The 2022 College Football Season is chaotic as ever and rolling along nicely now with 3 Head Coaches already shown the door and many more to come…many, many, many more!
We were told by a Birdie to hold off on the Post Week 4 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings analysis for a few days since another shoe almost dropped after Geoff Collins got run at Georgia Tech at another school to not be named here but that shoe is still hanging…for at least another week or so!
Let’s bring out the Great Johnny Cash to give these Hot Seat Coaches Hell!
1. Jeff Scott, South Florida – Things keep on rolling along for Jeff Scott at South Florida and not in a good way with a 41 – 3 loss to Louisville who also has a Head Coach on the Hot Seat in Scott Satterfield and now the 1 – 3 Bulls have East Carolina coming to town in a
Must Win Game for Jeff Scott!
Lose in this spot with these games left
At Cincinnati Tulane At Houston At Temple SMU At Tulsa UCF
the Bulls might not win another game in 2022!
Dandy Don is just off stage….Stage Left!
2. David Shaw, Stanford – We had a very unique occurrence last week in that a few of us were in Palo Alto and in tow with us was a guy that played football for Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama in the 1970s so we brought him along to watch a portion of a Stanford football practice as the Cardinal got ready for Washington and here was his comment over dinner at Jeffrey’s Hamburgers after watching that practice >
“Just what in the Hell was that because that ain’t football?”
Can we get an Amen? Make that 12 Amens which is the Number that Paul Bryant wore at Alabama!
We are not sure what David Shaw thinks he has doing with Stanford Fooball over the last few years but if his goal is to
Totally Destroy Stanford Football he is Achieving His Goal!
Stanford now at 1 – 2 after getting Totally Destroyed by Washington, which has a first year Head Coach by the way and was in total chaos when he got to Seattle, the Cardinal has left in 2022
At Oregon Oregon State At Notre Dame Arizona State At UCLA Washington State At Utah At California BYU
Our guess….Stanford wins 1 or 2 more games, maybe 3 more games, to finish at 4 – 8 on the season at best and if you watch Stanford Football practice guess what they look and practice like?
A 4 win football team at best!
Beyond Damn Pitiful!
3. Karl Dorrell, Colorado – Only that happened to Colorado Football on Saturday was UCLA came into Boulder and whipped the Buffs 45 – 17 and made it look very easy indeed and Karl Dorrell’s records at CU now stand at
Overall: 8 – 14 Pac-12: 6 – 8
The Buffs now at 0 – 4 have left in 2022
At Arizona California At Oregon State Arizona State Oregon At USC At Washington Utah
Don’t think the Buffs gonna win a game in Dorrell’s 3 rd year in Boulder!
4. Butch Jones, Arkansas State – With the loss to Old Dominion on Saturday to drop Arkansas State record to 1 – 3 in 2022 Butch Jones in Year 2 at ASU’s records now stand at
Overall: 3 – 13 Sun Belt: 1 – 8
With these games left
La. Monroe James Madison At Southern Miss At Louisiana South Alabama UMass At Texas State Troy
The Red Wolves gonna have a tough time getting to 6 wins in Butch Jones 2 nd year at ASU and they will run your ass Jonesboro for that kind of record, even in Year 2!
5. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern – The same disease that is now inflicting Stanford Football
Total Powder Puff Candy Ass Syndrome
has taken over the Northwestern Football program as well with Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald turning the Wildcats into the
Biggest Candy Asses East of the Mississippi River
and to what end we don’t know exactly why but back-to-back losses to Southern Illinois and Miami of Ohio has Northwestern looking a lot like Stanford >
Such Big Candy Asses that the Northwestern Chess Club could whip the Wildcats and make em like it!
Now at 1 – 3 on the season with a lone win over Nebraska which Every Grandma Knitting Club in America could whip like a red-headed stepchild and make em like it the Wildcats have left in 2022
At Penn State Wisconsin At Maryland At Iowa Ohio State At Minnesota At Purdue Illinois
Will the Softer than the Pillsbury Dough Boy Wildcats win another game in 2022?
Is the Pillsbury Dough Boy Soft as Hell?
Yep the Wildcats lone win in 2022 will be over a team that the Over 50 Years Old Only Ladies Coffee Klatch Club of Evanston could whip and make em like it = Nebraska!
Be Proud Pat Fitzgerald!
We didn’t think it was possible to field a team SOFTER than Stanford but you have done it and that’s something Son!
6. Tim Albin, Ohio – Ole Tim Albin took over a pretty good Ohio Football Program from Frank Solich and has posted record of
Overall: 5 – 11 MAC: 3 – 5
and now at 2 – 2 on the 2022 season after a Big Big Win over Fordham on Saturday the Bobcats have left in 2022
At Kent State Akron At Western Michigan Northern Illinois Buffalo At Miami (OH) At Ball State Bowling Green
After going 3 – 9 in Year 1 at Ohio we would recommend that Tim Albin find a way to get to 6 wins in 2022 or it’s Dandy Don time!
7. Steve Sarkisian, Texas – With the loss to Texas Tech which no Texas team should EVER lose to Steve Sarkisian records at Texas now stand at
Overall: 7 – 9 Big 12: 3 – 7
and if this kind of losing continues then Arch Manning, if he decided ultimately to attend Texas, will be playing for a new Head Coach in 2023 in Austin!
The Longhorns are now 2 – 2 on the season and have left in 2022
West Virginia Oklahoma Iowa State At Oklahoma State At Kansas State TCU At Kansas Baylor
Can the Horns win 4 of their remaining 8 games?
Maybe or Maybe Not but consider this
Tom Herman got his ass run at Texas posting records of
7 – 6 10 – 4 8 – 5 7 – 3
Does anyone think Steve Sarkisian could survive posting 2 losing seasons in his first 2 years at Texas?
Not A Chance In Hell!
8. Mike Bloomgren, Rice – In 4 seasons at Rice Mike Bloomgren has posted records of
Overall: 13 – 33 CUSA: 9 – 20
and sooner or later someone in Houston is gonna say >
That ain’t very good Son!
With the loss to Houston and now 2 – 2 on the season Rice has left in 2022
UAB At FAU At La. Tech Charlotte UTEP At Western Kentucky UTSA At North Texas
We would recommend that Mike Bloomgren win the next 2 Very Damn Winnable Games or you can turn out the lights in Houston for Ole Mike!
9. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy – In a miracle of sorts Navy was able to best East Carolina in double overtime on Saturday to get their first win of the season and now the 1 – 2 Sailors at the US Naval Academy have left in 2022
At Air Force Tulsa Houston Temple At Cincinnati Notre Dame At UCF Army
Geez…will Navy win more than 3 games in 2022?
Not Likely!
10. Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green – In 4 seasons at Bowling Green Scot Loeffler’s records now stand at
To our amazement Willie Taggart got the Oregon job which made no Damn sense to anyone at Coaches Hot Seat in December 2016 and makes no Damn sense to anyone here today because it was such a “strange” fit which brings us to Florida State hiring Willie Taggart after he had only been at Oregon for one year.
There’s a good case to be made that if Taggart had just stayed at South Florida for another season and had another 9+ win year he would have been an obvious choice for Florida State, and maybe things would have been different than they were the last two seasons at FSU which in our opinion from what we have been told by FSU-alum friends that live in the State of Florida has been…
Nothing Short of a Complete Disaster from Day One under Taggart
What was most alarming to us watching Florida State from afar and not seeing things that our friends in Florida were seeing and telling us from first-hand observations was the way that FSU was playing under Taggart which was often…
….which was really the case against Miami…..Miami for God’s sake…which came into Doak Campbell Stadium to play an FSU team that you think would be fired-up to play Miami and yet….
The Florida State players looked like they could have cared the Hell less about playing Miami!
What is that about exactly?
Why in Willie Taggart’s 21st game at Florida State do his players come out in their home stadium and look like….
They could have cared the Hell less about playing Miami?
It is THE MAIN JOB of a Head Football Coach to make sure his football team is ready to play on gameday and in game-after-game under Willie Taggart FSU has looked…
….and there really was no way for Florida State to allow that to continue because the school could hire almost any Random FSU Fan off the street and for God’s Sake they are going to have the Florida State team fired up to play Miami!
Geez…if a Florida State team is NOT fired-up to play Miami that is team with a Head Coach that MUST be fired and thus the FSU President was right in saying that Florida State University had…
“No choice”
….but to fire Willie Taggart….and rightfully fired Willie was.
Let’s bring out the Late Great Johnny Cash to show these Hot Seat Coaches what this whole thing is all about!
1. Clay Helton, USC – When you are the Head Football Coach at USC and in your 58th game coaching the Trojans and your ass gets beat by Oregon or anyone else by the score of…
56 – 24
…you have lost any and all benefit of the doubt and now there is no doubt Clay Helton will be fired at USC and now it’s only a matter of the Where and When that Clay will be fired.
Steve Sarksian and Lane Kiffin also made similar mistakes not completely understanding what goes into being the Head Football Coach at a place like USC and if there is one thing that USC must do with its next Head Coach is make sure they simply >
Know What The Hell They Are Doing!
We could write a book on the incredible number of things that coaches like Nick Saban at Alabama and Urban Meyer when he was at Ohio State would make sure are being covered and being taken care of which when you boil it down is just a long list of Must Do Items that is the basis for anyone running any organization on Earth successfully. At places like Alabama, Ohio State, and USC in order to be successful and live up to the expectations of the fan bases at those schools, if you are not taking care of all the Big Things + Tiny Details then eventually it will catch-up to you and what all this basically comes down to is this quote from the Late Great Paul “Bear” Bryant >
“If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can’t live without football. I’ve had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home.”
Clay Helton certainly has worked hard and done what he thinks is best for USC to win football games but in the end >
It’s the many Big Things and Tiny Details that Clay Helton didn’t take care of that will be his undoing and what Helluva Lesson Helton’s time at USC is for coaches and Helton himself who can certainly learn from his mistakes and get another head coaching job in the future, and that is the main reason why Helton needs to keep working hard and try like Hell to get his USC team to win these last 3 games against…
At Arizona State At California UCLA
On a related note to what is written above we have a member of Coaches Hot Seat who played football at Alabama for Paul “Bear” Bryant in the 1970s and in the Spring Term after his senior and last season as a player at Alabama he went by Coach Bryant’s office to get some advice on a career issue. In telling this story the former Alabama player relates an amazing scene but one thing he says he will always remember is when he was standing by Coach Bryant’s desk just before he left he noticed Bryant had a 8/12 x 11 notepad that had a long list of things that Bryant was clearly working on with “checks” by the things that had been completed. Coach Bryant was working off a To Do List just like all of us do that are running things and in that To Do List is what made Alabama Football Get-Up-And-Go under Bear and makes it goes under Nick Saban and in the end it really is about…
“Taking Care of the Little Things…and a Little Something Extra!”
Good Luck to you Clay!
2. Chad Morris, Arkansas – We will forever wonder how someone could like Chad Morris have a career win/loss record as a Head Coach of…
14 – 22
…in 3 seasons at SMU get a Head Coaching job at an SEC school like Arkansas and not surprising to us or anyone else with a 2+ IQ Morris has struggled at Arkansas because…
Arkansas is a Helluva Lot Tougher Job than SMU!
In two seasons at Arkansas Chad Morris has now with the loss to Mississippi State posted records of…
Overall: 4 – 17
SEC: 0 – 14
….and to say that is BAD and that Arkansas looked no better in Morris 21st game at the school than they looked in his 1st game coaching Arkansas is an understatement for the ages…and that’s a Helluva Problem for the folks making the hiring and firing decisions in Fayetteville….a Helluva Big Problem!
Now at 2 – 7 on the season Arkansas has left in 2019 games against…
Western Kentucky At LSU Missouri
….and if Arkansas plays like they did against Mississippi State the rest of the year the Hogs will not win another game!
If Arkansas does fire Chad Morris we would recommend ONE thing to the folks in Fayetteville >
Hire A Football Coach with a WINNING RECORD!
Is that simple enough? Good!
3. Mike Bloomgren, Rice – Mike Bloomgren has been the Head Coach at Rice for 2 seasons and he has posted records of…
Overall: 2 – 20 (.091%)
CUSA: 1 – 12 (.077%)
….and he replaced David Bailiff at Rice who posted records over 11 seasons of..
Overall: 57 – 80 (.416%)
CUSA: 40 – 48 (.455%)
….and the idea is that when you fire a Head Coach you should hire a New Head Coach that does better than the Fired Head Coach and that’s something that folks at Rice University don’t seem to understand which also seems to be the problem at lost of FBS schools these days!
4. Scott Frost, Nebraska – When Mike Riley was still the Head Coach at Nebraska a buddy of ours who played for Frank Solich at Nebraska told us over lunch in Omaha that >
“They have forgotten how to win at Nebraska and it’s not going to be easy to turn that place around.”
Watching Nebraska play in 2019 it’s become our opinion that Scott Frost badly misunderstood what he was actually taking over at Nebraska and that Frost believed that through better coaching, conditioning program, and other things that Frost did at UCF and saw done at Oregon that the Huskers would by now have Nebraska back to winning football games.
After a loss to a really bad Purdue team on Saturday what has become clear to us is that the problems at Nebraska are primarily….
A Lack of Leadership and Motivational Issues
…and that Frost’s particular brand of coaching which isn’t really focused on Leadership and Motivation is just making things worse in Lincoln or at best just treading water. It’s also now our opinion that either Scott Frost will change his approach from…
“We are going to show everyone in America how tough Nebraska really is.”
….to Leading and Motivating the Nebraska Football Program or nothing is going to change for the better and a year from now Scott Frost will be well on his way to being fired at Nebraska.
Reality is Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, Don James, Paul Bryant, Bud Wilkinson, Darrell Royal…name whatever great coach you can think of from the past…would have to change their coaching style to coach Today’s Players or they would be Failing Totally like Scott Frost is now Failing at Nebraska and either Frost will realize that soon or he is headed for the same ending the Bill Callahan, Bo Pelini, and Mike Riley found at Nebraska which is getting fired and told to pack-up your things…because you are DONE!
Mainly the problem right now at Nebraska is…
It’s Miserable As Hell to play football for the University of Nebraska Football Team precisely because the Head Coach is miserable as Hell and either Frost will get these kids Excited about playing football and having Fun playing football again….like the players were at UCF under Frost….or it’s Danger Ahead Scott Frost!
Scott Frost’s records at Nebraska are now….
Overall: 8 – 13
Big Ten: 5 – 10
…and the Huskers have left on their 2019 schedule games against…
Wisconsin At Maryland Iowa
Will Nebraska win another game in 2019?
Can this Huskers team even beat a really bad Maryland team on the road?
What will be the situation at Nebraska if the Huskers finish at….
5 – 7
OR
4 – 8
….heading into the 2020 season?
It will nothing short of a Complete Freaking Disaster with Scott Frost probably panicking and overreacting in an even worse way to what he sees as some kind of “weakness” with the Nebraska football team and players when in reality it’s…
A Fundamental Misunderstanding of The Problem with Nebraska Football!
5. Joe Moorhead, Mississippi State – An untold story about the 2019 college football season is how many SEC teams are Average or Sub-Average compared to years past and look no further than the game between Mississippi State and Arkansas this past Saturday which saw two teams that can barely bust a grape facing off making one of the teams look like a decent football team in the Bulldogs when in reality…
Both the Bulldogs and Razorback are playing Sub-Average Football in 2019!
In two seasons at Mississippi State Head Coach Joe Moorhead now has records on the board of…
Overall: 12 – 10
SEC: 6 – 8
…and the 4 – 5 Bulldogs still have to play in 2019 games against…
Alabama Abilene Christian Ole Miss
No way MSU beats Alabama and they will surely beat Abilene Christian so guess what Mississippi State Football has come down to in Joe Moorhead’s second season in Starkville >
You gotta beat Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl to go to a bowl game!
Woo-Damn-Hoo!
Oh…in 9 seasons at Mississippi State and in his last 8 seasons Dan Mullen posted a .500+ record and took the Bulldogs to a bowl game…
Every. Damn. Season.
Our Expectations for Mississippi State Football are not unreasonably high…
7 or so wins a year will usually keep the Head Coach off the Hot Seat but that 2018 Bulldogs football team was LOADED and Moorhead only won 8 games and now in his second season MSU is sitting on a record of 4 – 5 and we cannot help but wonder >
Where in the Hell is this going because where it’s going now is….NOT GOOD!
6. Barry Odom, Missouri – Trying to figure out what is going on Missouri is something for Sherlock Holmes because please now…
How do you go from losing to Wyoming to reeling off 5 straight wins over West Virginia, SE Missouri State, South Carolina, Troy, and Ole Miss…not exactly a killer’s row of course….to losing to Vanderbilt and Kentucky…not killer teams either to land on a record of…
5 – 3
…with games left against…
At Georgia Florida Tennessee At Arkansas
We don’t know but we do know that Missouri has played only ONE team in 2019 with a record above .500…
Wyoming
…and they lost to the Cowboys and now they get to play….
2 teams with .500+ records = Georgia and Florida
2 teams with sub. 500 records = Tennessee and Arkansas
…and we recommend Barry Odom find a way to win at least 2 of his remaining 4 games if he wants to get his ass off the Hot Seat!
7. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern – Saying that there are Pompous Arrogant Ass Head Coaches on the FBS level in college football is like saying the Sun comes up in the East, but truly someone who in our opinion believes that his Precious Ass not only invented the game of football but also that he is God on Earth and spun-up the Moon, Stars, and Sun and everything else that we Pitiful Peons can see in the sky at night is truly…
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
…who is in our opinion one of the Top 10 Most Pompous Arrogant Ass Human Beings now alive on the planet….which has 7.53 Billion Folks on it just for facts sake!
Pat has done a nice job at Northwestern and even won the Big Ten Western Division in 2018 going 19 – 8 in the last two seasons coming into 2019 so mainly we have Pat Fitzgerald on the Hot Seat because…
Northwestern is now 1 – 7 on the season
AND
Pat Fitzgerald is one of the Most Pompous Arrogant Asses on the Earth and we believe that when Pompous Arrogant Asses FAIL it makes the world a better place and someone that doesn’t go around acting like a Total Ass all the time gets their wings!
Northwestern at 1 – 7 has games in 2019 left against…
Purdue UMass Minnesota At Illinois
…and since we could get together a Powder Puff team from Sonoma State University that could whip Purdue and UMass the Wildcats got a chance to win a couple of games in the next two weeks but can Northwestern beat Minnesota and/or Illinois?
Nope….not in our humble opinion!
On a related note a bunch of us at Coaches Hot Seat got to see Northwestern play at Stanford to open the season and our only comment on that game which saw the Wildcats score 7 points is that…
We have seen Pee Wee Football Teams with more sophisticated, organized, and efficient offenses than the Northwestern offense that we saw play on The Farm on August 31!
Here’s to Northwestern losing their last 4 games and Pat Fitzgerald being elevated to the #1 Hot Seat so he can be there all offseason!
Cheers!
8. Dana Holgorsen, Houston – We are not quite sure what big Houston booster Tilman Fertita thought he was getting with Dana Holgorsen as the head coach of the Houston football program but we are betting it wasn’t a record of…
3 – 6
…9 games into Dana’s first season on the job with games still left against…
Memphis At Tulsa Navy
With those games left there’s a very good chance that Houston will not go to a bowl game in 2019 and that would be a significant downgrade for the Cougars football program which has only missed a bowl game in…
2 of the last 15 seasons
…and if we remember right everyone was told that…
Dana Holgorsen was significant upgrade on the last Houston Head Coach Major Applewhite who in 2 seasons on the job…
Took Houston to 2 Bowl Games
…posting 7 – 5 and 8 – 5 records!
Dana Holgorsen is a decent football coach but he’s also a Pompous Arrogant Ass Jerk and if he fails at Houston it will not matter to us at all but we are betting it will matter to Tilman Fertita who next time around should hire someone….
Can Coach the Game of Football and Isn’t a Pompous Arrogant Ass Jerk!
9. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State – The Spartans had a bye in Week 10 as they sit on a record of 4 – 4 with games left against…
Illinois At Michigan At Rutgers Maryland
…and a win in this Illinois game would be BIG since Rutgers and Maryland are Total Dumpster Fires and probable wins for Michigan State and if there is something that Mark Dantonio needs it is it more than….
6 Wins in 2019
….because just 6 Wins when 5 of those wins would be over FBS teams with sub .500 records is not something that would inspire confidence among fans of Michigan State football nor anyone else with a Lick of Common Sense!
10. Kevin Sumlin, Arizona – We are not quite sure how Kevin Sumlin got Arizona to a point where in his 21st game at the school that they would lose at home to a 4 – 4 Oregon State team by the score of…
56 – 38
….which was Arizona’s 4th straight loss to drop the team to 4 – 5 on the season with games left against…
At Oregon Utah At Arizona State
Got it looks like Arizona is going to finish at 4 – 8 in 2019 after going 5 – 7 in Sumlin’s first year on the job in Tucson?
Yep….and that’s a Helluva Problem for the folks at Arizona because if a program is getting worse in Year 2 guess what happens 90% of the time to football programs in Year 3 for a Head Coach in the 12 years that Coaches Hot Seat has been around starting with the 2007 college football season >
They are no better or get worse in Year 3!
If Arizona does lose its last 3 games that will leave Sumlin’s records in 3 seasons on the job at….
Overall: 9 – 15
Pac-12: 6 – 12
…and more importantly in the metric we rely on most to decide if a coach is on the Hot Seat or not Kevin Sumlin’s record against FBS teams with .500+ records is…
1. Joe Moorhead, Mississippi State – They say that life comes at you fast and boy things are sure coming fast for Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead who in his second season in Starkville is now sitting on records of…
Overall: 11 – 10
SEC: 5 – 8
…after the loss to Texas A&M on Saturday and 3 – 5 on the 2019 season which adds up to >
The Hottest Seat in College Football!
With these games left on the schedule…
At Arkansas = #1 Hot Seat Coach vs. #2 Hot Seat Coach Matchup! Alabama Abilene Christian Ole Miss
…could Moorhead possibly survive not taking the Bulldogs to a bowl game in Year 2 after taking over what everyone agrees was a Top 30ish football program just a year ago?
Not in our opinion but then in our opinion Moorhead was an Incredibly Risky Hire in a spot where the folks at Mississippi State DID NOT have to make an Incredibly Risky Hire!
Bill Clark, UAB Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama DC Brent Venables, Clemson DC Joe Moorhead, Penn State OC Neal Brown, Troy Mike Bobo, Colorado State Jason Candle, Toledo Ryan Day, Ohio State OC Chad Morris, SMU
Now if we had been the Mississippi State AD in 2017 we would have had on our list of potential head coaches from above list these coaches…
Bill Clark, UAB Neal Brown, Troy
….along with 3 to 5 other FBS and FCS Head Coaches and not interviewed any of the others because….
We Would Not Have Made An > Incredibly Risky Hire for the Mississippi State job because…
There was No Damn Need To!
Why was Joe Moorhead even on the interview list at Mississippi State considering where the job is located at?
We don’t have a Damn Clue!
One thing we do know…Joe Moorhead better not lose to Arkansas this coming Saturday which…wait for it…has not won even ONE SEC Conference game under Chad Morris!
Speaking of Chad Morris!
2. Chad Morris, Arkansas – In Chad Morris’ 20th game as the Head Coach at Arkansas his football team got beat 48 – 7 by Alabama in a game that could have been 70 – Zilch if Saban had wanted it to be and that now leaves Morris’ records in Fayetteville at >
Overall: 4 – 16
SEC: 0 – 13
Much like Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State we really don’t have a Damn Clue why Chad Morris was even interviewed at Arkansas which is an SEC Conference Head Coaching Job in the SEC Western Division and thus needs one Helluva Great Football Coach to lead it if it’s going to be competitive and what were Morris’ records in 3 seasons at SMU?
Overall: 14 – 22
AAC: 8 – 16
Please now…how in the Hell do you get an interview to be Head Football Coach at the University of Arkansas when you have an overall record of 14 – 22 at your current school?
Because you coached Deshaun Watson at Clemson?
A Drunken Stumblebum who showed up to practice once a week could have coached Deshaun Watson at Clemson because the kid as we can all see now with his play at the Texans…doesn’t need stinking coaches to be GREAT since he has Mediocre As Hell Coaches in Houston!
Getting back to Chad Morris at Arkansas the 2 – 6 Hogs have games left against…
Mississippi State Western Kentucky At LSU Missouri
Will Arkansas win another game in 2019?
We don’t think so and if that happens that creates a Helluva Problem since we have some real concerns that the folks in Fayetteville have a Damn Clue how to hire the next Head Football Coach if they let the current Head Football Coach go!
What a Damn Mess in Fayetteville!
By the way…we know exactly Damn what we would do in this spot to get the Arkansas Football Program rolling again but does anyone in Fayetteville have such a plan?
Not A Chance In Hell!
3. Clay Helton, USC – Clay Helton moved up a couple of spots in the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings this week even after a win because in your 57th game as the head coach of the USC Trojans you should not struggle to beat a 3 – 4 Colorado team with a first year head coach and thus Clay Helton’s dilemma >
Clay Helton is coaching at place that should be ROLLING like Alabama is now ROLLING in his 4th year on the job and yet…
USC struggles to beat even Average Football Teams and thus it’s our opinion that even the now 5 – 3 Trojans running the table against….
Oregon At Arizona State At California UCLA
…it would take USC winning the Pac-12 Conference Title for Helton to hang onto his job and that leaves little margin for error…Damn Little margin for error!
4. Mike Bloomgren, Rice – We got to see a good bit of Mike Bloomgren at Stanford and we really didn’t have an opinion on whether he would be a good head coach or not since we never really gave it a thought that Mike might be a head coach or not but we were happy to see Mike get the Rice job and so far….not so good!
Mike’s records at Rice now stand at…
Overall: 2 – 11
CUSA: 1 – 11
…and 0 – 8 in 2019 with these games still left to play…
Marshall At Middle Tennessee North Texas At UTEP
The UTEP Football Program is a Damn Disaster so maybe Rice can win the last game of the year but in our opinion they will be 0 – 11 heading into that game and that cannot make the folks that do the hiring and firing of football coaches at Rice happy since it means you are hoping to beat UTEP in a head coach’s 2nd year on the job at Rice…just to get ONE Damn Win on the board!
Not Good…Not Good At All!
5. Will Muschamp, South Carolina – Save the win over Georgia the 2019 football season has been nothing short of a Complete Disaster for South Carolina and Will Muschamp with wins over…
Charleston Southern = FCS Kentucky = Average As Hell Georgia = Maybe not so good after Notre Dame got its ass whipped by Michigan
…and with those 3 wins the Gamecocks have left games against…
Vanderbilt Appalachian State At Texas A&M Clemson
….and if Muschamp lost to Vandy this coming Saturday he should be fired right after the game so we don’t see that happening but will they win another game after the Commodores?
Maybe not.
What would happen at a place like South Carolina when you win only 4 or 5 games in your 4th year on the job?
Probably nothing and that’s why South Carolina Football is South Carolina Football and why it will ALWAYS be South Carolina Football…unless they luck into hiring another legendary coach like Steve Spurrier which we don’t see happening in our lifetimes!
Don’t lose to Vandy Will or your head coaching career will be…OVER!
6. Steve Addazio, Boston College – With the Boston College loss to Clemson on Saturday Steve Addazio’s records at BC now stand at…
Overall: 42 – 42
ACC: 20 – 33
….and maybe that’s OK for the folks in Boston but to us at a place like Boston College the above records are…
Sub-Damn-Average!
Now there are reports out that Rutgers is interested in hiring Steve Addazio and let’s think about that for a second….
Rutgers wants to hire a guy in Steve Addazio who is Sub-Damn-Average in our opinion at Boston College and they really believe he would be able to do anything at all in the Big Ten East Division at Rutgers?
Got Damn Idiocy BIGGER than the Damn Idiocy of hiring Chad Morris at Arkansas?
Yep…in our humble opinion!
Oh…the 4 – 4 Eagles have left on their schedule in 2019 games with….
At Syracuse Florida State At Notre Dame At Pitt
Oh…that would be just GREAT for Rutgers to hire a guy with a losing season in the same year he was hired at the school he was coming from!
What a time to be alive!
7. Barry Odom, Missouri – We were willing to forgive an opening season loss at Wyoming which is a tough place to play but with back-to-back losses at Vanderbilt and at Kentucky the Mizzou season is on the verge of falling to pieces with the now 5 – 3 Tigers left with these games on the schedule >
At Georgia Florida Tennessee At Arkansas
Damn….Mizzou will more than likely be 5 – 4 when they host Florida on November 16 in a MUST WIN game that if lost would mean Mizzou would have to beat Tennessee or Arkansas just to get bowl eligible not that Mizzou is even bowl eligible being on probation!
What a Damn Mess at Mizzou!
8. Scott Frost, Nebraska – The most disconcerting thing about watching Nebraska play football in 2019 is that they look worse in 2019 than they did in 2018 in Scott Frost’s first year on the job and now with back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Indiana and only wins on the board against…
South Alabama Northern Illinois Illinois Northwestern
….who have posted a combined record of…wait for it…..
9 – 22
…it has got to be that Huskers fans are asking the same question we here at Coaches Hot Seat are >
Just what in the Hell is going on in Lincoln?
Or more to the point >
Just what in the Hell is Scott Frost and the Nebraska coaches doing because they just gave up…
38 points to Indiana
…after giving up…
34 points to Minnesota!
We are a long ways from Nebraska so we really don’t have any idea what is going on in Lincoln beyond what we see in the games but something we have noticed which is different from Scott Frost’s teams at UCF >
Scott’s Nebraska teams in 2018 and 2019 do not seem to enjoy playing football like Scott’s teams at UCF did!
Now what exactly that means or if Frost is coaching his Nebraska players differently than he did his UCF players we don’t know, but if it’s miserable to play sport that you are supposed to be playing it because you love it…as we all did in college…then you have Helluva problem on your hands and the 4 – 4 Huskers with these games left to play…
At Purdue Wisconsin At Maryland Iowa
…have a Helluva problem on their hands!
A movie that is often used in the US Military to show potential leaders what it should look like to take command of a unit, division, platoon, or command is Twelve O’Clock High which stars Gregory Peck and him taking over a “hard luck” US Army Air Force bombing squadron stationed in England during World War II. Perhaps the most famous scene of that movie is Gregory Peck giving his first speech to his new command and this one scene says everything about how a leader should take command of a struggling unit, workplace, or sports team >
What is not well known by people that have not watched the entire Twelve O’Clock High movie…which we highly recommend for anyone leading anything at all…is that Peck’s character after he got the squadron turned about by “Going Back To Fundamentals” got the place back to what we would call “regular order” which means the squadron transitioned back to enjoying their jobs as best they could in the middle of a shooting war and that may be the problem at Nebraska right now.
The Nebraska players don’t seem to enjoy playing football…as Frost did playing for Tom Osborne at Nebraska…because the coaches have been so focused on Fundamentals they have never been able to get back to “regular order” and thus enjoying playing the game of football as Scott Frost did and we did in college.
There is no reason in the world for Nebraska to lose at Hapless Purdue on Saturday and lose or not they should go to West Lafayette and at least…
Play Hard and Play for the Love of Game
…because right now the current status of Nebraska Football of…
Playing Scared and Having No Damn Fun
…is adding up to a Helluva Lot of Losses and just for the record here are Scott Frost’s records now at Nebraska >
Overall: 8 – 12
Big Ten: 5 – 9
Damn…that’s Not Good…Not Good At All!
9. Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee – Winning a game in the SEC Conference used to mean something but with so many SEC Head Coaches on the Hot Seat these days fielding Average to Sub-Average Football Teams Tennessee beating a South Carolina team that is headed toward a losing season isn’t really achieving anything as much as it is…
If you had lost the game the world would have ended
…and thus that was the situation with Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee on Saturday against South Carolina…
If the Vols had lost that game the world would have ended!
Well…not literally ended but with that win the Vols are now only 3 – 5 on the season with games left against…
UAB At Kentucky At Missouri Vanderbilt
Geez….talk about a MUST WIN game…Bill Clark’s 6 – 1 UAB team comes to Neyland Stadium on Saturday and with about HALF the talent…if that…of the Vols and if Jeremy Pruitt should somehow fool around and lose this game in our opinion…
He should be fired right after the game
…because to lose to UAB in your 21st game as the Head Coach of the Vols there really is no reason for you to remain as the Head Coach of the Vols!
With that win over South Carolina Jeremy Pruitt’s records now stand at…
Overall: 8 – 12
SEC: 4 – 9
….and if those records don’t make you realize that this UAB is BIG, BIG, BIG then you don’t have a Damn Clue!
10. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State – We have a great contact within the University of Alabama Athletics Department who has passed on lots of great information about the Alabama Football Program and Nick Saban for a decade-plus now and 99% of that stuff we have never written about or even talked about in public but we are going to pass along a story that is directly related to why Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio is on the Hot Seat now.
A few years ago Nick Saban was publicly complaining about the hurry-up offense which was noticeably impacting his ability to slow down opposing teams which was also increasing the overall scores of games in FBS football, but behind the scenes Saban was trying to both figure out a way to slow down hurry-up + spread teams while also making the CRITICAL decision to start running a hurry-up offense himself at Alabama to try and get some more points on the scoreboard.
The hiring of Lane Kiffin and the general embrace of a hurry-up offense and trying to score a lot more points wasn’t an easy move for Saban to make since he like us grew up in the 1970s like us and learned that if you played solid on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball and had solid special teams you could win a lot of games and that’s what Saban did….he won lots of Games + Championships…but at the key moment when the game of college football was dramatically changing it was either embrace the future or run from it for Nick….and Saban decided to Hell with it…
We are going to score more points Dammit!
This is such a CRITICAL lesson not only for coaches of sports teams but leaders of all walks of life to understand and that lesson is best summed up by the Late Great Andy Grove who was a Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation and one of the smartest people we have ever run into in our lives who said the following in his great book – Only The Paranoid Survive >
“There is at least one point in the history of any company when you have to change dramatically to rise to the next level of performance. Miss that moment – and you start to decline.”
Nick Saban decided at a CRITICAL moment for his Alabama Football Program that either he could keep complaining about the hurry-up offense or he could decide to beat them at their own game and start to score some more points himself and thus move the ball forward, and Saban took the latter path and he has kept Alabama as a Top 3 program in the country which hasn’t really missed a beat even though college football has been undergoing a revolution of sorts on the offensive of the ball.
All of the above brings us back to Mark Dantonio at Michigan State who in 2015 had the Spartans in the College Football Playoff….against Alabama…and even though Michigan State lost that game by a score of….
38 – 0
….many thought that Dantonio would keep things rolling with the Spartans BUT…Mark Dantonio missed the CRITICAL inflection point when college football was undergoing a revolution of sorts on the offensive side of the ball and since getting destroyed by Alabama in the CFB Playoff in 2015 Dantonio has posted records of…
Overall: 24 – 22
Big Ten: 15 – 17
….and the reason that the Spartans are in such disarray today is that Mark Dantonio….much like Les Miles at LSU which got him fired…is Too Damn Stubborn to understand what is going on around him and CHANGE to keep Michigan State competitive both in the Big Ten and Nationally, and that alone should lead to Dantonio’s firing…unless he is able to look at himself in the mirror and admit his mistakes and ACT immediately to fix those mistakes!
Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche (St. Paul’s Church) in Frankfurt, 25 June 1963
It’s probably too late for Dantonio to do anything about 2019 since the Spartans are now 4 – 4 with games left against…
Illinois At Michigan At Rutgers Maryland
…but he can decide that if he wants to take Michigan State to a bowl game then they will need to score a Helluva Lot more than the…
5.67 Points
…they have averaged scoring in their last 3 games and the Score Target should be in this Age of Scoring in College Football…
30+ Points A Game
..or even better to insure a win 95% of the time…
40+ Points A Game
Now if Michigan State stumbles down the stretch and loses 3 of their last 4 games then there will be no point in bringing back Mark Dantonio to coach the Spartans in 2020 because that would be…
3 of the last 4 seasons with Losing Records in Big Ten Conference Play
…and that’s just Not Acceptable at a place like Michigan State…in our humble opinion!
It’s hard to believe that David Bailiff has coached TEN years at Rice taking over the Owls about the time that Coaches Hot Seat was launched in January 2007, but here it is 2017 and Bailiff is entering his ELEVENTH year on the job so let’s take a look back at those last TEN years:
Rice is not the easiest place in the world to building a winning football program, but the Owls do play in Conference USA where Rice should have roughly equal talent to most of the other teams in the conference and yet David Bailiff has 6 losing seasons in 10 years on the job thus taking the Owls to bowl games in 4 of the other seasons.
If we were the Athletic Director at Rice our expectations for Owls football would be very simple:
.500 or better record EVERY YEAR
Players Graduate with Degrees from Rice
Players Act Right On and Off the Field
Win or Be In Contention to Win C-USA Conference Title at least ONCE Every Five Years
Now in our opinion, the above expectations for Rice Football are not out of line and with the following achieved by Bailiff…
1 C-USA Title in 10 years
6 Losing Seasons in 10 years
…if the other expectations about players graduating and their behavior are being met then still in our opinion….
Stanford (Australia) At UTEP At Houston FIU At Pitt Army At Texas San Antonio La Tech At UAB Southern Miss At Old Dominion North Texas
Opening in Australia against Stanford is no easy task and playing Pitt on the road out-of-conference will not be easy either BUT we see No Damn Reason At All why Rice doesn’t win at least…
6 Games in 2017
…with the above schedule, and if the Owls fall short of that 6 win mark we are confident Rice will be looking for a new head football coach come early December because that would be THREE straight losing seasons and if that is tolerated at Rice it will tolerated in America and why in the Hell would we want to start tolerating losing in America?
#20 Hot Seat Head Coach – Steve Addazio, Boston College
With an out-of-conference schedule as SOFT as a dewy meadow on a Spring morning after an entire night of rain showers Boston College and Steve Addazio bounced-back a bit in 2016 with a 7 – 6 record that included wins over…
UMass Wagner Buffalo UConn
…and when you include the bowl game win over Maryland the BC Eagles posted a…
3 – 5
…record against teams with .500 or better records in 2017 and that leads us Steve Addazio’s win/loss records now in FOUR seasons at Boston College:
Overall: 24 – 27
ACC: 10 – 22
Now call us stupid if you like but shouldn’t a coach in FOUR years on the job that doesn’t have winning records Overall or in the ACC have .500 or better records have his ass sitting on the Hot Seat?
YES…and that is why Steve Addazio is on the Hot Seat which got a little hotter in recent days with Boston College naming a new athletic director, Martin Jarmond, who came over from Ohio State and who we have No Damn Doubt will NOT tolerate a head football coach posting a sub .500 record in his FIFTH year on the job….and 2017 will be Steve Addazio’s FIFTH year at BC!
At Northern Illinois Wake Forest Notre Dame At Clemson Central Michigan Virginia Tech At Louisville At Virginia Florida State NC State UConn At Syracuse
Geez…that’s a pretty tough out-of-conference schedule for BC in 2017 assuming that UConn will be improved under Randy Edsall, and there’s a chance that if the Eagles lost their opening game at Northern Illinois they might be 0 – 4 when Central Michigan arrives in Boston for a game on September 30.
Whatever games that Boston College wins or loses in 2017 we have a recommendation for head coach Steve Addazio:
Get SIX wins minimum Son or your head coaching days at BC will be over before the 76 th Anniversary of those Bastard Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941!
#21 Hot Seat Head Coach – Barry Odom, Missouri
After an Average to Mediocre first SIX years at Missouri now former Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel did what many would call remarkable by posting…
FIVE 10-plus wins
….in his last NINE years at Mizzou with THREE seasons of 11 wins or more.
In his last season at Missouri Gary Pinkel posted a 5 – 7 record in the middle of some personal health problems and race issues at the University of Missouri that no doubt in our minds has impacted Mizzou football recruiting in the last couple of years which leaves current Mizzou head football coach Barry Odom in a Helluva hole that he will either find his way out of or get fired while still in it.
In Barry Odom’s first year as the head coach at Missouri he posted a record of 4 – 8 which included wins over…
Eastern Michigan Delaware State Vanderbilt Arkansas
….that saw the Tigers lose a close game to Georgia at home and lose a Totally Inexcusable game to Middle Tennessee at home which in our opinion added up to about…
1 worse loss than we had Mizzou pegged for in 2016 which was a 5 – 7 team.
Now as we look towards 2017 Barry Odom is tasked with finding a way to SIX wins in his second year on the job and with SIX wins in mind let’s go to Missouri’s 2017 schedule:
Missouri State South Carolina Purdue Auburn At Kentucky At Georgia Idaho At UConn Florida Tennessee At Vanderbilt At Arkansas
That’s a pretty tough schedule for Barry Odom and Mizzou in 2017 with a very tough ending at UConn, Florida, Tennessee, at Vandy and at Arkansas which means that the Tigers better Damn be at least…
4 – 3
…when they travel to play at UConn on October 28 because getting TWO wins in those last FIVE games is not going to be easy especially since both Vandy and Arkansas will probably be fighting to get to SIX wins themselves down the stretch of the 2017 football season!
It probably does help that Barry Odom played football at Mizzou and is thus an alum because it’s not going to be an easy ride in the next few years if as we expect in the SEC East…
Georgia Gets Better Florida Keeps Getting Better Tennessee At Least Holds Its Ground South Carolina Gets Better Kentucky Keeps Getting Better Vanderbilt Keeps Getting Better
…which if the above happens to become a .500 plus team every year Missouri will have to raise its game even more because all of the competition in the SEC East seems to be getting Better or is Holding Its Ground.
Good Luck to you Coach Odom and you will need it Son!
