College Basketball Coaches Who Could Be on the Hot Seat After Poor Starts

More than 10 percent of the 351 Division I college basketball head coaching jobs were open this past offseason, and most of those involved someone getting fired. In many of those cases, the writing was on the wall long before that due to poor performances by their teams during the previous season.

Based on the way the 2015-16 season has started for some schools, their coaches might not be employed in a few months unless something changes quickly. The switch from nonconference play to the league schedule could make or break their tenure.

Here's a look at six coaches who need to show significant improvement between now and March in order to ensure they don't get fired.

Orlando Antigua, South Florida

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Year at school: 2nd

Record at school: 12-35

2015-16 record: 3-12, 0-2 American

John Calipari's former assistant at both Memphis and Kentucky, Orlando Antigua landed his first head-coaching gig after South Florida's first choice had a bit of a resume snafu. The Bulls had originally hired Manhattan's Steve Masiello, but after discovering he'd lied about having a bachelor's degree, they terminated that deal and turned to Antigua.

That was the high point of his tenure in Tampa, as he went 9-23 in his first season (with just three conference wins), and this year has been even worse. South Florida has lost seven of its 10 home games, including to sub-.500 teams Troy and Boston University. At 277th in the KenPom.com rankings, it is the second-lowest school from a power conference behind San Jose State.

South Florida was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team American, so it's unlikely things will be getting better for the Bulls anytime soon. That doesn't bode well for Antigua if the school isn't willing to wait out a long rebuilding process.

Bruiser Flint, Drexel

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Year at school: 15th

Record at school: 241-203

2015-16 record: 2-11, 0-2 Colonial

Drexel hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 1996, and odds are that's not going to happen this season. The Dragons haven't come close since 2011-12, when they won the Colonial Athletic Association but then lost to VCU in the conference title game, ending up with 29 victories and a trip to the NIT quarterfinals.

Since then Bruiser Flint has won 42 games in three-plus seasons, going 11-19 last year and losing at home to Division II University of the Sciences. That made falling to D-II Alaska-Anchorage during a winless trip to the Great Alaska Shootout seem not as embarrassing.

Flint took Massachusetts to the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons there, taking over that program after John Calipari went to the NBA in 1996. He resigned after his fifth season, moving to Drexel, but five NIT bids is all he's had to show for 15 seasons in Philadelphia.

Only 19 Division I coaches have been at their jobs longer than Flint, with only Yale's James Jones not taking his team to the NCAA tournament during their tenures.

Trent Johnson, TCU

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Year at school: 4th

Record at school: 46-64

2015-16 record: 8-6, 0-2 Big 12

Based on Trent Johnson's career coaching history, after this season is over, he might be on the move. But this time it might not be his choice.

Johnson spent five seasons at Nevada before getting hired by Stanford in 2004. After four seasons with the Cardinal, he left to take the LSU job in 2008, and four seasons later he moved over to TCU. He finished with a winning record at each of his previous stops, but last year's 18-15 mark was his first time above .500 with the Horned Frogs.

TCU has gone 6-50 in Big 12 play, all under Johnson, never better than 4-14. It had a chance for a signature win on Monday, leading No. 17 West Virginia by seven early in the second half only to lose 95-87. That was the Frogs' first conference game in remodeled Schollmaier Arena, which had undergone a $72 million facelift.

With TCU's football program becoming such a success, all eyes turn to men's basketball to do the same. But since starting 13-0 last season, Johnson has gone 13-20.

Johnny Jones, LSU

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Year at school: 4th

Record at school: 69-42

2015-16 record: 8-5, 1-0 SEC

Outside influences might have contributed to LSU backing off on a speculated firing of football coach Les Miles in November—a level of support Johnny Jones can't hope to rely on if he's unable to get the Tigers into the NCAA tournament this season. Not when he brought in the fourth-best recruiting class in the country, per 247Sports, that included the odds-on favorite to be the top pick in the 2016 NBA draft.

LSU is coming off its biggest win of the 2015-16 season, a 90-82 victory at Vanderbilt to open SEC play, and on Tuesday it hosts league favorite Kentucky. This is following the trend of last year's Tigers team, which beat two ranked teams and had six SEC road victories but also experienced several notable flops, including losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The arrival of a bumper crop of recruits, led by Australian forward Ben Simmons, was supposed to make this year different. However, even with Simmons—whom NBADraft.net, among others, has pegged as the top pick in June's NBA draft—LSU went 7-5 in the preseason without any quality victories.

Jones played for LSU on its 1981 Final Four team and was an assistant on the 1986 Final Four squad; he's a favorite son in Baton Rouge. It remains to be seen if that good fortune will be enough to survive this season if he can't produce with the talent at his disposal.

Richard Pitino, Minnesota

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Year at school: 3rd

Record at school: 49-36

2015-16 record: 6-8, 0-2 Big Ten

Whether or not his lineage paved the way for Richard Pitino to be a Division I head coach at 29 (or be in charge of a power-conference program at 30), it probably won't be able to keep him from getting fired if his team doesn't reverse its downward trend.

The son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino took Minnesota to the NIT championship game in his first season there in 2013-14, but that was mostly with players brought in by predecessor Tubby Smith. Last year the Golden Gophers went 18-15 and tied for 10th place in the Big Ten; his current squad has lost six of seven.

The last defeat was understood, a 69-61 home setback to then-No. 1 Michigan State, but in December the Gophers fell at home to South Dakota, South Dakota State and Milwaukee.

Smith, meanwhile, is 11-1 in his third season at Texas Tech.

Dave Rice, UNLV

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Year at school: 5th

Record at school: 98-52

2015-16 record: 9-5, 0-1 Mountain West

Dave Rice has posted a winning record in each of his first four seasons at his alma mater, where he was part of UNLV's 1990 national championship team under Jerry Tarkanian. His recruiting acumen has made the Runnin' Rebels a player for most of the top prospects each year, signing four 5-star players, per 247Sports, including freshman center Stephen Zimmerman.

But Rice's teams have gotten worse as time has passed, with fewer wins each year. He won 26 games in 2011-12 and 25 the following season, making the NCAA tournament each year, but then winning only 20 and 18, respectively, the next couple of seasons with no postseason berths.

His current team has lost four of six, including the Mountain West Conference opener at home to Fresno State. The MWC is very weak this year, with no team rated higher than 75th in the KenPom.com rankings, and UNLV hosts the conference tournament. Missing the NCAA field for a third straight season with such favorable conditions isn't the way to build job security, even as a legacy.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.