College Football 2012: Which Coaches Are Due for Big-Time Promotions?

Florida International is seeing some legitimate success, and it is largely due to its head coach, Mario Cristobal. Cristobal and the Panthers are currently "closing in" on a pay raise and an extension, according to the Miami Herald. Great for the head coach and smart of the school.

Pay raises and more years of security are nice; legitimate promotions are even better. In light of seeing FIU do what it can in an effort to keep Cristobal, it is clear he is one of the hotter commodities in the coaching field. The head coach has worked at Miami and Rutgers previously, and as he builds a solid program at Florida International, bigger schools, with more money and higher ceilings, will come offering that legitimate promotion.

As we see coaches on the hot seat all over the country, Dennis Dodd over at CBS Sports has put together his hot seat ratings. Cristobal and four other coaches are the likely candidates to replace them. Here are 2013 coaches due for a promotion:

Mario Cristobal

The Florida International coach is putting together a winner. The Panthers have been to a bowl game in each of their last two seasons, and they return a team that should win the Sun Belt in 2012. Cristobal is a guy who understands a rebuild having worked under Butch Davis at Miami and Greg Schiano at Rutgers. He is poised to be the next big thing in the coaching if he can put together another strong campaign in Miami.

Kirby Smart

The defensive coordinator at the University of Alabama is on everyone's short list, but there is one hotly debated question about him: How much work does he actually do for the Crimson Tide? Nick Saban gets all of the credit in building the team and constructing the 3-4 defense, so the only real question is how "ready" is Kirby Smart. We know that he has the organizational structure that Saban provides, as well as the systematic approach to recruiting. As Jimbo Fisher is putting together something special at Florida State, the Saban brand has some clout.

However, with Will Muschamp and, more importantly, Derek Dooley, both struggling people will be taking a close look at what Smart embodies prior to hiring him.

Manny Diaz

When you're hiring a coach, you want him to have a base in recruiting a fruitful area; in Manny Diaz, you get just that. A Miami native who has worked in the ACC and SEC with ties to the state of North Carolina through to Texas. The coach has helped revamp the Longhorns' hybrid 3-4 attack, and unlike Nick Saban, no one believes Mack Brown is the one pulling the strings on the Texas defense. While Mack Brown's recruiting tactics are not as advanced as Nick Saban's, what Diaz does have is an aggressive policy and an understanding for glad handing high school coaches and starting the evaluation process early.

Diaz, like Will Muschamp and Gene Chizik before him, will be a hot commodity, and as jobs start to open up, expect to hear his name kicked out there.

Charlie Strong

Louisville is a program on the rise in the Big East. After reaching great heights under Bobby Petrino, the program took a nose dive and then hired Charlie Strong to bring them back to respectability. The Florida Gators lost a defensive coordinator, and the Louisville Cardinals gained a solid head coach.

Now, Strong has one of the best quarterbacks in the country, leading a football team that should get to a BCS Bowl in 2012. Strong is one of those guys who paid his dues on the front end, working at Florida when he should have been hired as someone's head coach years ago. With his quick success at Louisville, a probable Top 20 team in 2012, he should climb the ladder to the top of college football quite quickly.

Pat Narduzzi and Dan Roushar

Michigan State's defensive and offensive coordinators get double billing here, as the Spartans are slowly becoming a program to be reckoned with. Mark Dantoni gets a lot of the credit, and rightfully so, but both Narduzzi and Roushar are doing big work. Sparty is a bad play from going to the Rose Bowl, and they are coming off a hard-fought victory over a 10-win Georgia team. If things continue this way for the green and white, someone is going to pilfer their coordinators quickly. Narduzzi brings an aggressive, blitzing, multiple-look style to the table, while Dan Roushar brings a pro set that is rooted in the run but takes what the defense gives him.

Coaches in college football are hired to be fired and with the pressures of the job there will be job openings in 2013. Look for these coaches to be the names on everyone's short list.