College Football Coaches on Hot Seat Heading into Week 6
As much as we'd love to see goal-line cameras introduced into college football, many coaches would prefer the next technological advance that comes to the game to address seat-temperature control.
The weather is getting cooler across the country, but at the same time, the heat is getting turned up on a number of coaches who are either off to rough starts in 2015 or aren't showing the progress expected. This has put into question their job security and added doubt to whether they're the right men for the job.
The Week 6 schedule features several games where a coach on the hot seat faces a critical matchup, one he either needs to win or at least show he's got his team moving in the right direction. Check out our list, and then give us your thoughts in the comments section.
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
1 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 9 vs. North Carolina State
Frank Beamer had a built-in opportunity to walk away from Virginia Tech this past winter, when throat surgery caused him to miss most of the preparation for the Military Bowl and kept him off the sidelines. Instead, Beamer returned for his 29th season in Blacksburg.
Might he be regretting that decision after the Hokies' worst start since 1992?
Virginia Tech (2-3, 0-1 ACC) is coming off its eighth home loss in the past 10 against FBS opponents, a 17-13 defeat to Pittsburgh in which it managed only 100 yards. This came a week after losing at East Carolina, the second year in a row it's fallen to the non-power-conference Pirates.
Injuries have impacted Tech's start, particularly the broken collarbone starting quarterback Michael Brewer suffered in the season-opening loss to Ohio State. Brenden Motley has been up and down as his replacement, though Brewer could return for Friday's game, but there's nobody as good to replace All-American cornerback Kendall Fuller after he went down with a season-ending knee injury last month.
"I think every game is a must win," Beamer told ESPN.com's David M. Hale. "As you go along, and you've lost one in conference, the more important that next game becomes. That's the way it is. You want guys to rise to the challenge, and I think we have that at Virginia Tech."
Tech has never started 0-2 in league play since joining the ACC in 2004.
Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State
2 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 vs. Utah State
When Tim DeRuyter took over Fresno State in 2012, the program was coming off just its second losing record of the century, but he quickly got the Bulldogs back on track with nine wins in his first year and then 11 in 2013. It didn't hurt he had inherited a future NFL starting quarterback in Derek Carr, who in those first two seasons threw for more than 9,100 yards with 87 touchdowns.
But since Carr graduated, it's been a steady downhill track for Fresno. It was 6-8 last season, though it won the Mountain West's West Division and got to play in a bowl despite a losing record, yet the Bulldogs fell to Boise State in the conference final and to Rice in the Hawaii Bowl.
This season has been horrible to say the least. The Bulldogs (1-4, 0-1 Mountain West) opened with a win over FCS Abilene Christian and has since has lost four in a row by a combined 113 points. Quarterback play has been the biggest problem, with three different players starting, including one (West Virginia transfer Ford Childress) who's out for the year and another (sophomore Zack Greenlee) who faces misdemeanor "possession of alcohol by a minor" charges that led to a one-game suspension in September.
Randy Edsall, Maryland
3 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 at Ohio State
Randy Edsall earned himself some breathing room after piloting Maryland through an injury-riddled 2014 season where it won seven games and finished 4-4 in its first year of Big Ten play. But the rough start to 2015 has sapped most of the air out of the Terrapins' program, and the walls are starting to close in on the fifth-year coach.
Last week the Terps (2-3, 0-1 Big Ten) were shut out at home by Michigan, managing a scant 105 yards in the process. It was their third loss in four games, including a 45-6 drubbing at West Virginia and a blowout home loss to Mid-American school Bowling Green.
Now they have to go to defending national champion Ohio State, which beat the Terps by 28 in College Park last year and could be primed for a big win after several lackluster performances. And according to Jeff Ermann of 247Sports, Edsall isn't likely to be Maryland's coach after this weekend.
"Barring an unexpected last-minute reversal, Maryland will part ways with Edsall when the floundering Terps enter their midseason bye week," Ermann wrote Thursday.
Maryland has a solid recruiting class lined up for 2016 led by 4-star quarterback Dwayne Haskins, but Edsall might not be around to coach that group if this season keeps going downhill.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Al Golden, Miami (Florida)
4 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 at Florida State
How tenuous is Al Golden's job situation? Even with a 3-0 record heading into last week's game at Cincinnati, he still couldn't look into the sky above Nippert Stadium without seeing a "Fire Al Golden" banner attached to a plane. Then the Hurricanes lost by 11, dropping his record to 31-23 in four-plus seasons.
That same plane sign is almost sure to be spotted in the skies around Tallahassee this weekend, as will other anti-Golden signs Hurricanes fans bring along for the ACC opener against rival Florida State. Golden is 0-4 against the Seminoles, including last year's 30-26 home loss in which Miami led 16-0.
That was the first of four straight losses to end the 2014 season, and such skids have been common under Golden. In 2013 Miami started 7-0 and then dropped three in a row, and after starting 4-1 in 2012, the Hurricanes were blown out by Notre Dame to start a three-game skid.
Butch Jones, Tennessee
5 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 vs. Georgia
Being on the hot seat doesn't automatically mean a coach is in danger of being fired, though that's commonly what the phrase is associated with. It can also mean a coach faces an uncertain future in terms of expectations and reputation, as is the case with Butch Jones following his latest squandered lead.
Tennessee (2-3, 0-2 SEC) is one of six FBS teams to have held a lead of at least 13 points in every game this season, yet it's the only one to have suffered a loss. The Volunteers led Oklahoma and Florida by double digits entering the fourth quarter before losing, and last week they had a 13-point first-half lead before falling 24-20 at home to Arkansas.
For a coach who prides himself on having all the answers for every game situation, Jones seems to have such knowledge escape him in clutch situations. This now makes Saturday's visit from Georgia, which already was going to be a big game, the most important one of the season for the coach and his team.
"For sanity purposes on Rocky Top, head coach Butch Jones desperately needs to notch his first signature win since knocking off Jadeveon Clowney and South Carolina in Neyland Stadium in October 2013," Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee wrote.
Losing to the Bulldogs won't put Jones' job at risk, but it will drastically impact the perception that he can get the program back to a level of prominence.
Mike London, Virginia
6 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 at Pittsburgh
Days before facing rival Virginia Tech last November, Mike London was told he'd be back for the 2015 season, his sixth with the Cavaliers. In announcing London's return, though, athletic director Craig Littlepage said he'd seen progress but needed to see more.
"It's important for each of our sports programs to continue to show progress and follow a plan to compete for conference championships and in postseason competition to support the department's goals," Littlepage said, per the school's website.
Then Virginia lost 24-20 at the Hokies to finish at 5-7, and this season it's started 1-3. The record wasn't that surprising, since the Cavaliers faced a daunting nonconference slate opening at UCLA and with home games against Notre Dame and Boise State, but after taking Notre Dame to the wire, the Cavs struggled to beat FCS school William & Mary and then lost by 42 points on Sept. 25 to Boise.
Virginia has lost 11 straight road games, and Saturday's trip to Pittsburgh is the first of four of six on the road.
George O'Leary, UCF
7 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 vs. Connecticut
George O'Leary is the reason UCF has reached the level it has in college football, winning 81 games between 2005-14 with four 10-win seasons and a Fiesta Bowl triumph over Baylor in 2013 (the same year it knocked off unbeaten Louisville on the road).
But in June the 69-year-old O'Leary was named the Knights' interim athletic director, a job he reportedly would like to take on full time, the first sign his coaching career was coming to an end. The season has been how the 2015 campaign has gone, with five losses in as many tries, including a home setback to FCS school Furman.
O'Leary went 0-11 in his first season with the Knights, in 2004, and there aren't many winnable games left on this schedule. Saturday's visit from Connecticut might be his last chance to avoid a winless year until the finale on Thanksgiving against South Florida, though O'Leary might end up having to fire himself before then.
Mike Riley, Nebraska
8 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 vs. Wisconsin
Mike Riley won the offseason in terms of getting a great percentage of skeptical Nebraska fans to buy into his approach after he was a surprise choice to replace Bo Pelini as head coach. But any goodwill he built between December and August has quickly gone away now that the Cornhuskers (2-3, 0-1 Big Ten) are off to their worst start since 1959.
All three of Nebraska's losses have come on its opponent's final play. It fell to BYU on a Hail Mary pass, marking the program's first home-opening loss since 1985; then after rallying from 23 points down in the fourth quarter at Miami (Florida), it lost in overtime. Last week the 'Huskers lost 14-13 at Illinois, giving up a game-winning touchdown pass with 10 seconds left.
"This loss was similar to other losses that we have had this year, and I've given them the same speech," Riley told Eric Olson of the Associated Press (via Yahoo Sports). "Each time the reaction is the same and then we go out and have a good week of practice. We just have to finish the job."
Pelini was fired after seven seasons despite winning at least nine games in each. Nebraska made a similar move in 2003 by letting go of Frank Solich after a 9-3 regular season, and successor Bill Callahan went 5-6 for the program's first losing record since 1961.
Charlie Strong, Texas
9 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)
Charlie Strong wasn't given much to work with when he took over Texas in 2014, yet he somehow managed to get the Longhorns to six wins and a bowl game. Neither feat is looking very likely in his second season, as Texas is 1-4 for the first time since 1956.
Texas has lost three straight games, the last a 50-7 result at TCU that came after consecutive home losses (by a combined four points) that both turned on late special teams miscues.
Strong's background is on defense, yet the Longhorns rank 120th in FBS in yards allowed per game.
Facing rival Oklahoma in the annual Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl could be the perfect opportunity for Strong to get Texas back on track, though at the same time it provides an even bigger stage to stumble on. Mack Brown had a similar scenario at the end of his tenure as Texas pulled out a big win in 2013 (but that came after losing the previous two meetings with the Sooners by a combined 80 points).
Willie Taggart, South Florida
10 of 10
Week 6 matchup: Oct. 10 vs. Syracuse
Willie Taggart is coming off one of the best performances of his two-plus seasons with South Florida, as his defense held high-flying Memphis to just 24 points and 425, both season lows.
The Bulls (1-3, 0-1 American) only scored 17, though, their fourth straight game against an FBS opponent when they failed to reach the 20-point barrier. That's only been achieved eight times in 28 games, one of many reasons why South Florida is 7-21 under Taggart.
Taggart had seven wins in each of his last two seasons at Western Kentucky before getting hired in Tampa.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
