College Football's Coaching Carousel Begins Early—Who's Next?

Three's a charm, isn't it? With the unexpected termination of Tommy Bowden of Clemson, there have to be a few other coaches who now know the inevitable is coming sooner rather than later. While Clemson may have given Bowden an ultimatum—win the ACC or else—the timing of this stinks. The only ones who get hurt by this are the Clemson players. They are now left with a lame duck coach and total instability on the sidelines. Why are these early firings coming so early? MONEY. Thanks to the BCS, it's big bowl or bust. Schools spending millions upon millions on student-athletes in a down economy are feeling pressure to react to boosters who lost half their savings in the stock market or 401ks. The boosters are feeling the pinch, and they want some return on their donations. Win it, dammit. Who's next for the firing squad? Tyrone Willingham and Tommy Tuberville. Reports have surfaced (Ben Maller's rumors 10/12/08) that U-Dub is already shopping for another coach, which has to do wonders for the Huskies' morale. While the school has publicly backed Willingham, unnamed sources are leaking a shopping list for Washington's new coach. Nice job, guys. Tommy Tuberville will also be looking at a new job shortly. His premature firing of OC Tony Franklin was so shocking, that you have to think Tuberville was presented a similar ultimatum prior to the Arkansas game. With Arky beating Auburn, it now looks like Tuberville's genius isn't as smart as Franklin's. The Razorbacks are the doormat of the SEC this year due to a tremendous loss of talent, and yet Tuberville still couldn't right the sinking Titanic moored in Auburn. Auburn fans must be reeling: their hearts were set on winning the SEC, and now they just hope they can get in the Independence or PapaJohns.com Bowl. Anybody else? How about Chuck Long at San Diego State, Phil Fulmer at Tennessee, Bret Bielema at Wisconsin, and Charlie Weis at Notre Dame? While Long's job insecurity seems a bit obvious, what about Fulmer, Beilema, and Weis? Fulmer has suffered a dismal season so far, and the Vols fans won't put up with it. Adding to their misery is the fact that Fulmer was given a long extension—the payout for the contract could cause the Vols to be Fulmer's for a long time unless it gets too unbearable. The Vols have beaten two teams: UAB and Northern Illinois. They barely beat the Huskies at that, winning 13-9. Losing 14-12 to Auburn at the time seemed acceptable, since Auburn was 3-1 at the time and the Tigers gave LSU a close game in the preceding week. Now we know differently, don't we? Bielema? Yikes. Losing three in a row is unheard of. It was bad enough losing to a Michigan team that lost to Notre Dame, and a close loss to Ohio State was somewhat acceptable, but losing 48-7 to Penn State is inexcusable. It's the absolute drilling they took that makes Bret's hot seat scorching. You simply don't lose to a peer that badly. Making matters worse is that the Badgers had seventeen returning starters at the beginning of the season. With a soft schedule remaining, suddenly the games at Iowa and Michigan State look iffy, and a suddenly improved Minnesota could land the Badgers in some deep water. Their only three wins are over Marshall, Akron and Fresno State, and right now, a 6-6 season looks likely. Finally, there is Weis. Charlie privately projected a 9-12 win season, and so far he's lost a couple of games he thought he would win—both on the road. The next games for the Irish are Washington (a win), Pitt (too close too call), Boston College (loss), NAVY (win), Syracuse (win), and USC (loss). It looks like a seven win season, which is an improvement over last year in terms of wins, but does that mean the team has improved? The fact remains that the Irish have beaten only one team with a winning record- Stanford. Cal Poly scored more points on San Diego State than the Irish did. All of the Irish's losses have been to teams with a winning record. So, in reality, the Irish team has not improved, but their record has, due to a soft schedule. Has Weis ever beaten a team that was favored? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Beat USC and his job is safe. Lose, and it's nail-biting time in South Bend.