The month of November is just starting. By the end of this month, athletic directors will begin making decisions to fire various coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision. There are 128 schools, and given the decreasing level of patience in the industry for bad coaching performances in single seasons, you’re going to see at least four college football coaches get fired. Here the ones which will be gone in six weeks, if not five or even four.
David Bailiff, Rice Owls
The coach at Rice – the small private school in the city of Houston – took the Owls to multiple bowl games and had a generally successful tenure with the program. However, that tenure has come to a natural end. Bailiff has fallen off a cliff the last two seasons, especially this year. The Owls do not yet have a win over an FBS team. Their only victory is against an FCS opponent. There is simply nothing for this team to cling to. It needs a reset under a new coach. Bailiff did well over the past decade, but the past two seasons have justified a change.
Charlie Strong, Texas Longhorns
There is simply no way out for Strong. He cannot retain his job even if Texas runs the table. Losing is one thing. Losing the way Texas has makes it very hard to think this ship will be turned around under Strong’s leadership. The big problem is that while Texas’ offense – the team’s big offseason concern – definitely improved this year and found its quarterback for the future (Shane Buechele), the defense regressed. This is the central problem with Strong: Something always happens to drag down his teams. The defense was not supposed to be this bad in year three. It was felt inside the program before the season began that if the offense got fixed, the defense would be ready to play at a high level. That has not been the case. Strong was a longtime defensive coordinator before he became a head coach. His failure to coach and create a good defense will ultimately get him fired. He just doesn’t have a convincing reason to get Texas to keep him for a fourth season.
Mark Helfrich, Oregon Ducks
When the Ducks, so consistently good for so many years, abruptly crash and burn as they have this year, it is hard to look anywhere other than the head coach as the main reason for a team’s troubles.
This was a perennial contender under Chip Kelley and they consistently recruited as good as anyone. Just a couple of years later and the Ducks can barely win games – let alone compete for anything. They are just 3-5 on the season, which is shocking. College football recruits see what is happening and are avoiding Eugene like the plague.
Oregon is not likely to beat USC. It is not likely to beat Stanford. If Oregon loses those two games, Oregon will fail to make a bowl game this season. That’s not merely unacceptable. It’s appalling for people who expect the Ducks to reach a certain standard every season. Athletic Director Rob Mullens will probably conclude that he has to start fresh. Conversations are occurring behind the scenes which suggest this move will happen.
Derek Mason, Vanderbilt Commodores
This is the least certain on the list, but still a good bet if Vanderbilt falls short of a bowl bid, which is likely with tough games against Auburn and Tennessee and Ole Miss. They are currently 4-4 but they don’t have many impressive wins on the resume to suggest that they can earn a split in their final two games. They did beat Georgia at Georgia, but that was by a slim 17-16 margin. Their other wins have come against Western Kentucky (by one point), Tennessee State and Middle Tennessee.
Vanderbilt wants to build a new college football stadium and improve its facilities. The Commodores are willing to spend money to upgrade their program. If so, they need a coach who can bring in an exciting, sexy offense. Mason is not that guy. He needs to make a bowl this season to give himself another college football season in 2017.
