dye, Terry Bowden and Tommy Tuberville and that SOMETHING would be…
ZERO WINS in the SEC Conference!
If Auburn doesn’t WIN a SEC Conference game in 2012 one can only ask WHAT IF Auburn hadn’t scheduled Three Cupcake Games against…
La. Monroe, New Mexico State and Alabama A&M
…would Auburn have WON ANY games in 2012?
Here’s the Bottom-Line: Auburn Football has TWO to THREE TIMES MORE talent than Vanderbilt Football and if Auburn loses to the Commodores it will be…
ALL COACHING
…and that makes this game against Vandy a MUST, MUST, MUST WIN Game for Gene Chizik and Auburn and watching the below Vanderbilt athletics video on Vanderbilt’s win over Missouri makes one believe that one program, Vanderbilt, is going on the RIGHT direction and the other program, Auburn, is sinking into oblivion.
David Shaw, Stanford vs. California – IF only….
The Stanford football team had ANY OFFENSE AT ALL against Washington and Notre Dame the Stanford Cardinal would be…
6 – 0
…right now and ranked in the Top 5 in the country BUT then the flip-side of that is that Stanford could have and probably should have lost to Arizona in Week 5 and could very well be sitting at 3 – 3 right now instead of 4 – 2 which REALLY makes this game against California a MUST WIN Game for David Shaw and Stanford.
A LOSS in the Big Game to California by Stanford with these games left…
Washington State
At Colorado
Oregon State
At Oregon
At UCLA
….would open up the possibility of Stanford ONLY winning 6 games in 2012 and that would be a Complete Disaster since any random Math Geek pulled out of an Advanced Calculus class on The Farm could have coached the Cardinal football team up to….
7 WINS in 2012!
One troubling thing that we have picked-up on this week in Palo Alto and with Stanford Athletics is that for the first-time in our memory it seems like that performances by Stanford sports teams that are below EXCELLENT or WINNING are being celebrated with the Stanford Athletics department which is the sure first sign of something could be going very wrong with Stanford Athletics and if the new Stanford AD or Stanford head coach David Shaw believe that “almost winning” games is good enough then both of those men will be getting an education soon in the difference between being…
AVERAGE
AND
EXCELLENCE!
A we “almost won” philosophy is the attitude of LOSERS and is not acceptable at Stanford University and some of the things we have heard and seen this week on The Farm are leading us to believe that David Shaw is under the impression his football team can “come close to winning” games and David Shaw can hold onto his job forever into the future because David played for Bill Walsh at Stanford.
Sorry, Bill Walsh more than anyone else knew the difference between being
AVERAGE
AND
EXCELLENCE
…and Coach Walsh would have also be wondering right now just where in the Hell the Stanford offense disappeared to and he would not be making excuses but rather working like Hell to make sure the Stanford offense would be ready to play against California.
If Stanford LOSES to a mediocre Cal team in the BIG GAME all Hell will break loose because that will be the sure sign that Stanford Football under David Shaw is in decline.
PERIOD
…and decline at Stanford University if ANYTHING is Un-Freaking Acceptable.
PERIOD.
Jeff Tedford, California vs. Stanford – Probably the most Damning record for Jeff Tedford is his Pac-10/12 Conference record over the past SIX seasons:
2007 – 2012 Pac-10/12 Conference Record of Jeff Tedford at Cal:
23 – 26 (.469)
Is the above conference record acceptable for someone that makes almost $3 Million Dollars a year in the case of Jeff Tedford at Cal?
Well, this is Cal we are talking about so maybe being AVERAGE is acceptable to the folks in Berkeley but someone making $3 Million Dollars a year should be able to put up a better than .500 conference record over the past SIX seasons….right?
Now at 3 – 4 on the season Jeff Tedford and Cal have left on the schedule…
Stanford
At Utah
Washington
Oregon
At Oregon State
…and we have been told by our Cal alum friends that Tedford needs to BEAT Stanford in the BIG GAME and get at least 7 wins this season to return in 2013 so a WIN in the BIG GAME over Stanford is a MUST for Jeff Tedford and Cal.
Frank Spaziani, Boston College vs. Georgia Tech – Boston College has LOST four straight games to Northwestern, Clemson, Army and Florida State and they arrive at the Georgia Tech game at 1 – 5 on the season and REALLY needing a win to save the season and luckily for BC they are playing a team in Tech that just recently got whipped by a Sun Belt team in Middle Tennessee. The way Georgia Tech has been playing defense in 2012 anything is possible even a WIN by BC in this game and since this is a MUST WIN Game Frank Spaziani and the Eagles should go all out to win this game because either BC starts winning games and quick or the Spaziani-era at BC will be ending come December.
Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech vs. Boston College – Georgia Tech’s record in 2012 is…
2 – 4
….and their ONLY WINS are over Presbyterian and Virginia which means that Georgia Tech has beaten NO ONE this season and even if they beat woeful Boston College on Saturday they will still NOT have beaten ANYONE in 2012 which really makes this Boston College game a MUST WIN for Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech.
With these games left after BC…
BYU
At Maryland
At North Carolina
Duke
At Georgia
….a LOSS to Boston College in this spot would be a Complete Disaster and would send Paul Johnson to the HOT SEAT!
Bo Pelini, Nebraska vs. Northwestern – The Standards and Expectations are VERY HIGH for Nebraska football in the Great State of Nebraska as they should be and now at 4 – 2 on the season Bo Pelini and his Huskers face a very Damn important game on the road at Northwestern this week which is a MUST Win Game also since a loss in this spot with Michigan due in Lincoln, Nebraska next week would be a Complete Disaster and would put a tremendous amount of pressure on Pelini and his coaches as they enter the last part of the season.
As one of our Nebraska alum friends told us long ago about Nebraska football:
“Anything less than 10 wins in a season is not acceptable.”
Now at 4 – 2 and with these games left…
At Northwestern
Michigan
At Michigan State
Penn State
Minnesota
At Iowa
…it looks like Bo Pelini and Nebraska will have to RUN THE TABLE or they will fall into the…
“NOT ACCEPTABLE”
…category and take it from us here at Coaches Hot Seat that have lots of good friends in Nebraska that are BIG Cornhusker football fans….that is NOT a place where Bo Pelini wants to go!
Skip Holtz, South Florida vs. Louisville – Skip Holtz took over a football program at South Florida that had won…
34 Games
…in the previous four seasons under former USF head coach Jim Leavitt and Skip Holtz’s records at USF are..
2010: 8 – 5
2011: 5 – 7
2012: 2 – 4
Overall: 15 – 16
Big East: 4 – 12
….which is the kind of record that will get your rear-end on the Hot Seat and that is exactly where Skip Holtz finds himself right now.
Here’s the problem for Skip Holtz with his USF team now 2 – 4 on the season: South Florida has a MUST Win Game at unbeaten Louisville on Saturday and then they have left…
Syracuse
Connecticut
At Miami
At Cincinnati
Pitt
…and Skip Holtz REALLY CANNOT afford a second-straight sub-.500 season especially after Jim Leavitt showed everyone that South Florida can put on the field a winning football program at USF.
This is Very Simple: IF Skip Holtz and South Florida loses to Louisville Skip Holtz will be on the HOT SEAT!
Joker Phillips, Kentucky vs. Georgia – The word out of the Bluegrass State is that Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart really DOES NOT WANT to fire UK head football coach Joker Phillips BUT if Kentucky keeps losing and puts up an 0 – 8 SEC Conference record in 2012 that would leave Phillips’ SEC record in three seasons on the job at…
4 – 20
…and if you give Kentucky the win over I-AA Samford later this season Phillips’ overall record at UK would be..
13 – 24
That would leave Joker Phillips with these yearly records in three seasons at Kentucky:
2010: 6 – 7
2011: 5 – 7
2012: 2 – 10
Our gut tells us that Joker Phillips would probably survive even a 2 – 10 record in 2012 to return for the 2013 season at Kentucky BUT how Phillips returning would affect ticket sales and enthusiasm for the UK football program next season is something we cannot predict from where we here at Coaches Hot Seat are sitting.
Of course…IF Bobby Petrino was interested in the Kentucky job and we were Mitch Barnhart we would have to consider hiring Petrino IF we became convinced that Petrino was a new man that would be committed to doing things right both on and off the field and if we had Bobby Petrino in the same room with us we could ask him a series of questions that would determine whether Petrino has changed for the better OR if he is still the Bobby Petrino that was the head coach at Louisville, Atlanta Falcons and at Arkansas.
NO, we wouldn’t need a lie detector test to KNOW if Bobby Petrino was a changed man because his eyes, mannerisms, answers to our questions and behavior would tell us all we would need to know if Petrino would be a good hire for Kentucky or ANY school in the country.
YES, Georgia is a MUST Win Game for Joker Philips and Kentucky and in many ways it is a MUST Win Game for Mark Richt and Georgia as well!
Charlie Weis, Kansas vs. Oklahoma – Now at 1 – 5 on the season with KU’s only win coming over I-AA South Dakota State the Jayhawks travel to play Oklahoma in Norman this weekend and we are going to let Charlie Weis in on a little secret about Bob Stoops:
“Pssssst, Charlie. You didn’t hear this from us but Bob Stoops tends to relax after beating Texas in the Red River Rivalry each year like against Texas Tech last year and if your Kansas teams shows up ready to play and gets after the Sooners this week this is a game that “Little Game Bob” and his OU team could lose!”
Of course, if Bob Stoops and the Sooners actually show-up ready to play they should easily beat Kansas and KU would then have left:
Texas
At Baylor
At Texas Tech
Iowa State
At West Virginia
Not counting Texas since we have NO idea if Texas will show-up ready to play Kansas in two weeks this could be a VERY LONG season for the Kansas football program and Charlie Weis!
Robb Akey, Idaho vs. La. Tech – Now at 1 – 6 on the season Robb Akey and his Idaho Vandals REALLY need a win in this spot but they are playing…
At La. Tech
…and if Idaho wins this game this very well could be one of the BIGGEST UPSET in college football history so it looks like the VERY LONG 2012 season at Idaho will keep rolling on.
Derek Dooley, Tennessee vs. Alabama – Columnist for The Tennessean (Nashville, TN) David Climer says it all in his latest…
For UT’s Dooley, its finish or be finished
….about Derek Dooley and now at 3 – 3 on the season and 0 – 3 in the SEC the Vols have left…
Alabama
At South Carolina
Troy
Missouri
At Vanderbilt
Kentucky
….and either Dooley finds THREE MORE WINS this season or Tennessee will probably just go ahead and come up with the $5 Million Dollars to buy out Derek Dooley and move on to a new head coach.
It would cost $5 Million Dollars to buyout Derek Dooley at Tennessee?
Geez, there are a lot of Very Damn Stupid People negotiating coaches contracts these days!
YES, Alabama is a MUST WIN Game for Derek Dooley and the Vols and to that we can only say…
“Good Luck with that Derek!”
Mack Brown, Texas vs. Baylor – San Antonio Express-News columnist Buck Harvey wrote this week about Mack Brown’s future at Texas….
UT’s Brown has time, but how much?
….and in that column Harvey quotes San Antonio businessman Red McCombs who said about Mack Brown’s future in Austin:
“There was none of that humor with McCombs. He wasn’t one of those who called Brown after the Oklahoma game to offer his support, but that’s mostly because he’d been too busy. Contacted late Monday, McCombs said he wanted to be quoted.
“Mack Brown,” McCombs said, “has earned the right to determine when and how he leaves.”
McCombs was influential in the hiring of Brown, and he loves what Brown has done and how he has done it. The two often talk, and
McCombs says when you’ve been through the wars with people like this, you don’t abandon them.
“Nobody’s going to do anything more,” McCombs said Monday, “than pat him on the back.””
No doubt Buck Harvey wanted to get Red McCombs comments on Mack Brown’s future at Texas because Red is a big donor to the University of Texas and he is one of the most successful businessmen in Texas state history starting with the car dealer business in the San Antonio area before buying a radio station and starting what became one of the biggest radio station companies in the country in Clear Channel Communications.
In addition to the car and radio business McCombs has also owned the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team and the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL and many years ago a few of us here at Coaches Hot Seat heard Red say something about starting a new business that has stuck with us to this day.
What Red McCombs said about starting a new business was that he liked new businesses that…
“Have positive cash-flow right from the start.”
….which is another way of saying that Red McCombs isn’t big on new companies that lose money for ANY period of time which we have taken to heart here at Coaches Hot Seat as we have started and think about starting new businesses that require using capital that will not being making money on that capital almost from Day 1 or shortly thereafter.
YES, we think a lot of Red McCombs business savvy BUT on the future of Mack Brown at Texas the question for McCombs and other Texas boosters, alumni and fans is if they are willing to accept…
MEDIOCRITY
…at Texas or if they are going to demand…
EXCELLENCE
…which has for the most part been the standard that Mack Brown has set at Texas EXCEPT for the last three seasons when Brown has put the follow records at UT:
2010: 5 – 7
2011: 8 – 5
2012: 4 – 2
Overall: 17 – 14
Big 12: 7 – 13
Texas is now 4 – 2 overall and 1 – 2 in the Big 12 and they have left…
Baylor
At Kansas
At Texas Tech
Iowa State
TCU
At Kansas State
….and since Texas has MORE TALENT than EVERY team left on its schedule the Longhorns should win most of those games and if Texas does stumble it will be only one person’s fault with that person being:
Mack Brown
IF Texas does continue to stumble under Mack Brown and Red McCombs and other boosters, alums and fans of Texas football are willing to accept….
MEDIOCRITY
…then that is their business but IF Red McCombs is really willing to accept…
MEDIOCRITY
…then the future of the American Republic is in a world of hurt because Red has always been someone that has demanded EXCELLENCE from his companies and employees and IF Texas football is now an exception to that rule then we can only wonder where America is going as well.
Our opinion: IF Texas can’t win at least 8 games in 2012 then there is something terribly wrong with Texas Football and if 8 wins at Texas is good enough for Red McCombs then more the power to Red McCombs and his…
Celebration of AVERAGE!
Al Golden, Miami vs. Florida State – Al Golden has done a nice job of holding things together at Miami in the wake of the findings by Yahoo! Sports that there was a crazy-man running wild around the Hurricane football program….BUT….we are still talking about Miami here where there is still a ton of talent on the UM sidelines each week and so far Golden has put up records of….
2011: 6 – 6
2012: 4 – 3
…which has included being on the wrong side of blowouts against Kansas State and Notre Dame this season.
Miami is now 4 – 3 overall and 3 – 1 in ACC play and they have left…
Florida State
Virginia Tech
At Virginia
South Florida
At Duke
…and Al Golden REALLY needs to get to 6 wins this season so he can get to a bowl game and get those extra practices AND because the NCAA might take away one or more postseason opportunities in the coming years and thus why NOW is the time for Miami to win.
Here are the Win/Loss and Winner Percentage Records of the last FOUR head football coaches at Miami:
Butch Davis – 51 – 20 (.718)
Larry Coker – 60 – 15 (.800)
Randy Shannon – 28 – 22 (.560)
Al Golden – 10 – 9 (.526)
Notice a trend with Miami football as in a…
DOWNWARD TREND?
We do as well and either Al Golden gets the Hurricane ship righted soon beginning with a WIN over Florida State on Saturday or Miami Hurricanes football might just fade into obscurity and leave the state of Florida to FSU and the Florida Gators to divide up just as it was in the 50 years or before Howard Schnellenberger arrived at Miami in 1979.
Steve Sarkisian, Washington vs. Arizona – If there is a head coach in Major College Football that gets more credit for doing average work than anyone else it is…
Steve Sarkisian at Washington
YES, Steve Sarkisian took over a disaster at Washington from Tyrone Willingham with an UW team that had won..
11 Games
…in the previous 4 seasons BUT Washington is a terrific school with a rich football tradition where a good forget about great coach should be able to WIN a lot of game and here is what Sarkisian has done at UW:
2009: 5 – 7
2010: 7 – 6
2011: 7 – 6
2012: 3 – 3
Overall: 22 – 22
Pac-10/12: 15 – 15
Hell, Steve Sarkisian is being paid more than $2 Million Dollars a year and it is time for Sarkisian to start earning that money beginning with the game on Saturday against Arizona which is under a first year head coach in Rich Rodriguez compared to the FOUR years that Sarkisian has been on the job at UW.
At 3 – 3 overall and 1 – 12 in Pac-12 play the Huskies have left…
At Arizona
Oregon State
At California
Utah
At Colorado
At Washington State
….and with five of Washington’s remaining six games against teams that will struggle to get to .500 in 2012 there is no reason that UW shouldn’t win 7 or even 8 games this season IF there is REAL progress being made with the Washington football program.
Dave Christensen, Wyoming vs. Fresno State – College Football is an incredibly competitive game and the difference between a winning football program and a losing football program is razor thin at most schools and thus head coaches must always be on guard for weaknesses in their teams that will show up on the field of play and watching Wyoming play in 2012 we see many weaknesses and not surprisingly to us the Cowboys have started the season…
1 – 5
…including last Saturday’s close loss to Air Force at home.
With these games left for Wyoming…
At Fresno State
Boise State
Colorado State
At New Mexico
At UNLV
San Diego State
…the Cowboys need some momentum to end the 2012 season on a high note and beating Fresno State on Saturday in Fresno would be a good place to start.
Rich Ellerson, Army vs. Eastern Michigan – When regular college football teams give inconsistent and sometimes little effort in their games we note that here at Coaches Hot Seat BUT when one of the military academy schools is fielding a football team that is playing with about 50 percent effort it REALLY gets our Damn attention because if one of the military academy schools that is filled with future young US military officers is only giving half effort or less then the American Republic itself could be in a world of trouble in the future and that is what we have in our opinion with Army football right now…..
The Army football players are not giving anywhere close to 100 percent effort
Army is 1 – 5 in 2012 and they have left…
At Eastern Michigan
Ball State
Air Force
At Rutgers
Temple
Navy
….and we are going to be watching very closely to see how Army plays the rest of this season and if the Cadets don’t give a Damn about…
Army Football
West Point
The United States of America
…then they can keep playing like a bunch of lazy privileged kids OR they can start playing football at Army like REAL Americans.
Your choice Cadets.
