Is Any SEC Football Coach on the Hot Seat?
Entering Week 10, the heat on Georgia's Mark Richt was as hot as the center of the sun, Auburn's Gus Malzahn desperately needed to find a way to get to a bowl game in order to keep the heat off in 2016 and the coaching silly season seemed like it was in full gear despite there being a month of games left to play.
On Sunday morning, that cooled a little bit.
Richt's Bulldogs rolled Kentucky 27-3, Auburn dominated No. 19 Texas A&M 26-10 and what seemed like a growing wave of scrutiny subsided.
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Is that permanent, though?
With three weeks left in the season, Auburn and Georgia are yet to square off, more heat is on Aggie head coach Kevin Sumlin after his offense was throttled by the Tigers in College Station and there's plenty of time left for coaching questions to kick back up.
Which SEC coaches will be on the hot seat when November comes to a close? Let's examine the possibilities.
Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt: Warm, But Won't Be Fired
Richt survived a tumultuous first week of November after getting worked 27-3 by Florida in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Calls for his head, along with that of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, came from far and wide after Georgia's offense has struggled and quarterback issues have persisted.
Then, on Thursday, more questions surfaced.
Rumors swirled that defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt had come under fire for personality conflicts. It got to a point where Richt had to go full Kevin Bacon from Animal House and let the world know that "all is well" on Twitter:
Let's start with the obvious, that statement from Richt doesn't say anything other than Pruitt is currently his defensive coordinator, and doesn't address potential friction within the staff at all. If there is a possibility for Pruitt to be let go to create a harmonious staff, Schottenheimer must be let go as well.
If Richt fires Pruitt for insubordination and doesn't fire Schottenheimer for incompetence, Richt should also be dismissed. With that said, Richt is too smart for this and knows that he has to find a new offensive coordinator in order to keep the heat off of himself. Pruitt's situation is an independent issue at this point.
Richt will get another shot. Dropping coordinators when the heat is on is the go-to move for coaches who are feeling the heat, and letting go of one or both is almost a certainty at this point.
Even if Georgia loses to Auburn and Georgia Tech, that should be enough for Richt to stick around for 2016 thanks to what should be one of the best recruiting classes in the country.
The Bulldogs already have 5-star quarterback Jacob Eason signed to a financial-aid deal, and he plans on enrolling in January. On top of that, this is one of the best classes of high school talent the state has seen in quite some time. There are 26 players in the Peach State with four or more stars attached to their names, seven of which are already committed to the Bulldogs.
Some might stick around if Georgia makes wholesale staff changes, but many more will decommit and other uncommitted prospects will be forced to get comfortable with the new staff on the fly. Not only would a wholesale staff change hurt Georgia, many of those players could (and would) go to rivals. That would hurt the program long-term for any hypothetical replacement.
Richt has a built-in fall guy (or guys), and Georgia is held captive by this recruiting class, just as it was after the 6-7 campaign in 2010 prior to the arrival of the 2011 "Dream Team." That class won two division titles and nearly earned a berth in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game following the 2012 season.
Because of that, Richt will get one more shot if he wants it.
Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn: Cooling
I wrote last month that Auburn's Gus Malzahn would be back for Year 4 on the Plains regardless of Auburn's postseason future in 2015.
That's still accurate, and very quietly, he's doing a lot to make 2016 more comfortable down the stretch.
His team absolutely dominated Texas A&M on the road last week with starter-turned-backup Jeremy Johnson getting the nod at quarterback in place of injured redshirt freshman Sean White, a second spark has come in the running game with the emergence of Jovon Robinson alongside Peyton Barber and the defense looks lights out now that "Buck" Carl Lawson has returned from a hip injury.
"I really thought their front was the second-best front we have played all year," Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said last week. "After they got Lawson back and were able to move No. 8 (linebacker Cassanova McKinzy) back, I thought their front was very talented."
The win over Texas A&M moved Auburn to 5-4, and all but assured the Tigers of a bowl game thanks to the presence of Idaho on the schedule on Nov. 21. Plus, it's not like Georgia—which visits Auburn this weekend—looks like a world-beater these days.
Malzahn still has to contend for the SEC West in 2016 in order to keep his job, but the momentum that his Tigers have generated over the last few weeks has created a bigger margin for error next year—especially if the quarterback position solidifies itself prior to toe meeting leather next year versus Clemson in Week 1.
Texas A&M Head Coach Kevin Sumlin: Heating Up
If Texas A&M fires Kevin Sumlin without cause, it would owe him the balance of his six-year, $30 million contract he agreed to following the 2013 season, according to Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News.
That will keep him in College Station for the 2016 season, but it's getting closer to a point where he needs to make some staff changes.
No team in the country has been more Jekyll and Hyde this year than the Aggies. The offense looked great for the first month-plus, and then Kyle Allen struggled mightily, lost his job and was replaced by true freshman Kyler Murray. Murray looked great in his first start against South Carolina, topping the 200-yard mark through the air and 100-yard mark on the ground, but was ineffective last week in a loss to Auburn.
The defense, led by coordinator John Chavis, clearly has a fearsome pass rush with ends Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall, but can't stop the run and has regressed since a solid two-game stretch against Alabama and Ole Miss in which it kept the Aggies in games they had no business being in.
The Aggies sit at 6-3 (3-3 SEC), and should at least hit the eight-win plateau with games versus Western Carolina and Vanderbilt left on the schedule in addition to the finale with LSU, but is this season really progress for the program?
Maybe, but not nearly what it looked like it might be in mid-October prior to the Alabama game.
Sumlin and Chavis will certainly be around for 2016, but if the offense continues to be questionable-at-best, don't be surprised if offensive coordinator Jake Spavital comes under fire in order to take some pressure off of Sumlin.
Vanderbilt Head Coach Derek Mason: Much Cooler
Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason finished last season 3-9 and 0-8 in conference after stepping in for former head coach James Franklin, who led the program to back-to-back nine-win seasons.
If that record wasn't bad enough, the mismanagement of the program, revolving door of quarterbacks and appearance that Mason was in over his head made it at least an outside possibility that Vandy looked elsewhere following the 2015 season if things didn't improve.
They have.
Sure, quarterback issues still exist with Johnny McCrary and Kyle Shurmur, but Mason struck gold when he named himself defensive coordinator The 'Dores are giving up just 316.1 yards per game (19th in the country), 4.81 yards per play (25th in the country), have the fourth-best third-down defense in the country (25 percent) and eighth-best red-zone touchdown defense (38.71 percent).
The combination of Mason's defensive success, his ability to manage the program better and a team that not only has an SEC win over Missouri, but also has looked incredibly competitive in losses—including last week's 9-7 loss at Florida—will earn him a third year in Nashville.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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