The pressure to win now has sped up the pace of the college football coaching carousel over the past decade. There was already a number of head coaches on the hot seat heading in to this season and for four of them in particularly the situations have become that much more pressing following disappointing week one outcomes. There were an unusual amount of big games to start the year, so that has led to some big losses, some early disappointment and some hot seat spots for some coaches.
There is a discernible look to this list as two of the teams are located in Los Angeles and two of the teams are Tigers. Here is a look at the four college football coaches already on the hot seat heading in to week two.
Les Miles, LSU Tigers
Miles could very well be the new frontrunner to get fired among college football head coaches following a 16-14 loss to Wisconsin in LSU’s season opener. The Tigers surprised a lot of people when they decided to bring back Miles following a disappointing 2015 season so a season-opening loss against an unranked opponent from the Big Ten has only added fuel to the fire in Louisiana. Quarterback Brandon Harris showed absolutely nothing to made anybody think he is on the right track to improvement this season and the LSU passing game appears to be a major weakness once again. Remember that the Tigers could possibly be a College Football Playoff contender if they had a respectable passing game, but as of now, it’s hard to believe that it will change. We heard all offseason about how things will be difference but when the game was on the line and LSU was moving into field goal range to try and kick a game-winning field goal, Harris threw the ball directly to a Wisconsin defender and ended the game.
The Tigers will have a chance to bounce back against lowly Jacksonville State this week but the pressure is building with a showdown against Mississippi State just around the corner. It’s very likely that if LSU loses even just one more time this year that Miles is gone.
Jim Mora Jr., UCLA Bruins
All of the hype surrounding UCLA entering this season disappeared in a hurry following a 31-24 loss to Texas A&M in their opener. The Bruins couldn’t slow down Aggies’ quarterback Trevor Knight, while their own pivot Josh Rosen completed just 26-of-46 pass attempts with one touchdown and three interceptions in the loss. UCLA took a hit after opening the season ranked No. 16 in the country and the urgency will increase dramatically heading in to a week two showdown with UNLV. He is slowly moving towards the hot seat.
Guz Malzahn, Auburn Tigers
The Tigers nearly upset the defending ACC champions Clemson but it was the offense that fell short in a 19-13 loss and that is Malzahn’s area of expertise. Kevin Steele’s defense more than held its own but Auburn couldn’t top 13 points and it looks as though the offense could be a liability once again in 2016. Malzahn isn’t going to be fired for a close loss to a national championship contender but his stock took another hit after failing to capitalize on a tremendous upset opportunity versus Clemson. He needs to start finding some wins to get off the hot seat.
Clay Helton, USC Trojans
Everybody knew that the Trojans would face an uphill climb dealing with a tough schedule beginning with the defending national champion Alabama in week one. However, nobody could have expected USC to be completely dismantled in the fashion they were with a 52-6 loss to the Crimson Tide at a neutral site in their opener. That proved to be the biggest season-opening loss in USC’s history. That’s not a good look.
New Athletic Director Lynn Swann isn’t about to make any rash decisions but Helton was served notice in the lopsided loss and his hot seat is definitely a little hotter with a trip to Stanford right around the corner in week three as part of back-to-back road games at the Cardinal and at Utah. It could prove to be a very rough year for the Trojans and one that ends up with them in search for a new head coach.
