College Football Hot Seat Update after James Franklin Firing
Fire up the plane trackers and get those scrolling fingers ready. It looks like it could be a full-on firing free-for-all with some big-name college programs looking for new coaches this offseason.
We've already had to exercise those jaw-dropping techniques with this past weekend's news that Penn State parted ways with James Franklin after the formerly No. 2-ranked Nittany Lions' three-week free fall. They moved on despite owing him a cool $49 million.
One SEC gig is already open with Arkansas firing Sam Pittman, and a Big Ten job is putting out feelers already after UCLA dumped DeShaun Foster. Another "name" school is looking for a coach since Virginia Tech let go Brent Pry, too.
Not to be outdone, the Big 12 has a representative in the hunt, too, after Oklahoma State sent away Mike Gundy.
Oregon State (Trent Bray) and UAB (Trent Dilfer) are also on the hunt.
So, who's next? Don't think we're done here, with some other blue bloods getting red-faced with their results. It would be a surprise if we didn't have multiple openings before this season ended.
Let's take a look at the hottest seats in the sport as we enter the second half of the season.
Billy Napier, Florida Gators
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It doesn't seem fair to put Billy Napier on this list after multiple news reports this week basically said he's done. After all, we've run out of adjectives to describe just how hot his seat is in Gainesville.
Let's settle for nuclear.
This weekend, the Gators play Mississippi State, and several reports say it will be Napier's last game whether he wins or loses. If that's the case, you'd think Florida already has feelers out there with some big-name coaches and are committed to making a move.
Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Florida State remain on the schedule, and Florida stands at 2-4 with losses to South Florida, Miami, LSU and Texas A&M.
After closing the year with four consecutive wins a season ago and with sophomore DJ Lagway back, excitement abounded in the Swamp, even with such a tough schedule.
Unfortunately, Florida's offense has let it down. There has been little progression or development, and things aren't improving.
Huge names like Lane Kiffin and Dan Lanning will be thrown around, but the Gators also have a pretty high floor of candidates. If they settled for Fran Brown, James Franklin, Eli Drinkwitz or alumnus Jedd Fisch, it would be an upgrade, too.
Hugh Freeze, Auburn Tigers
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Auburn has been on the end of some horrific officiating decisions this year, and the Tigers are much more competitive in Year 3 of Hugh Freeze.
However, moral victories don't keep the lights on and the fans happy, and there are some grumbles on the Plains where things aren't so lovely right now.
The Tigers are 3-3 on the season but 0-3 again in the SEC with extremely close losses to Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Georgia, which are all ranked. With ranked Missouri, Vanderbilt and Alabama remaining, things are far from easy for Freeze.
Any loss—especially to the Crimson Tide—could doom Freeze.
The offense has been a major problem in all three seasons, and though Auburn spent big on Oklahoma quarterback transfer Jackson Arnold and Georgia Tech receiver transfer Eric Singleton Jr., things haven't changed.
At some point, you've got to figure the Tigers will move on. Guys like Jon Sumrall would fit the mold there, and former AU assistants Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State) and Rhett Lashlee (SMU) are having major success elsewhere.
Don't be surprised if Auburn isn't back on the market soon.
Bill Belichick, North Carolina Tar Heels
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Sometimes, you just know very early that the decision you made was the wrong one.
No matter what they're saying in Chapel Hill right now, it has to be the prevailing feeling with North Carolina Tar Heels brass who made the decision to replace one elder coach in Mack Brown with 73-year-old Bill Belichick.
The latter, of course, has been a Super Bowl-winning maestro in the NFL, especially as the legendary head coach of the New England Patriots. But, as has been mentioned many times here, Belichick's UNC tenure has been more about his girlfriend than his on-field success.
Simply put: The Tar Heels are brutal.
While he always was going to conduct a roster flip, North Carolina isn't competitive at all against ACC competition, and while there is only one ranked opponent remaining on the schedule (No. 18 Virginia), there doesn't look to be any games except potentially Stanford where they'll be favored.
Reputable sources report UNC is negotiating an exit strategy, though Belichick denies this.
This is where we are already, however. If the record doesn't get any better, you have to think UNC will cut bait and ask for a do-over.
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin Badgers
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Is Luke Fickell a dead man walking in Wisconsin? You would have to think there's almost no way he can keep his job in Camp Randall.
The Badgers are 2-4 and winless in three Big Ten tilts. If you're a little squeamish, don't look at the rest of the schedule, either, because it is brutal.
Next up is top-ranked Ohio State this weekend, then No. 8 Oregon on the road. After the Ducks, 5-1 Washington heads to Wisconsin, then the Badgers are off to Bloomington to play third-ranked Indiana before closing the season against Illinois and at Minnesota.
That's about as awful as you can get, especially considering Fickell is already on very thin ice with a blaring hot pressure-cooker in hand.
Perhaps no fit has been more puzzling than Fickell. He seemed like the perfect hire when the Badgers grabbed him, and he was deemed one of the hottest coaching commodities out there after taking then-Group of Five Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff.
He's 15-17 so far in Camp Randall, has struggled to recruit talent at all and has endured plenty of clunkers in the transfer portal era. Don't bet on him surviving the remaining gauntlet.
Mike Norvell, Florida State Seminoles
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Amid yet another spiral, you have to wonder just how far Florida State is going to fall.
This is a Seminoles team that started the season 3-0 with a win over Alabama, yet it's tumbled to a three-game losing streak, is 0-3 in the ACC and has to be questioning why things got out of control so quickly.
A game against Stanford this weekend could slow the bleeding a little, but perhaps Norvell's early-season success was the worst thing that could happen to him.
Following a worse-than-anybody-could-have-imagined 2-10 2024 season, he again went portal-heavy. He grabbed Gus Malzahn from UCF's head coach job to lead the offense, and then they got off to the fast start.
Where 2024 looked like a forgotten blip on the radar just a month ago, though, it's now looking more like what we should expect from the 'Noles. And that's not OK for a program used to winning a lot. The last time FSU won an ACC game was September 21, 2024.
There's time for Norvell to turn things around, and a favorable schedule following this weekend's game against the Cardinal includes Wake Forest, Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Florida. All those are winnable.
You would think Norvell needs to win at least four or five of those to keep his job.
Jonathan Smith, Michigan State Spartans
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Jonathan Smith simply hasn't fit in at Michigan State.
The former Oregon State head coach was a Beaver through and through, having played quarterback in Corvallis and leading the program back to respectability as a player and then as a coach.
When the Pac-12 disbanded and the Beavers were left in the cold with Washington State, Smith decided to go across the country to the Big Ten, start afresh and try to rebuild a proud Spartans program that had fallen into disrepair under Mel Tucker.
Smith even brought quarterback Aidan Chiles with him after he made waves as an exciting true freshman backing up DJ Uiagalelei in Corvallis.
Things have not gone well in Smith's couple of years in East Lansing, but it's not as awful as you might think. After a 5-7 season a year ago, the Spartans are 3-3 this year but 0-3 in the Big Ten with a bad home loss to UCLA last weekend.
The pressure is mounting.
With Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Iowa and Maryland remaining, that isn't a schedule that is conducive to a turnaround. Smith and the Spartans may both be looking around soon.
Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
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Once upon a time, Derek Mason was one of the top-notch defensive coordinators in the nation under David Shaw at Stanford.
When he got his first head coaching stint at Vanderbilt, he somehow lasted seven seasons in Nashville despite never having a winning campaign. Then, he had further strong defensive coordinator stints at Auburn and Oklahoma State.
Middle Tennessee likely thought maybe he was ready for another coaching job at a lower level. However, following in the footsteps of longtime coach Rick Stockstill hasn't been easy. And although the cupboard wasn't stocked with a ton of talent, Mason hasn't made the roster any better.
After a 3-9 season a year ago, the Blue Raiders are 1-5 this year, and they're one of the worst overall teams in the nation.
Middle Tennessee is far from a powerhouse, but this is a team that has had recent success and could be near the top of Conference USA with the right coach. It's in a beautiful area with plenty of resources to do well.
They won't abide a putrid record for long.
Jay Norvell, Colorado State Rams
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It's not a good year to have the name Norvell and be a head coach in college football.
When Jay Norvell took what was deemed a lateral move after the 2021 season, leaving Nevada for fellow Mountain West Conference rival Colorado State, it made some Group of Five shockwaves. He'd done a good job with the Wolfpack.
Things haven't gone quite as well with the Rams, though.
After going 8-12 in his first two seasons in Fort Collins, Norvell had an eight-win season a year ago, and many thought he was bringing the Rams back to being a contender in the Mountain West. But a brutal 1-4 start to this season placed him on the hot seat.
The Rams lost to Washington, UTSA, Washington State and San Diego State. However, they played inspired football last weekend in a lopsided 49-21 win over a favored Fresno State team.
Was that the spark they needed?
Colorado State's remaining games are against Hawaii, Wyoming, UNLV, New Mexico, Boise State and Air Force. The Rams have the talent to win all of them, but they likely won't be favored at least against UNLV and Boise.
If Norvell doesn't finish with at least a .500 record, he could be in danger.
Butch Jones, Arkansas State Red Wolves
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Arkansas State is a proud mid-major program used to winning football games in bunches and being a breeding ground for Power Four coaches.
Gus Malzahn, Hugh Freeze, Blake Anderson, Bryan Harsin and Ken Hatfield all spent time coaching in Jonesboro. So, when Arkansas State zeroed in on former Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Tennessee coach Butch Jones, it expected big things.
Instead, Jones' tenure has looked more like his last season in Knoxville. Inconsistency and undisciplined play have become staples for the Red Wolves, and he is 22-35 in his current role with only one winning season (eight wins last year).
The Red Wolves have a dynamic quarterback in Jaylen Raynor, yet they're 3-4 again this season. They had a narrow, come-from-behind win over South Alabama on Tuesday night, but they need to keep things on the upward trajectory to save their coach.
A remaining navigable schedule includes Georgia Southern, Troy, Southern Miss, Louisiana and Appalachian State, and Arkansas State has the talent to win all those. However, the team has been so undisciplined that it can take itself out of any game.
It could go either way, but the Jones era in Jonesboro needs another winning record to trend in the right direction.
Mark Stoops, Kentucky Wildcats
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There's no question Mark Stoops is among the top coaches ever at Kentucky, and an argument can be made he's the best.
Perhaps that's why you don't see him on many hot seats around the nation. Still, he should be. And if the Wildcats keep struggling to score points for the remainder of the season, that seat is only going to get more sizzling.
The Wildcats are 2-3 this year but winless in three games against SEC opponents. An argument can be made they're the least-talented program in the league, despite the fact they were competitive against Ole Miss after being hammered by South Carolina and Georgia.
Texas and Tennessee are up next, followed by Auburn, Florida, Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt and Louisville. Beating the Golden Eagles is likely, but AU is perhaps the only other game they have a strong chance of winning.
The 13-year coach hasn't had a winning season since back-to-back 7-6 seasons in 2022 and 2023. He's just 14-28 in his career against ranked teams, and the Wildcats don't look like they're going to beat anybody of any consequence this year.
How long is that acceptable in Lexington? Of course, it's a basketball school, but the 'Cats have had enough football success to try to take another swing. Tulane coach Jon Sumrall is a Kentucky alum, and Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson spent time as a UK assistant, too.
Would they be worth firing Stoops? It's something we may get an answer to soon.
Joe Moorhead, Akron Zips
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There was a time when Joe Moorhead was one of the most coveted offensive coordinators in the nation.
He had a ton of success leading the offense for James Franklin in Penn State before getting his chance to head a program at Mississippi State. That didn't go well, and he was let go after two years and a respectable 14-12 record in Starkville.
Things in the MAC have gone much, much worse, though.
Moorhead's Zips are 10-33 since he took over, beginning with consecutive 2-10 seasons in 2022 and 2023. After a four-win season a year ago, Akron is limping along again at 2-5.
Surprisingly, offense is a major issue. The Zips are 129th out of 136 FBS teams in scoring offense and 121st in total offense. They aren't much better on defense, ranking 124th in total defense and No. 102 in scoring defense.
That means they're one of the worst teams in the nation, regardless of which side of the ball we are discussing.
That doesn't bode well for the Moorhead era. Akron also has struggled to close games, wilting down the stretch.
It seems like just a matter of time before a changing of the guard.
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