Coaching Hot Seat 2011: 4 Coaches Who Can't Afford a Week 10 Loss

There have already been three midseason firings in 2011—Arizona’s Mike Stoops, Tulane’s Bob Toledo and New Mexico’s Mike Locksley—and there may be more to come if certain head coaches can’t pull their teams together by the end of this season.

Everyone is talking about the LSU-Alabama game, but there are several important games this weekend featuring coaches that may not be at their school next year.

Here are the coaches that absolutely must get a win this week.

Houston Nutt

Ole Miss has become mathematically worse every year Nutt has been a head coach and the Rebels are continuing that trend this season. They are 2-6 without a win in the SEC, and may finish the year with only one or possibly no wins in their conference.

This weekend, Ole Miss travels to play Kentucky—a team that is also winless in the SEC. An Ole Miss loss here and Nutt’s time is done.

Paul Wulff

Washington State had a promising start but have fallen way back. They sit at 1-4 in the Pac-12 and Wulff is 8-37 during his four years at the school.

The Cougars take on a Cal team this weekend that is also 1-4 in conference play. If Washington State can’t beat a slumping Bears team led by coach Jeff Tedford—who is also on the hot seat—say goodbye to Wulff. After four years, a three- or four-win season doesn’t cut.

Turner Gill

Gill is the head coach of Kansas and the Jayhawks have been absolutely miserable since Mark Mangino took the program to an Orange Bowl victory in 2007. The team ranks dead last in yards allowed and points allowed, second to last in rush defense and third to last in pass defense.

How any team can be that bad at this level is astonishing. If Kansas doesn’t beat Iowa State this weekend, the Jayhawks likely won’t win a game for the rest of the season.

Neil Callaway

The UAB coach cannot be happy right now. His team is 1-7 and the school just voted not to build a new stadium on campus. This all points to Callaway getting canned and the disbanding of the entire football program.

Everything fell off the wheels once do-it-all quarterback Joe Webb left and it doesn’t look like the pieces can be picked up in time to save Callaway’s job.