Coaching Hot Seat: Brian Kelly and the 5 Hottest Seats in College Football

This happens every season during the college football year. Coaches either win and keep their jobs or as the losses pile up, their seat gets hotter. That's just how it is when you're the coach of a college football program.

Win and stay or lose and go home.

That's especially true when you're the coach of a big program like Notre Dame and are expected to win every season and make a big bowl game.

Here are five of the coaches that are sitting on the hottest seat right now and if things don't turn around quickly, they'll be looking for a job elsewhere.

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Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt

Houston Nutt started his first two seasons at Ole Miss on the right track. Two 9-4 seasons and consecutive Cotton Bowl victories are an impressive way to start. Since then it has been all down hill.

Last season the Rebels finished the year 4-8 and had one of the worst defenses in the country. In 2011, it appears that this team can't do anything right. They are currently 1-3 and are one of the worst offensive teams in the country in almost every statistical category.

It doesn't get any easier for Nutt as his team still has to face Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State.

The only thing that could save him from being fired is a possible bowl berth, but it's highly unlikely that will happen.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly

I know it's early and it's only his second season with the program but this is Notre Dame.

It's also a season where fans and critics believed that Kelly had all the tools in place to make a run towards a BCS bowl. Two losses against teams they should have beaten quickly shattered those hopes.

It's not just the fact that the Irish lost those games, it's how they lost them. Turning the ball over a combined 10 times in two games is sloppy and doesn't look good on the coach. It's also unacceptable when you're Notre Dame and held to a higher standard than most.

The last two weeks the Irish have played the way they're supposed to play with two victories over Michigan State and Pittsburgh. But don't think Kelly is out of the woods just yet, he is still on a very short leash.

Georgia coach Mark Richt

Mark Richt has been a great coach for the Georgia Bulldogs in the past but when you coach in the SEC, it's all about what have you done for me lately.

Lately, it's not much. In the last two and a half seasons the Bulldogs are 16-16 and started 2011 off with two losses. Sure, they were against two top teams in Boise State and South Carolina but it's Georgia. They have some of the best recruiting classes in the country and are supposed to compete with the top competition year in and year out.

Two recent wins against Coastal Carolina and Ole Miss have kind of quieted the talks but with the Bulldogs entering the heart of the SEC schedule, they may pick up again. Especially with games against Mississippi State, Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech.

Richt probably won't be let go until the season is over, but his days in Athens could be his last.

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel

Rick Neuheisel has struggled ever since he arrived on campus in 2008 as his overall record is 17-24.

After two seasons of going 4-8 and starting this season off 2-2, the seat remains hot for Neuheisel. This UCLA team is used to making bowl games (not usually winning, but at least appearing in them) and they have only made one in three seasons.

It's also pretty bad last week when the Bruins played the Oregon State Beavers, the Beavers returned a punt for a touchdown at the end of the half. Neuheisel's halftime response was,  "I wanted to kick the ball out of bounds. We didn't get it out of bounds and unfortunately, you know, we paid the price."

Um, yeah, he won't be roaming the sidelines in the Rose Bowl very long.

Oregon State Coach Mike Riley

Mike Riley has been the coach for the Beavers since 1997, but it appears that run is soon coming to an end.

Riley has had success with this program, leading them to six bowl games and winning five of them. But after a 5-7 finish last season and a horrible 0-3 start this year, it's only a matter of time before he is let go. It's pretty bad when you lose to Sacramento State in your own house.

Nobody expected the Beavers to be National Championship contenders but this is as bad as it can get. What makes it worse is the Beavers don't get a break with games against Arizona State, Arizona, BYU, Stanford and Oregon left on the schedule.

Ouch.