The 2024 college football coaching carousel is already underway. With two programs already looking to replace their head coach after a dismal start to the season, which other teams could be on the verge of dismissing their current leader before the season concludes? Heading out of the weekend’s action, who are the college football hot seat coaches?
5 Coaches on the College Football Hot Seat
Mike Locksley, Maryland
One week can be like an eternity in college football, with the events of a previous game completely forgotten about and nullified by the most recent. Seven days ago, the Maryland Terrapins’ were piling the college football hot seat pressure on USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley, but the reality of their situation within the Big Ten hit home in Week 9.
The loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers — a team with its own share of problems in 2024 — heaps the pressure back on Mike Locksley. The Terps were 21-0 down at the end of the first quarter and looked listless on both sides of the ball.
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Locksley moves to 33-37 as the head coach, and the program is staring down the barrel of another season without a winning conference record. Sitting at 1-4 with the Oregon Ducks, Iowa Hawkeyes, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, and Penn State Nittany Lions still to play, they could legitimately end the year with a 1-8 Big Ten record that includes a loss to the Northwestern Wildcats.
The fan base is frustrated. Under Locksley, Maryland has become somewhat stagnant, and in a sport where the goalposts are constantly moving (quite literally in some parts of Tennessee) due to NIL, the transfer portal, and conference realignment, there’s a feeling that the current head coach doesn’t have what it takes to turn the corner and make the team a contender.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables led our college football hot seat coaches last week after a crushing defeat to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Rather than the leader of the first-year SEC outfit getting his marching orders, offensive coordinator Seth Littrell was scapegoated and left the program. So, naturally, the Sooners were much better in Week 9, right?
Wrong. It turns out that Littrell might not have been the problem after all. Oklahoma fired blanks in the second half after scoring two touchdowns in the first half of the defeat to the Ole Miss Rebels. Meanwhile, the defense — Venables’ forte — capitulated in the third quarter. The Sooners have now lost three on the bounce and have just one SEC win in their debut campaign.
Gerad Parker, Troy
“His proven pedigree will maintain our status as the leader in the Sun Belt Conference and the Group of Five.”
It might seem unlikely or even unfair to throw a first-year head coach onto a college football hot seat list, but there’s no doubt that Gerad Parker has failed to live up to the expectations placed upon him by Troy Trojans’ Director of Athletic Brent Jones when he was hired less than 12 months ago.
In that time, Troy has gone from being the Sun Belt frontrunner to conference bottom-dweller. It was always going to be difficult replacing Jon Sumrall — and losing starting quarterback Goose Crowder doesn’t help — but after losing to the Arkansas Red Wolves in Week 9, Parker’s team has failed to secure bowl eligibility for the first time since 2021.
Under Parker, a renowned offensive mind, Troy ranked 121st in the FBS for scoring offensive ahead of Week 9. Meanwhile, a team that has built its reputation — and secured back-to-back Sun Belt titles — on a strong defensive base, ranks 94th for points allowed in 2024. With two difficult road games remaining, Parker might post the worst first-year coach record in program history.
Stan Drayton, Temple
It’s a tough time to be a head coach in the AAC. Mike Houston became the first to be fired in the 2024 campaign, and two of the five college football hot seat coaches on our list this week reside in the conference that prides itself on being the best at the Group of Five level. Week 9 isn’t the first time Stan Drayton has found himself on this list, but it could well be the last.
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A win over Tulsa in Week 8 likely brought the Temple Owls head coach some time, that he immediately lost this week with a crushing defeat to the East Carolina Pirates. There’s something to be said for a team playing under an interim coach, but ECU hadn’t scored over 30 points against an FBS opponent until putting up 56 on a team whose identity has always been around dominant defenses and the “Temple TUFF” mentaility.
Trent Dilfer, UAB
The UAB Blazers were on a bye in Week 9, but that doesn’t relieve any of the college football hot seat pressure on Trent Dilfer. Arguably the most eye-opening hire of the 2023 coaching cycle, the former Super Bowl winner has taken a program that was a perennial Group of Five and turned it into 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.
Other Potential College Football Hot Seat Coaches
- Gus Malzahn, UCF Knights
- Sonny Dykes, TCU Horned Frogs
- Mike MacIntyre, FIU Panthers
- Ryan Walters, Purdue
- Hugh Freeze, Auburn
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