College Football Recruiting 2012: Hot Seat Coaches Who Need a Great Class

I'm not sure if a great recruiting class can save a coach's job.

In fact, I know it can't, because you really won't know if the class is any good until three years down the road. Plus, many coaches get fired in December and recruits don't sign until February.

Yet, for this read, I want to bring up a few coaches who could stand to have a solid recruiting class going into the bowl season to help aid their case for why they should keep their jobs.

Here's a couple coaches on the hot seat who need to have a solid class.

Tom O'Brien

The NC State lead wolf has not enjoyed the success he was expected to produce in Raleigh since coming over from Boston College.

His seat has been rumored to be warming up more and more, and O'Brien hasn't really lit up the recruiting trail. Hopefully with Butch Davis gone from Chapel Hill, that releases some of the stranglehold which UNC had on the Carolina region recruiting trail.

If so, O'Brien should be able to land some good talent this recruiting cycle. If not, coupled with a bad year on the field with the Wolfpack, he may be gone. 

Paul Wulff

I actually believe Paul Wulff is a good coach and may need more time, but unfortunately this is college football and coaches don't get a lot of time.

Wulff has also been victim of "recruiting for other schools." He and his staff have had instances of evaluating an unknown player, getting a commitment from them, then down the home stretch another school comes in a swipes the player away.

Wazzu is also not a Pac-12 power anymore and rumors were abound of Wulff's dismissal last season. He met with the school's athletic director and saved his job, but this year he needs a good season and a solid class.

Rick Neuheisel

So Kirk Herbstreit thinks UCLA will win the Pac-12 South this year, eh? We'll see.

The last two years, Slick Rick has not enjoyed good recruiting classes in Westwood. He started his tenure off well with two great classes back to back, but has not gotten anywhere close to the expected production of those classes.

He's on the hot seat this year and likely needs to make it to a bowl game. A good recruiting class also wouldn't hurt.