There are many more hot seats than just four. Lots of coaches face intense pressure to have to produce this next college football season. However, if one had to choose the four hottest seats in the country, the places where fans are especially impatient and political pressure could crash down upon head coaches, here are the best guesses.
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Aggies
The completeness of public humiliations can really irritate a fan base, rarely more so than in the state of Texas, which cares very deeply about the sport of college football. There’s something more to say: Texas and Texas A&M are the two schools in the Lone Star State which take football more seriously than any others, especially after A&M left the Big 12 (with Texas) to go to the SEC. Losing ground to Texas, and continuing to drift year after year with no real hope for the future, should concern Texas A&M alumni who want to see progress but haven’t gotten it over the past three seasons. SEC Network TV money should be able to find the hiring of a popular and credentialed new coach. The Aggies did not fire Sumlin after this season so that they could lower the buyout amount, which makes perfectly good sense. The Aggies will be in a lot better position to pay off Sumlin and hire a replacement at top dollar.
Butch Jones, Tennessee Volunteers
There was reason to fire Jones this past December, given that Tennessee failed spectacularly in 2016. The Vols were supposed to win the SEC East but fell short. They were supposed to make the Sugar Bowl but fell short when they lost to a Vanderbilt team which finished the season at 6-7. However, Jones stayed on at Tennessee. He got lucky due to the particularities of timing. The athletic director, Dave Hart, will step down in June. The chancellor is being replaced as well. With those positions in transition, no one could have realistically fired Jones. The new AD and chancellor, however, will be empowered to make a decision. Jones has to do well in 2017 or else he won’t survive.
Jim Mora, UCLA Bruins
When USC went under NCAA penalties and coach Lane Kiffin failed miserably with the Trojans, the Bruins were supposed to take over Los Angeles. However, that did not happen. Even when USC sank to new lows, the Bruins couldn’t take advantage. They won only one division title and have won zero conference titles under Mora. They have not made an appearance in a major bowl. They are going nowhere, so Mora has to show some significant degree of improvement this coming season, or the angry locals in Westwood should be able to push him out. He has to win at least seven games to think he can hold onto his job.
Bret Bielema, Arkansas Razorbacks
This is another coach in the SEC who is having a hard time winning. Bielema won so regularly at Wisconsin, but the Big Ten and the SEC have become very different worlds for him. Losing to lowly Missouri at the end of the 2016 season showed how far the program has slid. The fan base is furious. Bielema has to win at least eight games to calm those fans down.
The challenge for him is that his strategy – at least to this point – hasn’t worked well. Yes, he’s brought over a big, grading offensive line but the unit hasn’t been as productive as he had imagined. He figured his teams would be pushing around SEC defenses and piling up the rushing yards. Instead, they’ve struggled and so have his quarterbacks and defenses. The potential is there – as evidenced by a win over No. 12 Ole Miss last season as well as a win over No. 11 Florida – but the failures have been there too. Losing to Missouri, getting smoked by 53 to Auburn and blowing a 24-0 halftime lead to Virginia Tech in a bowl game are all reasons why Bielema enters the 2017 campaign on the hot seat. He needs to deliver some strong, steady results.
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