As we get into the back half of November, firing season is well and truly upon us. We’ve seen several head coaches receive their marching orders, including Mike Neu being relieved of his duties as college football Saturday got underway. Heading out of the Week 12 action, who are the college football hot seat coaches?
5 Coaches on the College Football Hot Seat
Brian Kelly, LSU
Brian Kelly may have guided the LSU Tigers to successive 10-win seasons, but his time in Baton Rouge might be coming to an end sooner rather than later. After losing to the Florida Gators in Week 12 (ending their SEC title bid and CFB Playoff chances), the former Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach is feeling the heat as the most high-profile name on the college football hot seat.
LSU had already lost three games coming into Week 12, falling to the USC Trojans in Week 1 before succumbing to the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas A&M Aggies over the last two games. Those defeats to ranked teams have raised questions about Kelly’s ability to win the big game, concerns that followed him to Baton Rouge from his time with the Fighting Irish.
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But on Saturday night, the Tigers tumbled to a new low in “The Swamp.” Florida head coach Billy Napier has been on the college football hot seat this season (and last) due to his team’s poor performances. Yet, LSU made the Gators look like world-beaters in front of a national audience, allowing 7.7 yards per play while conjuring up nothing from their dominant time of possession.
More troubling for the program was Kelly’s interactions with his players on the sideline. Kyren Lacy was seen screaming at his head coach as he left the field, while cameras appeared to catch Kelly berating and belittling Chris Hilton Jr. Kelly appears to have lost the locker room, and judging by social media, doesn’t have the support of the fanbase. His behemoth buyout may save him.
Tom Herman, Florida Atlantic
When the Florida Atlantic Owls fired Willie Taggart following the 2022 season, Athletic Director Brian White blamed “the lack of on-field success” shown by the program during his tenure. Hiring Tom Herman in December 2022, he enthused about his winning pedigree while reiterating his belief that “he can be tremendously successful at FAU.”
Two years later, those words return to haunt White.
Taggart compiled a .455 record with the Owls, winning 15 of 33 games. After slumping to an overtime defeat to the Temple Owls, Herman holds a .272 record from his 22 games. He has led the program to just six wins, and the latest loss to a poor AAC opponent is likely to be viewed as an embarrassment by anyone with connections to the program.
Herman went 4-8 in his first year with a 3-5 conference record, an excusable transition as a new coach looked to mold his team while playing in a new conference. However, in a weaker AAC in 2024, they’re now 0-6 in conference play and staring down their worst season since 2016. Paradise? With the temperature on his college football hot seat, Herman might feel a little closer to hell.
Ryan Walters, Purdue
We try to keep this weekly column fresh, bringing different names into focus as the hiring and firing cycle ebbs and flows in November. However, such is the dire state of the Purdue Boilermakers football program right now that Ryan Walters feels destined to remain rooted to the college football hot seat after suffering another heavy defeat in Week 12.
Hired on the back of his stingy defenses at the Illinois Fighting Illini, Walters’ team ranked 129th in the nation for points allowed during the 2024 season heading into Week 12 of the 2024 college football. They gave up more than 40 once again while slipping to their ninth defeat of the season against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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Walters fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell after a sluggish start to the season, but that hasn’t changed the fortunes of the program. Although they put up 49 on his former team, they could only score 20 points on a poor Northwestern Wildcats team. They went scoreless against the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes, with just 10 points vs. Penn State in Week 12.
Walters is now 5-17 overall as the Purdue head coach and has just three Big Ten wins on his resume. With the Michigan State Spartans and Indiana Hoosiers on the schedule to close out the season, there’s a good chance the Boilermakers end the year with a 1-11 record, the worst for the program since 2013.
Mike MacIntyre, FIU
Remove the final two seasons of the Butch Jones era, and Mike MacIntyre owns two of the worst seasons in FIU Panthers’ recent history. The last two campaigns have resulted in a 4-8 finish, and there is a chance that he will guide the team to a third consecutive four-win season. Expectations at FIU aren’t as high as some other Florida teams but they have got to be higher.
MacIntyre has a history of producing the goods in Year 3 with a program, but if these are the goods, then FIU might want to find a new head coach. They’ve played some close games in CUSA, nearly taking down Jacksonville State in Week 12. Until they get over the hump and emerge victorious from those games, however, their head coach will be on the college football hot seat.
Shawn Clark, Appalachian State
The Appalachian State Mountaineers were on a bye in Week 12, but with games against the James Madison Dukes and Georgia Southern Eagles between them and a 4-7 season, Shawn Clark remains on the college football hot seat. Here’s what we wrote about the why the Mountaineers’ head coach is under pressure last week:
“Remember when the Appalachian State Mountaineers were a preseason favorite to lift the Sun Belt Conference crown and even talked about in hushed corners (of the CFN office) as a potential College Football Playoff Group of Five representative? That was a fun time to be a Mountaineers fan, I’m sure.
It feels like a long time ago and Appalachian State fans have run out of patience with head coach Shawn Clark. The reason they were so widely tipped to succeed in the Sun Belt was because the roster is loaded with talented playmakers. Sadly, Clark hasn’t been able to extract the best from them — or even a modicum of their potential.
The result has been a season that could end up being their worst in program history as an FBS outfit. Clark already has the unwanted “accolade” of guiding Appalachian State to its worst Sun Belt record (6-6 in 2022), but he might fall short of that mark. For a program used to winning the Sun Belt title, that will make his the warmest of college football hot seats.”
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