According to a recent report, 34 FBS head coaches made at least $3 million in 2015. The money is good but the stress of the job has to take a toll on the coaches with the constant carousel always spinning at the position. Every year there are a number of head coaches at big programs that are replaced and that will undoubtedly be the case again this year with a group of early candidates in line to get cut if they don’t turn things around this season. Here is a look at four college football coaches on the hot seat heading in to the summer.
Kevin Sumlin
Texas A&M Aggies
Sumlin had an outstanding debut season when he led the Aggies to an 11-2 record that included a win at Alabama and a top-five ranking in their first year in the SEC, but it feels like every since then, he’s been one of the coaches on the hot seat. Whether the first season was a fluke or not, it has been all down hill from there. Part of the problem is the loss of Johnny Manziel and some impressive weapons on both sides of the football. Remember Manziel was a first-round pick, as was star receiver Mike Evans. The Aggies had a couple of highly touted quarterbacks who signed but Kenny Hill (aka Kenny Trill) never panned out and he, Kyle Allen and Kyler Murphy have transferred away from the program. Texas A&M is just 6-10 since Manziel left including a 7-9 mark in SEC play. Worse yet is the trendline. The Aggies started 5-0 last season but finished the year just 3-5, which included losses at home to Auburn, who was terrible last year, at LSU and to Louisville in the Music City Bowl.
The Aggies will turn to Oklahoma graduate transfer Trevor Knight this year with the hope that he can help inject some life in to the offense and revive the program this season. If A&M doesn’t show marked improvement on the football field, it will very likely result in Sumlin being fired.
Charlie Strong
Texas Longhorns
Strong has lost 15 games in four seasons at Texas and that isn’t nearly a good enough mark to stay on as head coach of the Longhorns past this year if he doesn’t turn things around. Texas wasn’t exactly bringing home the bacon under Mack Brown, but at least they were competitive and decent. Nobody thought they regress to this level.
Texas paid Strong $5.1 million last season to make sure they were a legitimate contender in the Big 12 and that massive salary combined with the prestige of the program only magnified his struggles that much more. The Longhorns have the talent to compete within their conference but they might not be ready to challenge for a Big 12 title just yet. Either way, they will have to be better this season or Strong could be on his way out.
Mike Riley
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Riley might be entering just his second season at Nebraska but the reality is that he’s still one of the coaches on the hot seat. He will need to produce in order to avoid getting axed in the near future. Riley’s hiring caught some by surprise after he went 12-13 over his previous two seasons at Oregon State and last year’s 5-7 record didn’t do anything to quiet his doubters. The Huskers return a talented core led by quarterback Tommy Armstrong so the expectation is that they will improve this season. Riley will be under the microscope and if Nebraska doesn’t show signs of improvement, it could lead to calls for his dismissal after just two seasons.
Dana Holgorsen
West Virginia Mountaineers
The magic from Holgorsen’s first year as the head coach at West Virginia has worn away after the Mountaineers were held to a 26-25 record over the last four seasons. That includes a 15-21 record in league play with just one season in which they finished above .500 against Big 12 opponents. That’s why he’s one of the coaches on the hot seat.
West Virginia has enough talent to improve this year but the Big 12 is just as deep as it was a year ago and it certainly won’t make for an easy road. A lack of overall production has Holgorsen on the hot seat entering this season and it will be very interesting to see how the Mountaineers respond.
