We’re far enough into the season to have an idea of which teams are chronically underperforming and which have just had some bad luck. The teams in the former category might want to start brainstorming potential replacements for their coaches, as several coaches have had ugly starts to the year.
Which college football coaches are on the hot seat after Week 5, and which ones are feeling their seats getting warmer?
6 Coaches on the College Football 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.
Brent Pry, Virginia Tech
It’s hard to put a coach on the hot seat for a close (and I mean close) loss to a top-10 team, but the way the Hokies lost was all too familiar.
Brent Pry is now 1-10 in one-score games in his career. That could indicate that the team isn’t that far off, but it could also show that the head coach really struggles in dogfights and, in some ways, contributes to the losses. Friday, Pry’s clock management was the leading contributor to the loss.
Let’s ignore the end of the second half for a minute, as that atrocious clock management was the better of Pry’s two halves.
At the end of the first half, Virginia Tech took a sack to get to fourth down at the plus-40 and immediately called timeout with 25 seconds left rather than letting the clock wind down and kicking a field goal at the end of the half.
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That allowed Miami (after a weird squib kick) to drive quickly and counter with its own field goal. It would have helped Virginia Tech be down one at the end instead of four.
But then the final drive. With two timeouts and two minutes remaining, the Hokies ran three plays for 10 yards in 54 seconds, never considering using a timeout and forcing themselves into a Hail Mary situation when even average clock management would have given them plenty of time to run a normal offensive sequence.
PJ Fleck, Minnesota
As my colleague James Fragoza likes to say, “Culture can only take you so far.”
I’ll add to that statement a bit: “Culture only works when you’re winning.”
PJ Fleck has not done enough winning lately, as the Golden Gophers are 3-10 in the last two seasons against Power Four opponents. The offense has been anemic against Power conference competition, and the Golden Gophers have reached 30 points just twice in their last 16 such games (and lost both).
This team isn’t fun to watch, and there might be some cracks in Fleck’s culture. If there’s any dissent or the Golden Gophers have transfer portal issues, it’s over.
Trent Dilfer, UAB
I was never a fan of Trent Dilfer’s hire, and things seem to be rapidly deteriorating in Birmingham. After going 4-8 last season, the Blazers have opened this season 1-3 without a win over an FBS opponent.
The schedule does them no favors, as they likely won’t be less than a touchdown underdog until finishing with Rice and Charlotte. Things could get ugly here.
The players were vocal about wanting Bryant Vincent in the first place, and the administration won’t take kindly to the fact that he’s had early success at Louisina-Monroe. This was never a great cultural fit, and it’s starting to show.
If UAB starts 1-6 or even 1-9 — which is possible — the administration will have no choice but to move on.
Dave Aranda, Baylor
As a fan of Dave Aranda’s hire at Baylor, I was skeptical about putting him on the college football hot seat, but I’ve seen enough. The issue here is you have a defensive-minded head coach, shouldn’t that coach’s defense look well-coached?
The Baylor defense seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Admittedly, a late rally against BYU after getting boat raced in the first half is encouraging, as the team hasn’t given up, but it’s still not great in Waco.
Aranda is 25-28 at Baylor, including 11-19 in his last two and a half years. If this goes south, it could go south quickly, especially as I’ve heard from multiple college coaches that his defensive coaching was atrocious against Colorado, and the Hail Mary defense — or lack thereof — will be on teaching tape for years to come.
Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
This is a unique and rare situation. Dave Clawson could be in danger for not hitting the bar that he set and raised in the past. But he’s struggled in the transfer portal era, and it may be time for a mutual parting.
If Clawson is fired, he’ll be hired elsewhere, perhaps at another Power Four school, but his time seems to be waning in Winston-Salem. The academic standards and transfer issues are rearing their ugly heads, but the slow mesh is still difficult to defend and Clawson remains a tremendous coach.
Wake Forest is 5-10 since Sam Hartman left for Notre Dame, and it doesn’t look like things will get better soon. It pains me to put a coach of Clawson’s caliber on this list, but it doesn’t look like he can get back to the heights he took Wake Forest to in the past.
Hugh Freeze, Auburn
Though Hugh Freeze would like to blame it all on his quarterbacks, there’s more at play here than inconsistency at that position.
So, given the baggage that comes with Freeze and the proven quick trigger of Auburn’s biggest boosters, it should be no surprise that the Tigers’ head coach is feeling the heat.
Listen, it’s a good time to pile on Freeze. Had a play or two gone in the other direction, people might have talked about how great the hire was compared to Bryan Harsin instead of putting him on hot seat lists. But as it is, we get to discuss the issues with Freeze.
It certainly doesn’t help that Freeze has former quarterbacks coming out against his coaching abilities. Former Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace tweeted last week that it never seems to be Freeze’s fault. Much more subtlely, current South Carolina quarterback Robby Ashford seemed to imply Freeze didn’t coach him as a passer.
There’s no reason Auburn should have lost to Oklahoma, but then again, there’s no reason Auburn should have lost to Cal or Arkansas either. Freeze is 1-5 in one-score games with the Tigers, and the big-money boosters will not be happy if things continue to go downhill, especially if it affects the recruiting class.
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