College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat Entering the 2021 Season

The college football season is about to begin. There is a lot of excitement, but also a lot of pressure for coaches to pickup wins. Who are the college football coaches on the hot seat entering the 2021 season?

ACC

Dino Babers, Syracuse- Babers took the Syracuse job in 2016. He most notably took the Orange from a four-win team in 2017 to a 10-win team in 2018. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had a winning record since. In five seasons, Babers has gone 24-36 with the Orange. If he doesn’t show he can get Syracuse back to a bowl game, this could be his last year as head coach.

David Cutcliffe, Duke Blue Devils- Cutcliffe is well respected in the football community for his work with the Manning brothers. He also has had several good seasons at Duke over his 13 years at the school, including a 10-win season in 2013. Overall, he has a record of 74-88. The Blue Devils went 2-9 last year and another bad year could have Duke looking for a new caoch.

Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech Hokies- Fuente started off his tenure at Virginia Tech well wit ha 10 and nine win season in back to back years. He has yet to replicate that success and other programs have regularly passed them in the ACC standings. After posting a 38-26 overall record and a 5-6 record in 2020, that may not be good enough for Virginia Tech.

Big Ten

Jeff Brohm, Purdue Boilermakers- Brohm made bowl games in his first two seasons, but has losing records in the last two. Purdue has dealt with injuries, so Brohm will likely get the benefit of the doubt, but finishing less than .500 will put his job in jeopardy.  

Scott Frost, Nebraska Cornuskers- After a great stint at UCF, Frost was hired by his alma mater to bring them back to glory. Through three seasons, things haven’t worked out. He has posted a 12-20 record. While coaches typically need more time to build a program, Nebraska isn’t the most patient program.

Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Wolverines- Will this be the year that Jim Harbaugh takes Michigan back to prominence or will it be the year he is fired? His 49-22 record would be great at most schools, but Michigan isn’t most schools. After a two-win season in 2020, Harbaugh’s days may be numbered if he doesn’t win big this year.

Big 12

N/A

Pac-12

Clay Helton, USC Trojans- Helton has been on the hot seat before. In seven different seasons (which includes one game as interim coach), he has a 45-22 record at the school. He went 5-1 and made it to the Pac-12 Championship, but that hasn’t always mattered to USC. They want to play in big bowl games consistently and they haven’t been able to do that since the 2017 Cotton Bowl.

Jonathan Smith, Oregon State Beavers- Oregon State isn’t an easy job. Smith is entering his fourth year in charge and has a record of 9-22. They haven’t made a bowl game, but came close in 2019 by going 5-7. A fourth-straight losing season will not help Smith to keep his job.

SEC

N/A

Group of Five

Tom Arth, Akron Zips- Arth is 1-17 at Akron in two seasons. If there aren’t signs of improvement, his seat will be scorching hot by the end of the year.

Walt Bell, UMass Minutemen- UMass is in a unique situation as an independent, but Bell only has one win in two seasons as the coach.

Mike Bloomgren, Rice Owls- Bloomgren had the best of his three seasons at Rice in 2020, winning two of three games. Unfortunately, he has never totaled more than three wins in a season.

Dana Dimel, UTEP Miners- Dimel recorded one win in his first season at UTEP, but went 3-5 last year. Thigns look like they are on the way up, but another season with one or two wins and Dimel may be fired.

Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois Huskies- In his first year with the Huskies, Hammock posted a 5-7 record. The 2020 season wasn’t so kind, as Hammock didn’t win a game. Another bad season could be the end of his time at Northern Illinois.

Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green Falcons- Loeffler has a 3-14 record in his two seasons at Bowling Green and the Falcons didn’t win a game last season.

Doug Martin, New Mexico State Aggies- Martin has made one bowl game in nine seasons with the team and has a 23-64 record.

Jake Spavital, Texas State Bobcats- Texas State hired Spavital prior to the 2019 season. He has a 5-19 record. While he might get another year after this one to correct the ship, Spavital will be on the hot seat.

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