Tag Archive: Luck Fickell

 

With the 2018 College Football Spring Games almost complete it’s time to take a look at the Head Coaches now sitting on the Hot Seat and look towards the Fall as we celebrate Spring and look towards Summer vacations ourselves. We also need to look ahead to the 2018 schedules for each of the teams with Head Coaches on the Hot Seat and guess on a win/loss record and if the Head Coach will still be employed by the school by the time the middle of December rolls around.

Let’s bring out the Great Johnny Cash to give a Spring Hello to the Head Coaches now on the Hot Seat! Give ‘Em Hell Johnny!

Thank You Mr. Cash!

Coaches Hot Seat Ranking – May 2018

#1 – 10 CFB Head Coaches on the Hot Seat – May 2018

1.  David Beaty, Kansas – David Beaty is entering his 4 th season as the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks and his records are Not Good…make that…they are Damn Ugly!

Overall:  3 – 33

Big 12:  1 – 26

Let’s not forget in this spot that current Kansas AD Sheahon Zenger also hired Charlie Weis to coach Kansas in 2012 and Weis + Beaty’s records combined with Interim Head Coach Clint Bowen have posted records over the past 6 years of….

Overall:  9 – 62

Big 12:  3 – 51

If you were wondering how Sheaon Zenger is still employed at Kansas you are not alone but let’s look at the 2018 schedule for the Total Damn Disaster that is the Kansas Football Program and see where this train wreck is going:

Nicholls
At Central Michigan
Rutgers
At Baylor
Oklahoma State
At West Virginia
At Texas Tech
TCU
Iowa State
At Kansas State
At Oklahoma
Texas

That looks to us like a record of….

1 – 11

OR

2 – 10

…..for Kansas in 2018 and there’s no way David Beaty can survive another Total Damn Disaster of a season….right?

Who the Hell knows….after all….this is Kansas!

2.  Lovie Smith, Illinois – We still haven’t a clue why Lovie Smith was hired as the head football coach at Illinois since Lovie did nothing in his coaching career to make us think he would EVER be a successful college head coach.

In fact, having watched Lovie Smith coach closely in his 11 seasons as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers it’s our opinion that Lovie is a classic “NFL Coach” and therefore would always be an Average College Head Coach at best and so far….

Lovie has been a Well-Below Average College Head Coach!

Lovie Smith’s records at Illinois:

Overall:  5 – 19

Big Ten:  2 – 16

Not good….let’s look at the 2018 Illinois Football Schedule to see where this may be going….

Kent State
Western Illinois
USF
Penn State
At Rutgers
Purdue
At Wisconsin
At Maryland
Minnesota
At Nebraska
Iowa
At Northwestern

That looks like 3 or 4 wins for Lovie Smith and the Illini in 2018 and….

There’s Not A Chance In Hell Lovie Smith can survive 4 win or less season and return to coach Illinois in 2019.

3.  Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech – If anyone had told us before the 2013 college football season that Kliff Kingsbury would be sitting on records of…

Overall:  30 – 33

Big 12:  16 – 29

….at Texas Tech and that Kliff still be the head coach of the Red Raiders we wouldn’t believe it and yet….

Kliff Kingsbury is still the head coach in Lubbock!

Got Nuts? Yep!

Can Kliff Kingsbury possibly keep his job by posting another .500 or so records each season at Texas Tech?

We haven’t a Damn Clue but the standards have been lowered so much for Texas Tech Football maybe Kliff can hang onto his job in the middle of an incredibly Mediocre Run the last 5 seasons and with that in mind let’s look at the Red Raiders 2018 schedule…

Ole Miss
Lamar
Houston
At Oklahoma State
West Virginia
At TCU
Kansas
At Iowa State
Oklahoma
Texas
At Kansas State
Baylor

Best Case Scenario: Texas Tech wins 7 games

Worst Case Scenario: Texas Tech wins 4 games

Can Kliff Kingsbury survive to coach Texas Tech another year with just 7 wins in 2018?

Maybe so…and that says a Helluva Lot about how accepting of Mediocrity folks in Lubbock have become and let’s just hope that disease doesn’t spread to the rest of America because it would destroy our country!

4.  Luke Fickell, Cincinnati – Luke Fickell is entering his 3 rd season as a head coach in his 2 nd year at Cincinnati and fans of college football will remember that Fickell took over a Loaded Ohio State team after Jim Tressel got fired in the Spring of 2011 and promptly went 6 – 6 taking his team to a Gator Bowl which cost an undefeated Ohio State football team a chance to play for a National Title in 2012 under Urban Meyer.

The question for us here at Coaches Hot Seat as we look at Fickell’s two years as a head coach….

Overall: 10 – 15

Conference:  5 – 11

…and his record at Cincinnati after one year….

Overall:  4 – 8

AAC:  2 – 6

….does Luke Fickell have a Damn Clue how to be a head coach?

That question will be answered in 2018 because this 2 nd season under Fickell should be a bounce-back year to at least a .500 record and with that in mind let’s look at the Bearcats 2018 schedule:

At UCLA
At Miami (Ohio)
Alabama A&M
Ohio
At UConn
Tulane
At Temple
At SMU
Navy
USF
At UCF
East Carolina

Cincinnati should win at least…6 games in 2018….but will Fickell coach the Bearcats to at least 6 wins?

No….in our humble opinion and more than likely because Fickell has a Totally Damn Absurd buyout in his contract the folks at Cincinnati will have to tolerate Below Mediocrity for the foreseeable future….in our humble opinion!

5.  Kalani Sitake, BYU – Kalani Sitake took over a BYU Football team from former head coach Bronco Mendenhall who posted…

11 straight winning seasons

….which Sitake continued in Year 1 with a record of….

9 – 4

…but in Year 2 the Cougars dropped to…

4 – 9

….and now Sitake is coaching for his job because we don’t think there’s ANY CHANCE the folks in Provo will tolerate two straight losing seasons which takes us to BYU’s 2018 schedule:

At Arizona
California
At Wisconsin
McNeese
At Washington
Utah State
Hawaii
Northern Illinois
At Boise State
At UMass
New Mexico State
At Utah

There’s at least 6 wins on that schedule and thus No Good Excuse for Kalani Sitake and his Cougars to have a losing record in 2018!

6.  Jim Harbaugh, Michigan – When one looks at Jim Harbaugh’s records in three years at Michigan…

2015:  10 – 3
2016:  10 – 3
2017:  8 – 5

Overall:  28 – 11

Big Ten:  18 – 8

….they don’t look too bad but when realizes that Michigan has played 22 FBS teams with .500 or better records the last three seasons and Jimmy’s record against those teams is…

10 – 12

….it’s easy to understand why Jimmy is now sitting on the Hot Seat!

Jim Harbaugh is being paid an enormous amount of money….

$7 Million Plus Annually

……to build a Championship Football Program at Michigan meaning….

Winning Big Ten Championships
Playing in College Football Playoff
Winning National Championships

….and in April 2018 the above goals seem so far away one must start to wonder….

How long can this Mediocrity continue for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan?

The word from a close Michigan alum in San Francisco is….

“If Jim only wins 8 games again in 2018 he will not be the head coach of Blue in December.”

With that in mind let’s look at the 2018 Michigan Football Schedule:

At Notre Dame
Western Michigan
SMU
Nebraska
At Northwestern
Maryland
Wisconsin
At Michigan State
Penn State
At Rutgers
Indiana
At Ohio State

If Michigan can beat Notre Dame in South Bend on the opening weekend then maybe Blue can be 3 – 0 heading into Big Ten play but with Scott Frost now in Lincoln, and the second game at Northwestern, along with at least FOUR other Big Ten games where Michigan might be the underdog it’s not hard to conjure up another….

8 – 4

…record of Michigan in 2018 and if that happens….

Michigan will have a new head football coach before January 1, 2019.

Where could Jim Harbaugh end up if things don’t work out at Michigan?

Our guess —-> New York Jets for 2019 season!

7.  Ed Orgeron, LSU – In two seasons at LSU Ed Orgeron is sitting on records of…

Overall:  15 – 6

SEC:  10 – 4

….but let’s get serious here in the last two seasons under Coach O LSU has played…

14 FBS Teams with .500 or better records

…and the Tigers’ record in those games is…

8 – 6

…and in case you didn’t know it…

That’s NOT LSU Football!

Let’s go to the 2018 LSU schedule to see where this could be going in Baton Rouge….

Miami (Dallas)
SE Louisiana
At Auburn
La. Tech
Ole Miss
At Florida
Georgia
Mississippi State
Alabama
At Arkansas
Rice
At Texas A&M

Geez…that’s a pretty TOUGH schedule and if LSU loses that opening game to Miami in Dallas it’s not hard to imagine the Tigers being…

3 – 2

…heading to Gainesville to play Florida with….

Georgia
Mississippi State
Alabama

….up next for Coach O.

Our guess….LSU ends up with a record of….

5 – 7

…in 2018 and LSU had a new head football coach before January 1, 2019!

This would be a GREAT season for Lane Kiffin to put up 11 – 1 or at worst 10 – 2 season at Florida Atlantic which opens the season at Oklahoma if Lane is hoping to get a head coaching job in the SEC namely in Baton Rouge!

8.  Major Applewhite, Houston – Big Houston booster Tilman Fertita has made it clear he is not going to tolerate Houston football slipping back into Mediocrity after the Cougars posted a record of…

22 – 4

….in Tom Herman’s two seasons at Houston which is especially GREAT compared to the….

7 – 6

…record that Major Applewhite posted in his first year on the job in H-Town!

We have it on “very good authority” that if Major Applewhite wins less than…

10 Games in 2018

….that his job will be in serious jeopardy after the Cougars play at Memphis on November 23.

With that in mind let’s go to the 2018 Houston schedule:

At Rice
Arizona
At Texas Tech
Texas Southern
Tulsa
At East Carolina
At Navy
USF
At SMU
Temple
Tulane
At Memphis

If you think Houston is going to win at least 10 games with the above schedule then you are seeing something we aren’t for Damn sure!

9.  Larry Fedora, North Carolina – You can sit around all day trying to figure out why North Carolina took a step back in 2017 under head coach Larry Fedora but when one realizes that the Tar Heels were ranked…

#88 in Scoring Defense giving up 31.3 points per game

AND

#83 in Scoring Offense scoring 26 points per game

…you are not going to win a Helluva lot of football games and thus the…

3 – 9

….UNC record last season!

Larry Fedora’s records in SIX seasons at North Carolina don’t look too bad…

Overall:  43 – 34

ACC:  27 – 21

….but Fedora cannot survive another losing season in Chapel Hill and with that let’s look at the Tar Heels 2016 schedule:

At California
At East Carolina
UCF
Pitt
At Miami
Virginia Tech
At Syracuse
At Virginia
Georgia Tech
At Duke
Western Carolina
NC State

It may be hard for North Carolina to win at least 6 games in 2018 with that schedule unless there is a dramatic turnaround on both sides of the ball and if UNC only wins 5 games this coming season…

Larry Fedora’s head coaching career is probably OVER at least at the Power 5 Level….which should be Plenty of Damn Pressure to motivate Larry!

10.  Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia – The most Damning record for Dana Holgorsen in his SIX seasons at West Virginia is the Mountaineers record in Big 12 Conference play since WVU joined the Big 12 in the 2012 season:

27 – 27

Getting above .500 and going to bowl games at West Virginia each season which is certainly geographically challenged in the Big 12 Conference is kind of an accomplishment….but come on now….don’t we all expect more out of West Virginia football that just…

Mediocrity?

YES!

Let’s look at West Virginia’s 2018 schedule….

Tennessee (Charlotte)
Youngstown State
At NC State
Kansas State
At Texas Tech
Kansas
At Iowa State
Baylor
At Texas
TCU
At Oklahoma State
Oklahoma

That looks like another 7 – 5 season for Holgorsen at West Virginia in 2018 and will that be acceptable to the folks in Morgantown?

We haven’t a Damn Clue…but we sure Hell wouldn’t accept it!