Week 4 has revealed quite a bit about several teams around the country, and as we have more information, it’s becoming increasingly clear that a few coaches are in danger of being fired at the end of the season — or before.
Which college football coaches are on the hot seat after Week 4, and which ones are feeling their seats getting warmer?
5 College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat
For our purposes here, I’m only listing coaches with a realistic chance of being fired at or before the conclusion of the 2024 season. While performance on the field is the main factor in a coach’s firing, buyouts and off-field relationships can play a key role in determining which coaches are ultimately let go.
Here are five guys I think could be gone at the end of the year if things go downhill over the course of the season.
Shawn Clark, Appalachian State
Several years ago, I was vocally in favor of Clark’s internal promotion to head coach. He has a great assistant resume, the respect of his players, and he’s a strong recruiter.
That being said, at some point, you have to win with the talent you’ve accumulated.
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This is one of the softest teams coached by a former offensive line coach I’ve ever seen. The defense is atrocious, and the offense is way too talented to average 18 points against FBS competition.
I absolutely hate that Clark is on the hot seat, but the Mountaineers went from dark-horse College Football Playoff contenders to being in danger of having a truly awful season.
Dave Doeren, NC State
This is tough because it’s an example of a coach failing to live up to the bar that he set. Nobody at NC State has had as much success as Dave Doeren, but he’s shown that he can’t exceed nine wins.
Being the best example of consistency is a double-edged sword. It means there’s a floor that a coach constantly exceeds, but it also implies there’s a ceiling he can’t break.
This was supposed to be the year NC State broke through. There’s been consistency on staff, the defense was supposed to be excellent again, and the Wolfpack have more offensive weapons than ever before.
Instead, the quarterback transfer didn’t work out, the defense is awful, and the staff isn’t making many correct moves. It wouldn’t be surprising to see NC State turn this around and win eight or nine games, and that’s the issue. The Wolfpack are decent enough but nowhere near the sport’s top tier. At some point, that’s going to catch up to Doeren.
Kenni Burns, Kent State
Kenni Burns is just a scapegoat. It’s obvious in looking at the schedule that there are some money issues at Kent State.
MAC coaches have an issue moving up in the coaching world, so Sean Lewis left to become the offensive coordinator at Colorado. This left Kent State to go cheap with its head coaching job and throw Burns into a horrible situation.
Burns doesn’t have the organizational support or players to succeed, but throwing him out against Penn State and Tennessee is laughable. It would also be short-sighted to shell out money to get rid of Burns, but people demand wins, and 1-14 is not good enough, no matter the situation.
Mack Brown, North Carolina
Mack Brown is never getting fired, but North Carolina’s administration should coax him into retirement. It’s simply unfathomable that North Carolina’s defense is this bad.
Brown can hire famous former head coaches to run his defense all he wants, but he’s the common denominator, and it’s time to move on and turn the reins over to someone else.
I get that Max Johnson got hurt in Week 1, but this team has to be better, and losing to James Madison in that fashion is unacceptable. It’s not like the Tar Heels have played especially well against their other opponents, either.
I’m a huge fan of Brown, but I was at South Carolina when Steve Spurrier stayed too long and set the program back a decade. Brown can’t do that to the place he loves, and he needs to step aside — voluntarily or forcibly — before it’s too late.
Will Hall, Southern Miss
I was a fan of Will Hall’s hiring when he came to Southern Miss from D2 West Georgia, but his tenure has been a disaster.
Although expectations for this season were not great to begin with, the Golden Eagles have fallen short of even the most pessimistic fans’ predictions.
In one of the only winnable games left on the schedule, the Golden Eagles threw four interceptions in a 44-7 loss to previously winless Jacksonville State. The offense is borderline unwatchable, and the defense is not much better.
It’s hard to win at Southern Miss, but it’s time to go a different direction.
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