Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Bilo's Coaches on the Hot Seat: Week 8

Our Hot Seat is a place where coaches are feeling heat, likely for the first time, some not, and they need to turn around sinking ships. In this case, where this differs from the Dead Pool, is that there may not be a likelihood that the coaches on this list are candidates for near immediate firing.
Here is the most up to list of coaches that I think are in trouble, but may be afforded an opportunity to turn it around:

Charlie Partridge, FAU
Partridge should be on the Dead Pool list, but for some odd reason, there has not been a peep anywhere about his status. The Owls are awful. The program seems in worse sheep now than when he arrived. That being said, with no discernible voices even talking about this, it would seem safe.

Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
Greg Byrne should be fired as AD for giving Rich Rod the kind of extension that he received earlier this year. It was one of the worst deals ever given, and Rodriguez has simply not delivered, with his era bottoming out this season. You can blame injuries all you want, eventually you have to recruit depth, which he has not. The Wildcats are going backwards.

Mark Hudspeth, UL-Lafayette
Hudspeth started out wonderfully at ULL, but the wheels are falling off the wagon as we speak, and there have been NCAA violations adding to the issue. Hudspeth's star has dimmed to all-time lows. Once a guy who could punch his ticket, he'll be buying his tickets out of pocket if he cannot turn this ship around.

Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
He was considered safe through at least 2017 a couple of weeks ago. I am no longer certain that is true. The Irish were terrible against Stanford, and the Irish are on the cusp of failing to go to a bowl. If Notre Dame remains home for the holidays, it may not be possible to retain Kelly for 2017.

Doug Martin, New Mexico State
Any strides at NMSU have been beyond small under Martin, but at this point, who can do better, especially with no conference affiliations beyond this season? The program is in an unstable situation now, and insistence on staying in FBS football is irresponsible at this point. Martin is in a lose/lose situation.

Brian Polian, Nevada
We can finally say it. The Pistol is dead. Nevada cannot move the football, they just lost to San Jose State, and I am starting to wonder if there is a winnable game left. Polian is failing.

Jim Mora, UCLA
Mora is now overseeing a complete slide over the last three seasons that is alarming in nature. The Bruins, at this point, have no offensive line, no run game, and the fan base is split and divided over Mora's tenure. Sure, it is better than what the Bruins had under Bob Toledo, Karl Dorrell, and Rick Neuheisel, but is that good enough? I don't think so. The Kennedy Polamalu hire as OC, has been an abject disaster. Mora's refusal to fire NCAA violator Adrian Klemm (who is on a 2 year show cause) is baffling, not just for his rules violations (which were major), but also for the inept play of the O line in 2016. The win total is clicking in the wrong direction, this has been happening for three years now, and there is no real vision as to how to fix the problems.

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