Tag Archive: Luke Fickell

Time does fly and the 2018 College Football Season marks the 12 th year of the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings and recently a Coaches Hot Seat member said…

“We cranked this thing up in 2007 when Saban got to Alabama and Hell we might as well keep it going for as long as Nick is still alive and working for a living in Tuscaloosa!”

Amen and that should be thru the 2022 season…right Nick?

Let’s bring out the Great Johnny Cash to get things rolling! Give these Hot Seat Coaches Hell Johnny!

Thank You Mr. Cash!

2018 Post Week 1 Coaches Hot Seat Ranking

1.  Urban Meyer, Ohio State – When the story about Zach Smith broke at Ohio State several weeks back we called a long-time friend of ours in Columbus and asked him what he thought of Smith and his opinion and what he said to us was:

“He’s a punk.”

We asked: “Would you like to expand on that?”

“Nope….just…he’s a punk.”

After watching the ESPN interview with Zach Smith we had the same exact opinion and whatever happened between Smith and his wife in what seems like a very bitter marriage on both sides when you read the report that Ohio State produced on the Zach Smith – Urban Meyer situation we could not help but wonder how Meyer kept his job keeping such a Sorry Excuse for a Human Being on his staff for so long not only risking his own job but the entire Ohio State football program for….”a punk!”

The entire story just makes no freaking sense even if you understand Smith is Earle Bruce’s grandson because where we come from the children of legends are held to a higher standard not a lower one and with that in mind and realizing what went on at Florida under Urban Meyer there is still a chance something else could come out on this entire Smith + Meyer issue in the coming weeks and all it would take is one piece of information to confirm that years ago Meyer also knew Smith was a “punk” and kept him on staff….and maybe for an interesting reason.

Who knows and we shall see about all that so Urban Meyer enters the 2018 College Football Season on the #1 Hot Seat and we will hold him to the same standard as any other coach which includes not only how his football team plays on the field but how the coach runs the football program and manages himself…and his coaches!

After the win over hapless Oregon State the Buckeyes have left in 2018:

Rutgers – without Meyer
TCU – without Meyer
Tulane
At Penn State
Indiana
Minnesota
At Purdue
Nebraska
At Michigan State
At Maryland
Michigan

Only Alabama has more talent on their roster than Ohio State and without the entire Smith – Meyer self-inflicted disaster we would guess 12 – 0 for the Buckeyes in 2018…with the Smith – Meyer self-inflicted disaster our guess for OSU in 2018 >

10 – 2

2.  David Beaty, Kansas – It’s just impossible to explain why now fired Kansas AD Sheahon Zenger’s hired Charlie Weis and David Beaty to coach the Kansas football team unless Zenger is Mentally Insane or a Damn Moron or he just….

Doesn’t Know A Damn Thing About The Game Of Football

…and our guess it was a combination of the last 2 on why he hired Weis and Beaty when there were at least 20 coaches that would have been Home Run hires for the Jayhawks many of which didn’t even get a call!

In 4 seasons at Kansas David Beaty has posted records of…

Overall:  3 – 34

Big 12:  1 – 26

…and those 3 wins are over:

Rhode Island
Texas
SE Missouri State

Add to this tale of horrors the opening season loss to Nicholls in 2018 and we don’t think there’s a chance in Hell that Kansas wins a game this season with these games left to play:

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

NOPE….Kansas will be 0 – 12 in 2018 and will be hiring a new head football coach come December and we can think of 10+ coaches that would be GREAT hires at the school and we have to think new KU AD Jeff Long will look at few of them but will Jeff hire someone who can bring some much needed energy and offensive fire-power to Lawrence?

Maybe…Jeff Long is not an Idiot…far from it…but he did hire Bielema at Arkansas when he could have had the better version of Bobby Petrino in Jeff Brohm so maybe Long will make a hiring mistake at a place that has had a Helluva Lot of hiring mistakes in the last 40 years!

3.  Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech – The train wreck that is now Texas football is partially responsible for the Total Disaster in Lubbock which keeps rolling down the tracks because Tom Herman’s Horns let Kingsbury and Tech come into Austin in the last regular season game of 2017 and beat Texas which got the Red Raiders to 6 wins….not that 6 wins in your FIFTH season on the job should let Kingsbury keep his job…but it did and the….

Total Disaster in Lubbock Train Keeps-A-Rolling In Lubbock!

Mike Leach and Tommy Tuberville were the two head coaches at Texas Tech before Kingsbury got to Lubbock and below are their average wins per season numbers at Tech:

Mike Leach:  8.4

Tommy Tuberville:  6.67

Kliff Kingsbury has averaged….

6 wins per season

…and if that can keep you employed in Lubbock….Geez….that’s a low and embarrassing bar for football at Texas Tech!

Now at 0 – 1 Texas Tech has left on its schedule in 2018:

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

That looks like 3 – 9 or 4 – 8 to us and a pretty good job in Texas Tech opening up in early December at the latest!

4.  Jim Harbaugh, Michigan – Many of us got to see Jim Harbaugh up close and personal when he was coaching Stanford and even the San Francisco 49ers but we haven’t had the ability to know what exactly has been going on at Michigan since Jimmy took the job in 2015. That changed earlier this year when a good friend of ours took a job at the University of Michigan that we have known for 20+ years, and he has for the last several months been feeding us lots of interesting information on what has been going on with Michigan Football and its information we can use because this guy knows the game of football.

Before we get to what our good friend has been telling us about Jimmy and Blue for the last several months we must be upfront and honest and say…

We like Jim Harbaugh and want him to succeed at Michigan

….and although we didn’t agree with some of the things he did with the 49ers like benching Alex Smith for Colin Kaepernick or letting Aldon Smith off easy after several incidents including a DUI which just made Smith’s life worse as anyone paying attention can see we can start anew and we did start anew when Jim took the Michigan job and we have pulled for him and his team in every game.

With the loss to Notre Dame Jim Harbaugh has now coached 40 games at Michigan and his record after those 40 games is….

28 – 12  (.700)

Not too bad you might say….well let’s see what the records were of Jim’s predecessors at Michigan after 40 games on the job:

Brady Hoke:  27 – 13

Rich Rodriguez:  15 – 22 (didn’t make it to 40 games!)

Lloyd Carr:  30 – 10

Gary Moeller:  31 – 6 – 3

Bo Schembechler:  35 – 5

Considering the Millions of Dollars that Michigan is paying Jim Harbaugh and considering not only his 28 – 12 record after 40 games and his 1 – 6 record in CRITICAL rivalry games one would think that Jim’s record would be closer to Bo’s than Brady Hoke’s and for Damn sure in the first game of Jim’s FOURTH year at Michigan one would expect a little better effort in their opening game against Notre Dame…but NO…it was a Pitiful Effort for the most part against the Irish!

Getting back to our friend who went to at least 10 Stanford games with us when Jim was coaching the Cardinal who is now in Ann Arbor, he has been poking around the Michigan Football program a bit and he joined us at Lake Tahoe in August for a week and on the first night we sat down and asked him a very simple question:

“What the Hell is going on with Michigan under Harbaugh?”

Ann Arbor Friend:  I resisted my first thought for a long time but there’s little doubt in my mind now that Jim has lost the passion and fire he had for football at Stanford and certainly at the 49ers for awhile and that has seeped into the entire team and program and that is why in my opinion the team has looked so lackluster, unmotivated, almost un-coached at times in last couple of years.

We all just sat their quiet for a few seconds without anyone saying a word no doubt each of us thinking back to some of Michigan’s games the last couple of seasons and also no doubt in our minds also there’s something going on with Jim Harbaugh. We haven’t a clue what it is, but whatever is going on whether it is an outside influence or force or it is something internal Jim seems to have lost his passion and fire for football and many of things we saw at Stanford including taking care of every little detail combined with a deep passion for football is what drove Jim Harbaugh in life…and it’s just gone now in our opinion based upon what we have seen with our own eyes and what our friend on the ground in Ann Arbor at this moment is telling us.

What exactly does that mean for the immediate future of Michigan football?

It’s hard to say, but now at 0 – 1 with the below games still left to be played this is going to be one TOUGH season for the Wolverines!

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

Michigan has everything it needs to beat every team left on its scheduled save Ohio State in Columbus but if we had to guess we would say Blue will lose the following games…

At Northwestern
Wisconsin
At Michigan State
Penn State
At Ohio State

You add in loss to Notre Dame and that’s SIX losses so let’s say Michigan only loses 4 of the above games…..that’s FIVE losses….and we have some news for Jim Harbaugh….

You cannot survive a 7 – 5 season in your FOURTH season at Michigan with each season getting worse in number of wins!

Not that we would bother Jimmy but if we could bother him right now the #1 thing we would tell him is….

Find Your Passion For The Game Of Football Again Son

….NO not for Horseshit around the game but for FOOTBALL and that is your means of salvation out of the funk that Michigan Football is now in!

Also the offensive playcalling is a Freaking Disaster and we don’t see anyone on the Michigan offensive staff that has a Damn Clue how to call plays so maybe you should call plays Jimmy!

Good Luck Son!

5.  Larry Fedora, North Carolina – Larry Fedora hasn’t exactly been tearing things up in Chapel Hill as the head football coach at UNC the last six seasons….save 2015….posting records of:

2012:  8 – 4
2013:  7 – 6
2014:  6 – 7
2015:  11 – 3
2016:  8 – 5
2017:  3 – 9

With the loss to California to start the 2018 season Fedora is now…

10 – 17

….in his last 27 games coaching the Tar Heels and that’s a run that cannot continue or North Carolina will be looking for a new head coach come December and there’s a pretty good one up the road at Appalachian State in Scott Satterfield who no doubt love a shot at the UNC job who is just one of a dozen quality head and assistant coaches that would walk to Chapel Hill to coach the Tar Heels!

Now at 0 – 1 after the loss to Cal the Tar Heels have left in 2018:

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

Geez….that’s a TOUGH remaining schedule and after posting a record of 3 – 9 in 2017 one would think Fedora would have to get to 6 wins in 2018 to hang onto his job….Hell…he might need 7 wins in his SEVENTH year on the job at UNC to return and coach in 2019.

6. Willie Taggart, Florida State – We don’t have a Damn Clue what Willie Taggart and the Florida State coaching staff has been doing the last 8 months in getting FSU ready for the 2018 football season but from where we sat….

They were not doing a Damn thing

….because that was just flat-out a Damn embarrassment on Monday night against Virginia Tech for the Seminoles and Willie better Damn get this thing straightened out or he might find his ass out of a job and Lane Kiffin coaching Florida State before Willie can even get settled in Tallahassee! Oh…that Lane Kiffin to Florida State idea was given to us by an FSU-alum we have know since the late 1980s when couple of us lived in Florida who called us on the way home from the Va. Tech – FSU game and was ripping Willie Taggart and the FSU coaching staff for nothing short of a Total Freaking Disaster…and he is right….it was a Total Freaking Disaster!

Looking at what Florida State has left on its 2018 schedule if the 0 – 1 Seminoles play like they did against Virginia Tech….

Samford
At Syracuse
Northern Illinois
At Louisville
At Miami
Wake Forest
Clemson
At NC State
At Notre Dame
Boston College
Florida

…they will be LUCKY to win 5 games and if FSU wins less than 5 games Willie Taggart will be fired in early December especially if Lane Kiffin is sitting on another 10+ win season at FAU, and it will not matter One Damn Iota what the buyout is because that was Freaking Coaching Malpractice against Virginia Tech with the FSU coaches actually make the players worse than if they had just coached themselves!

Get Off Your Damn Ass Willie!

7.  Kalani Sitake, BYU – It was nice to see Kalani Sitake get a solid win over Arizona on Saturday night because we personally like Coach Sitake and hope he succeeds at BYU just as all our Good Mormon friends in Utah do but just like our Good Mormon friends in Utah we are not going to tolerate BYU Football being Average or Below Average and thus why this is such a CRITCAL year for Sitake to get this ship righted!

With the win over the Wildcats Sitake’s record at BYU now stands at….

14 – 13

….and the Cougars have left to play in 2018:

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

That’s a pretty tough remaining schedule for BYU but we have it on pretty good authority that if Sitake can get to 6 wins in 2018 and thus the Cougars back to a bowl game there’s a better than “90% chance” that Sitake returns to coach BYU in 2019….but less than 6 wins….there’s a ”90% chance BYU makes a coaching change” so the Cougars need to find 5 more wins in their remaining 11 games.

Not easy….but certainly doable if BYU Football has improved on their 4 – 9 Total Disaster from a season ago!

8.  Luke Fickell, Cincinnati – Luke Fickell and his Cincinnati football team got a Must Win over a lackluster UCLA team to open the 2018 season but the Bearcats will need to keep things rolling to get their head coach off the Hot Seat and here’s what they have coming up:

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

It’s a kind of a tough schedule but Cincinnati should be able to win at least 6 games in 2018 with 1 win already on the board and if they don’t win 6 games this season…..

Pitiful….Just Pitiful!

9.  Lovie Smith, Illinois – It was a challenge for Lovie Smith’s Illini to beat a below average Kent State team at home on Saturday in Smith’s 25 th game coaching Illinois which adds up to records in 3 seasons at the school of:

Overall:  6 – 19

Big Ten:  2 – 16

Now at 1 – 0 Illinois has left to play in 2018….

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

…and if you can barely beat Kent State how many of the above games can Illini win in 2018?

Our guess…maybe 2 or 3…tops 4!

We will go 4 – 8 for Illini in 2018 and a new head football coach at Illinois by Christmas!

10.  Tom Herman, Texas – We have 2 long-term fishing buddies in Austin who are Texas-alums that we have fished all over Texas with the last 20 or so years and after Texas lost to Maryland on Saturday we called one of those fishing buddies to get his take on the situation at Texas with head coach Tom Herman now sitting on records of….

Overall:  7 – 7

Big 12:  5 – 4

…and his response was:

“If Tom Herman is going to be an Arrogant Ass that’s OK with me…but he better start Damn winning some football games because he won’t last long being an Arrogant Ass and an Average Coach!”

We took that “he won’t last long” meaning that if Tom Herman doesn’t show significant improvement in 2018 the alums might start looking for a new head coach that is NOT…

An Arrogant Ass AND Can Win Some Football Games

…and with that in mind let’s see what the 0 – 1 Horns have left in 2018:

Tulsa
USC
TCU
At Kansas State
Oklahoma
Baylor
At Oklahoma State
West Virginia
At Texas Tech
Iowa State
At Kansas

We cannot see how Texas wins less than 8 games in 2018 with Tulsa and Kansas on the schedule but if Herman has improved Texas over that Pitiful Performance in 2017 then 9 wins seems like the mark that Herman needs to hit when you factor in that he is an Arrogant Ass!

Arrogant Asses have to win ONE more game a season to stay off the Hot Seat than Non-Arrogant Asses is how the rule works!