National Signing Day 2012: 5 Coaches Who Need Big Class

The futures of five coaches hang in the balance as national signing day approaches. For different reasons each of these guys is in need of a big class. 

Some are well on their way towards this goal, and some have some serious work to do. 

Notre Dame's Brian Kelly 

Notre Dame has already had an eventful recruiting season. They have seen blue-chip players verbally commit and decommit form their school, and they have received commitments from players that were previously committed to other schools. 

In the end, they are winning more of these wars than they are losing. Scout.com currently ranks them as having the ninth-best class in the nation. And that is good news for Brian Kelly. 

In Kelly's second season, the Irish finished 8-5 for the second straight time. Notre Dame is not going to tolerate this kind of stagnantly moderate success for long. 

Cal's Jeff Tedford

As time goes on, Tedford's once-sterling reputation is looking more attributable to the greatness of Aaron Rodgers than it is to his coaching prowess. 

He needs to get back to his winning ways. A strong class will certainly help him pull this off. Cal is currently ranked 24th by Scout.com, but verbal commitment Shaq Thompson is re-considering his commitment after ace recruiter Tosh Lupoi left for Washington, and the talk then has been about whether other recruits may also take off.

This is a huge week for Tedford and the Golden Bears. 

Florida's Will Muschamp

The Gators just finished off a relatively miserable 7-6 season. Will Muschamp needs to start building some positive momentum in a hurry. 

This is a school that is used to winning and having elite athletes. After already being starved for winning they need to get the "elite athlete" part locked down before those fans start getting grumpy. 

They appear well on their way to doing just that as Scout has them ranked as the fifth-best recruiting class. 

Oklahoma's Bob Stoops 

Stoops and his Sooners are suddenly the second-most dominant team in their own state. Their rivals, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, dominated them this past season and appear to be building a real powerhouse. 

Making matters even worse for Oklahoma is the fact that Texas is currently ranked by Scout as having the No. 1 class. 

Not even Bob Stoops will be able to survive a few seasons of losing to both Texas and Oklahoma State. 

Arizona State's Todd Graham

A first-year coach would not usually make this list, as they deserve at least a one-year grace period. However, Graham is not the normal first-year coach. 

This was a very underwhelming hire that was not met with a lot of approval in the Sun Devil fanbase. 

A bad recruiting class, combined with what already is a bunch of ill will, will get his tenure started off in a hole he will have a hard time ever climbing out of.