As we exit Week 8 of the 2024 college football season, the opportunity to turn a losing record into a winning one is beginning to dwindle. For coaches on the college football hot seat, time is running out rapidly, and some are feeling the heat substantially more than others.
Heading out of the weekend’s action, who are the college football hot seat coaches?
5 Coaches on the College Football Hot Seat
Brent Venables, Oklahoma
After a crushing defeat to the South Carolina Gamecocks, is time running out for Brent Venables as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners? If fans of the SEC newcomer have their way, his departure will come sooner rather than later. The 35-9 loss in Norman, where a ludicrous run without an offensive touchdown extended into the third quarter, might be the final straw.
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Venables is now 20-13 in his two seasons and seven games, which is much better than some of his contemporaries on this college football hot seat coaches list. However, if you remove a 10-win 2023 campaign that flattered to deceive, it looks far worse. The defense has been listless in recent weeks, and the offense has been non-existent despite experiments with two QBs.
Lincoln Riley, USC
The USC Trojans exit Week 8 of the 2024 college football season with a losing record. Just let that sink in for one second. The Pac-12 frontrunner helped disband a once-proud conference to “compete” with the best of the best and has been found wanting. USC is 3-4 overall and 1-4 in conference play. Head coach Lincoln Riley is now 5-9 in his last 14 games with questions to answer.
Let’s hope he has better answers for those wielding the power at USC than the “I don’t know” that he mustered when asked why his team can’t close out games following the 29-28 defeat to the mighty Maryland Terrapins. Questionable play calls and clock management have cost the program in the last two weeks, and the Trojans don’t have an identity to hang their hat on right now.
Trent Dilfer, UAB
Trent Dilfer was an eye-opening hire by the UAB Blazers ahead of the 2023 college football season. One and a half campaigns later, it looks less eye-opening and more bone-headed as a program that had been a perennial Group of Five power in recent seasons has become one of the most troubled and unwatchable in the nation.
The UAB head coach has presided over a reign of questionable decision-making (including infamous former Florida QB Jalen Kitna), some interesting sideline shenanigans, and most importantly, a stretch of bad results that looks to culminate in the program’s worst record since 2013. They’re now 1-6 after a Week 9 loss to the USF Bulls, with Dilfer carrying a 5-14 record as a head coach.
Mike Houston, East Carolina
Mike Houston arrived in Greenville in 2019 and inherited a team that had put together back-to-back-to-back three-win seasons. Two years later, he led the East Carolina Pirates to their best conference record since 2014 and put together consecutive winning seasons. That seems like a long time ago. After a two-win campaign in 2023, Houston is feeling the pressure this fall.
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After succumbing to a poor Appalachian State Mountaineers team in Week 3, the Pirates capitulated after being 14 points to the good against the Liberty Flames. A win against the UTSA Roadrunners might have been more impressive in a season where the San Antonio-based team weren’t having their own struggles. A Week 8 shellacking from the Army Black Knights (the box score flatters ECU) could see Houston on the hot seat.
Hugh Freeze, Alabama
USC head coach Riley isn’t the only one with a 5-9 record in the last 14 games. Hugh Freeze arrived on the Plains to great acclaim, but his tenure as the Auburn Tigers head coach has yet to match the excitement around his hire. While he’s succeeded in the recruiting arena, his inability to find a competent starting quarterback is especially disconcerting for Auburn fans.
The Tigers added another defeat to their 2024 resume in Week 8, which wasn’t unsurprising given they were an underdog against the Missouri Tigers. However, after being up 14 midway through the third quarter, the nature of the capitulation (giving up 18 unanswered points to a QB who spent some of the game in hospital) will continue to turn the heat on Freeze.
Auburn has now lost four on the bounce, with the Texas A&M Aggies and Alabama Crimson Tide still to come on the schedule. After losing to a Diego Pavia-led New Mexico State Aggies team one year ago, the November 2 clash with the Vanderbilt Commodores will also drive fear into the hearts of Tigers fans.
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