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HOW OUR TOP 20 COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES LIST IS COMPILED

The Top 20 College Football Coaches List: A pressure cooker of gridiron expectations.

We’re not calling for heads to roll, but let’s be real—the heat gets turned up when your team’s floundering. This list isn’t about who’s getting fired, it’s about who’s feeling the burn.

Registered (it’s free!) members of Coaches Hot Seat get to stoke the flames (or douse them) with daily votes.

Upvote a coach? You’re saying the pressure’s on, the seat’s getting hotter. Downvote? Maybe there’s a flicker of hope, a chance for redemption.

Go ahead – hit the sign-up button above and join the inferno of opinions!

WEEK 16: COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES HOT SEAT rankings

#01

Ryan Day, Head Coach at Ohio State University - Coaches Hot Seat

#02

Kenni Burns - Kent State Head Coach - Coaches Hot Seat

#03

Luke Fickell, Head Coach at University of Wisconsin

#04

Hugh Freeze, Head Football Coach at Auburn University - Coaches Hot Seat

#05

Lincoln Riley, Head Football Coach at USC - Coaches Hot Seat

#06

Scott Satterfield - Cincinnati Bearcats - Big 12

#07

Mike Locksley, Head Coach at University of Maryland

#08

Brent Brennan, Head Coach at University of Arizona - Coaches Hot Seat

#09

Brent Venables, Head Coach of University of Oklahoma

#10

Brent Pry, Head Coach of Virginia Tech on The Coaches Hot Seat

Bubbling Under

#11

Mark Stoops

Kentucky

#12

Brian Kelly

LSU

#13

Mike Norvell

Florida State

#14

Gerad Parker

Troy

#15

Scotty Walden

UTEP

#16

Jeff Lebby

Mississippi State

#17

Joe Moorhead

Akron

#18

Pat Narduzzi

Pitt

#19

Tony Elliott

Virginia

#20

Justin Wilcox

California

COACHES HOT SEAT RANKING

December 9, 2024 - Week 16

At Coaches Hot Seat, we're not just blowing smoke about who's on the chopping block. We've got a meticulously calculated list, ranking all 134 FBS coaches from sizzling to stone cold. And it's not just about who's getting canned. You'll find big names like Smart, Kiffin, and Sarkisian in the mix, and they're certainly not cleaning out their desks. Being closer to the top means one thing: pressure. Every move is under a microscope, and our top ten practically swim with the sharks. We mix analytics with expert opinions, shaken, not stirred, to create these rankings. It's as subjective as your grandma's secret sauce, but remember, your voice counts. Those fiery debates on our message boards? They're part of the formula. Rankings are updated every Tuesday morning during the football season.

Rank	Head coach	Team	Conf	Base/Yr	Sch Yrs	Sch Wins	Sch Loss	Sch Win %	Car Wins	Car Loss	Career Win %
1	Ryan Day	Ohio State	Big Ten	$ 10,196,250	6	66	10	0.868	66	10	0.868
2	Kenni Burns	Kent State	MAC	$ 525,000	2	1	23	0.042	1	23	0.042
3	Luke Fickell	Wisconsin	Big Ten	$ 7,625,000	2	13	13	0.500	76	38	0.667
4	Hugh Freeze	Auburn	SEC	$ 6,500,000	2	11	14	0.440	94	57	0.623
5	Lincoln Riley	USC	Big Ten	$ 10,000,000	3	25	14	0.641	80	24	0.769
6	Scott Satterfield	Cincinnati	Big 12	$ 3,535,000	2	8	16	0.333	80	56	0.588
7	Mike Locksley	Maryland	Big Ten	$ 5,500,000	6	33	41	0.446	35	67	0.343
8	Brent Brennan	Arizona	Big 12	$ 2,200,000	1	4	8	0.333	38	56	0.404
9	Brent Venables	Oklahoma	SEC	$ 7,100,000	3	22	16	0.579	22	16	0.579
10	Brent Pry	Virginia Tech	ACC	$ 4,000,000	3	16	20	0.444	16	20	0.444
11	Mark Stoops	Kentucky	SEC	$ 9,000,000	12	77	73	0.513	77	73	0.513
12	Brian Kelly	LSU	SEC	$ 9,975,000	3	28	11	0.718	194	73	0.727
13	Mike Norvell	Florida State	ACC	$ 7,300,000	5	33	27	0.550	71	43	0.623
14	Gerad Parker	Troy	Sun Belt	$ 850,000	1	4	8	0.333	4	14	0.222
15	Scotty Walden	UTEP	C-USA	$ 800,000	1	3	9	0.250	4	12	0.250
16	Jeff Lebby	Mississippi State	SEC	$ 4,510,000	1	2	10	0.167	2	10	0.167
17	Joe Moorhead	Akron	MAC	$ 620,000	3	3	28	0.097	21	40	0.344
18	Pat Narduzzi	Pittsburgh	ACC	$ 5,875,817	10	72	55	0.567	72	55	0.567
19	Tony Elliott	Virginia	ACC	$ 4,250,000	3	11	23	0.324	11	23	0.324
20	Justin Wilcox	California	ACC	$ 4,400,000	8	42	49	0.462	42	49	0.462
21	Clay Helton	Georgia Southern	Sun Belt	$ 752,000	3	20	18	0.526	66	42	0.611
22	Eric Morris	North Texas	American	$ 1,300,000	2	11	13	0.458	11	13	0.458
23	Matt Rhule	Nebraska	Big Ten	$ 5,500,000	2	11	13	0.458	58	56	0.509
24	Mike Gundy	Oklahoma State	Big 12	$ 7,625,000	20	169	88	0.658	169	88	0.658
25	Sherrone Moore	Michigan	Big Ten	$ 6,000,000	1	2	5	0.286	6	5	0.545
26	Derek Mason	Middle Tennessee	C-USA	$ 1,000,000	2	168	5	0.971	29	60	0.326
27	P.J. Fleck	Minnesota	Big Ten	$ 6,000,000	8	22	39	0.361	85	60	0.586
28	Butch Jones	Arkansas State	Sun Belt	$ 825,000	4	65	29	0.691	100	83	0.546
29	Sonny Dykes	TCU	Big 12	$ 5,000,000	3	54	12	0.818	93	75	0.554
30	Jay Norvell	Colorado State	Mtn West	$ 1,700,000	3	15	19	0.441	46	45	0.505
31	Dave Doeren	NC State	ACC	$ 5,024,390	12	22	63	0.259	106	67	0.613
32	Clark Lea	Vanderbilt	SEC	$ 3,051,881	4	83	30	0.735	15	29	0.341
33	Dave Clawson	Wake Forest	ACC	$ 4,284,656	11	14	66	0.175	98	98	0.500
34	Kyle Whittingham	Utah	Big 12	$ 6,325,000	20	66	84	0.440	165	84	0.663
35	Bret Bielema	Illinois	Big Ten	$ 6,500,000	4	11	21	0.344	121	79	0.605
36	Ricky Rahne	Old Dominion	Sun Belt	$ 831,469	5	21	30	0.412	17	30	0.362
37	Joey McGuire	Texas Tech	Big 12	$ 4,104,960	3	11	14	0.440	22	13	0.629
38	Tim Beck	Coastal Carolina	Sun Belt	$ 1,000,000	2	16	10	0.615	11	11	0.500
39	Tim Skipper	Fresno State	Mtn West	$ 500,000	1	2	3	0.400	3	3	0.500
40	DeShaun Foster	UCLA	Big Ten	$ 3,000,000	1	12	5	0.706	3	6	0.333
41	Kalen DeBoer	Alabama	SEC	$ 10,000,000	1	15	3	0.833	42	12	0.778
42	Brent Key	Georgia Tech	ACC	$ 2,800,000	3	4	13	0.235	16	13	0.552
43	Tyson Helton	Western Kentucky	C-USA	$ 918,000	6	9	30	0.231	45	30	0.600
44	Marcus Freeman	Notre Dame	Ind	$ 5,000,000	3	25	9	0.735	26	9	0.743
45	Jedd Fisch	Washington	Big Ten	$ 7,700,000	1	45	2	0.957	23	24	0.489
46	Brian Newberry	Navy	American	$ 1,600,000	2	6	9	0.400	10	9	0.526
47	Timmy Chang	Hawaii	Mtn West	$ 600,006	3	2	23	0.080	11	23	0.324
48	Chris Creighton	Eastern Michigan	MAC	$ 590,000	11	11	72	0.133	55	73	0.430
49	Thomas Hammock	Northern Illinois	MAC	$ 677,045	6	11	37	0.229	29	37	0.439
50	Major Applewhite	South Alabama	Sun Belt	$ 825,000	1	1	4	0.200	18	15	0.545
51	James Franklin	Penn State	Big Ten	$ 8,500,000	11	2	40	0.048	120	55	0.686
52	Kenny Dillingham	Arizona State	Big 12	$ 3,850,000	2	95	11	0.896	10	11	0.476
53	Dell McGee	Georgia State	Sun Belt	$ 850,000	1	9	5	0.643	2	5	0.286
54	Jim Mora	UConn	Ind	$ 1,800,000	3	1	18	0.053	60	48	0.556
55	Jonathan Smith	Michigan State	Big Ten	$ 4,850,000	1	55	4	0.932	37	39	0.487
56	Jeff Brohm	Louisville	ACC	$ 5,550,000	2	29	8	0.784	82	52	0.612
57	Kirk Ferentz	Iowa	Big Ten	$ 7,000,000	26	2	123	0.016	201	122	0.622
58	Sean Lewis	San Diego State	Mtn West	$ 353,000	1	14	5	0.737	27	35	0.435
59	Billy Napier	Florida	SEC	$ 6,920,000	3	199	19	0.913	57	30	0.655
60	Dave Aranda	Baylor	Big 12	$ 3,021,003	5	5	29	0.147	30	29	0.508
61	Sonny Cumbie	Louisiana Tech	C-USA	$ 950,000	3	7	25	0.219	12	27	0.308
62	Sam Pittman	Arkansas	SEC	$ 6,350,000	5	29	31	0.483	29	31	0.483
63	Trent Dilfer	UAB	American	$ 1,300,000	2	7	17	0.292	7	17	0.292
64	Troy Taylor	Stanford	ACC	$ 2,000,000	2	16	15	0.516	6	16	0.273
65	Rich Rodriguez	Jacksonville State	C-USA	$ 1,000,000	3	29	8	0.784	133	89	0.599
66	Matt Campbell	Iowa State	Big 12	$ 4,000,000	9	15	50	0.231	96	64	0.600
67	Lane Kiffin	Ole Miss	SEC	$ 9,000,000	5	23	17	0.575	99	51	0.660
68	Nate Dreiling	Utah State	Mtn West	$ 800,000	1	59	5	0.922	3	5	0.375
69	K.C. Keeler	Sam Houston	C-USA	$ 600,000	11	2	39	0.049	9	12	0.429
70	Kalani Sitake	BYU	Big 12	$ 3,000,000	9	2	43	0.044	65	43	0.602
71	Barry Odom	UNLV	Mtn West	$ 1,785,000	2	6	6	0.500	39	31	0.557
72	David Braun	Northwestern	Big Ten	$ 3,500,000	2	13	11	0.542	11	11	0.500
73	Jay Sawvel	Wyoming	Mtn West	$ 1,100,000	1	94	9	0.913	2	9	0.182
74	Lance Taylor	Western Michigan	MAC	$ 850,000	2	65	14	0.823	6	13	0.316
75	Michael Desormeaux	Louisiana	Sun Belt	$ 755,000	3	19	16	0.543	20	16	0.556
76	Trent Bray	Oregon State	Pac-12	$ 2,000,000	1	4	3	0.571	5	3	0.625
77	Shane Beamer	South Carolina	SEC	$ 6,125,000	4	12	20	0.375	27	21	0.563
78	Jeff Choate	Nevada	Mtn West	$ 1,600,000	1	10	6	0.625	3	5	0.375
79	Jason Candle	Toledo	MAC	$ 1,125,000	9	2	37	0.051	70	38	0.648
80	Greg Schiano	Rutgers	Big Ten	$ 4,000,000	5	5	31	0.139	92	99	0.482
81	Chris Klieman	Kansas State	Big 12	$ 4,750,000	6	42	26	0.618	44	26	0.629
82	Eliah Drinkwitz	Missouri	SEC	$ 6,000,000	5	32	23	0.582	45	24	0.652
83	Mike Elko	Texas A&M	SEC	$ 7,000,000	1	2	2	0.500	21	11	0.656
84	Bryant Vincent	Louisiana-Monroe	Sun Belt	$ 365,000	1	70	4	0.946	12	9	0.571
85	Willie Fritz	Houston	Big 12	$ 2,842,000	1	25	7	0.781	73	61	0.545
86	Chuck Martin	Miami Ohio	MAC	$ 575,300	11	59	64	0.480	60	64	0.484
87	Scot Loeffler	Bowling Green	MAC	$ 560,000	6	24	38	0.387	24	39	0.381
88	Pete Lembo	Buffalo	MAC	$ 500,000	1	4	3	0.571	39	32	0.549
89	Tony Sanchez	New Mexico State	C-USA	$ 600,000	1	1	2	0.333	21	42	0.333
90	G.J. Kinne	Texas State	Sun Belt	$ 800,000	2	13	8	0.619	13	8	0.619
91	Tim Albin	Ohio	MAC	$ 651,500	4	27	19	0.587	28	19	0.596
92	Alex Golesh	South Florida	American	$ 2,500,000	2	10	10	0.500	11	10	0.524
93	Ken Niumatalolo	San Jose State	Mtn West	$ 2,300,000	1	5	3	0.625	112	87	0.563
94	Manny Diaz	Duke	ACC	$ 3,600,000	1	4	1	0.800	26	16	0.619
95	Bronco Mendenhall	New Mexico	Mtn West	$ 1,200,000	1	5	2	0.714	24	42	0.364
96	Bill O'Brien	Boston College	ACC	$ 5,000,000	1	3	3	0.500	20	12	0.625
97	Ryan Silverfield	Memphis	American	$ 1,900,000	5	2	20	0.091	36	20	0.643
98	Troy Calhoun	Air Force	Mtn West	$ 3,000,000	18	5	86	0.055	133	87	0.605
99	Jamey Chadwell	Liberty	C-USA	$ 4,000,000	2	4	1	0.800	59	23	0.720
100	Bob Chesney	James Madison	Sun Belt	$ 550,000	1	36	3	0.923	6	3	0.667
101	Jake Dickert	Washington State	Pac-12	$ 2,700,000	4	133	19	0.875	19	19	0.500
102	Jeff Traylor	UTSA	American	$ 2,500,000	5	19	15	0.559	43	16	0.729
103	Lance Leipold	Kansas	Big 12	$ 5,750,000	4	39	25	0.609	57	58	0.496
104	Fran Brown	Syracuse	ACC	$ 3,000,000	1	42	2	0.955	8	1	0.889
105	Deion Sanders	Colorado	Big 12	$ 5,500,000	2	20	10	0.667	8	11	0.421
106	Kirby Smart	Georgia	SEC	$ 10,505,600	9	6	18	0.250	101	17	0.856
107	Mario Cristobal	Miami Florida	ACC	$ 8,000,000	3	6	14	0.300	80	73	0.523
108	Spencer Danielson	Boise State	Mtn West	$ 1,100,000	2	19	2	0.905	11	2	0.846
109	Josh Heupel	Tennessee	SEC	$ 9,000,000	4	99	14	0.876	61	22	0.735
110	Curt Cignetti	Indiana	Big Ten	$ 4,000,000	1	17	1	0.944	25	5	0.833
111	Rhett Lashlee	SMU	ACC	$ 3,500,000	3	10	11	0.476	24	11	0.686
112	Jon Sumrall	Tulane	American	$ 1,400,000	1	32	1	0.970	29	5	0.853
113	Dabo Swinney	Clemson	ACC	$ 10,758,575	16	7	44	0.137	177	44	0.801
114	Steve Sarkisian	Texas	SEC	$ 5,600,000	4	23	15	0.605	78	50	0.609
115	Jeff Monken	Army	American	$ 2,000,000	11	78	56	0.582	78	56	0.582
116	Dan Lanning	Oregon	Big Ten	$ 6,624,999	3	176	5	0.972	29	5	0.853
117	Mike Houston - out	East Carolina	American	$ 2,349,000	6	31	37	0.456	29	37	0.439
118	Will Hall - out	Southern Miss	Sun Belt	$ 824,000	4	77	31	0.713	14	30	0.318
119	Mike Bloomgren - out	Rice	American	$ 926,208	7	29	53	0.354	25	52	0.325
120	Brian Bohannon - out	Kennesaw State	C-USA	$ 390,000	10	29	37	0.439	1	6	0.143
121	Mike Neu - out	Ball State	MAC	$ 675,000	9	14	64	0.179	40	63	0.388
122	Stan Drayton - out	Temple	American	$ 2,500,000	3	24	26	0.480	9	26	0.257
123	Don Brown - out	UMass	Ind	$ 816,000	3	71	29	0.710	6	29	0.171
124	Tom Herman - out	Florida Atlantic	American	$ 700,000	2	40	16	0.714	59	38	0.608
125	Biff Poggi - Out	Charlotte	American	$ 1,000,000	2	9	15	0.375	6	15	0.286
126	Jim McElwain - Ret	Central Michigan	MAC	$ 1,025,420	6	6	33	0.154	77	60	0.562
127	Kevin Wilson Out	Tulsa	American	$ 1,900,000	2	5	16	0.238	33	63	0.344
128	Mack Brown - out	North Carolina	ACC	$ 4,300,000	16	5	78	0.060	280	149	0.653
129	Ryan Walters - out	Purdue	Big Ten	$ 4,000,000	2	9	18	0.333	5	18	0.217
130	Gus Malzahn - res	UCF	Big 12	$ 2,300,000	4	8	23	0.258	105	60	0.636
131	Neal Brown - out	West Virginia	Big 12	$ 4,005,000	6	29	34	0.460	72	50	0.590
132	Mike MacIntyre - out	Florida International	C-USA	$ 750,000	3	39	24	0.619	57	89	0.390
133	Shawn Clark - out	Appalachian State	Sun Belt	$ 925,020	5	36	23	0.610	40	23	0.635
134	Charles Huff-out	Marshall	Sun Belt	$ 755,500	4	31	20	0.608	31	20	0.608
Rank	Head coach	Team	Conf	Base/Yr	Sch Yrs	Sch Wins	Sch Loss	Sch Win %	Car Wins	Car Loss	Career Win %

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HOW OUR TOP 20 COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES LIST IS COMPILED

WEEK 16: COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES HOT SEAT rankings