With college football just over one week away, it's time to deliver the assessment on which college football coaches find themselves on the hot seat entering the 2018 season. Some should have been fired last season, some are under current scrutiny, and others are in a show me state of mind to save their jobs. Here is the list as we enter the 2018 season:
Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina
I still do not entirely understand why Ruffin McNeil was fired, and Montgomery was chosen as his successor. Montgomery has not done anything to show that he was the right choice for the job, and really had never done enough for me to understand why he was hired as an FBS head coach so early into his career. I would say, at this point, that there is little chance he is retained, and even less a chance that we see him as a head coach in major college football again after this showing.
Phillip Montgomery, Tulsa
Times at Tulsa have either been really good under Montgomery, or abysmally bad. A 2-10 finish last season may be followed up by exactly that once again. The only saving grace here is that Montgomery, just weeks ago, took a pay cut, along with his boss, to balance the athletic department budget, and there probably will not be enough money to get rid of him if they wanted to do so. It would seem that Tulsa's economic issues are a theme among non power five universities and colleges these days, and will be a theme recurring on this list.
Steve Addazio, Boston College
Sure, he finally turned the corner and got the Eagles flying into a bowl game on the back of freshman RB AJ Dillon, who is back this season. That said, I am not alone among folks in the media who can see a real possibility that Addazio and the Eagles step backwards again in 2018, and if that happens, grumbling that had been ongoing before the end of last season returns anew.
Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
I understand that expectations are just lower at places like Georgia Tech, but I would have let Johnson go long ago myself. His up one year, and down the next routine has gotten difficult to swallow, and it is hard to see how a coach with such an inconsistent showing has stayed on for as long as he has in one of the 3 most competitive leagues in the nation.
Larry Fedora, North Carolina
I have never been shy of vocalizing how little a fan of Fedora I am. I don't care for his crazy rhetoric with the press. His track record of program building, frankly, is trash, and I think people are catching on. He also has 13 players on his current team facing suspension for off-field shenanigans this season, so his program oversight is worse than trash. He doesn't last much longer, and this should be his last go as a head coach.
Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
Pitt is in the ACC is a bad fit in both football and basketball. They really overshot their own level of self importance by joining the league in the first place, and now Narduzzi likely struggles because Pitt is a bottom floor player in a skyscraper league. He is saddled with an apathetic fan base that was never overly supportive before the league change, and the recruiting pool, which should be rich, is siphoned off by Penn State and the Big 10 before they get to take their first visit. That said, Pitt just needs to get to bowling regularly, because if you can't get to a bowl in an everybody gets a bowl bid era, where does that leave you?
Dino Babers, Syracuse
Much like Narduzzi at Pitt, Syracuse is so far behind the 8 ball in the ACC, that they will never see the light of day. Babers was highly successful at Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois, but he had half a shot at those locales. He does not have that at Syracuse, and his record suffers because an apathy around the program, and a lack of decent recruiting pools. He does not survive this.
David Beaty, Kansas
I am not sure how much more we need to see of this guy to tell us what I told you the day he was hired. He is way in over his head, and there is no getting out. The new AD has likely figured this out, and has put his expectations public. It's win, or go home. He is going home.
Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech
The GQ coach thing was funny early on, but it only stays funny if he wins, and he is simply not winning. With an 8th place expectation and a conference record of way under .500 during his tenure, Kingsbury is likely out the door after this season. Mike Leach won in Lubbock, so could another coach, like Neal Brown or Seth Littrell...just saying...
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia
He is, once again, in a position with talent to compete for a Big 12 title. I predict that, once again, he falls well short of those expectations. He has had more than enough time to turn the corner in the Big 12 and has not done so to date. It's win now, or else.
Lovie Smith, Illinois
This was destined to never work, and it hasn't, and won't. Smith has, at times, according to sources close to him, been uncomfortable in the college game, and has never gotten his bearing with how to run a college program. Illinois has Big 10 money, which is huge, but it would seem as if they are hesitant to invest said money back into the program right now. Smith leaves, and that money flows again. Mark my words.
DJ Durkin, Maryland
As I type this, it saddens me that his name makes this list because a player died under his watch because of abuses executed by members of his staff, most likely coming from his own demands. JOrdan McNair died because of absolute failures by Durkin. Blame anyone else you want, but he goes down with the ship on this, and likely never serves as a head coach again, as he should not.
Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Another clueless asshole of a human being. When you protect an abuser, you should lose your job and suffer the consequences. Meyer has been dirty his entire career, and now it's time to pay the price.
Brad Lambert, Charlotte
Lambert should be applauded for the thankless job of getting a program out of infancy and off the ground. Lambert has done that in a solid way. That said, it appears time that he steps aside and let's another guide this program to the next phase, because it has become obvious that he probably isn't the guy to do that.
Kalani Sitake, BYU
I know that his blood is blue through and through, but maybe it is time that BYU ditches this outdated refusal to hire anyone from outside the LDS tree, and hires themselves a football coach who knows what he is doing on the field. Sitake is a BYU guy, but he is not a qualified head coach. He was in over his head from day one.
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Kelly's name is permanent in this report, because he is simply a guy who always seems to have one foot out the door by his own design, or by the design of an administration that he always seems on the other side of. Notre Dame could win 8 or 9 games this season, and it may not be enough.
Terry Bowden, Akron
The Zips finally went bowling last season, but got blown out of the building by FAU. Bowden may be able to afford a slip this season, and that is likely to happen, but if he slides, and hits rock bottom with this team, it may not be enough to save him. He has hardly been the savior that people envisioned when he was hired.
Mike Neu, Ball State
The former Cardinal QB returned home with some fanfare, but the Cardinals really tanked last season, and have yet to show any indication that they are close to to turning a corner under Neu. He may be completely over matched here, and this program has had success in the recent past under other coaches. It can be done, but can it be done under his guidance? The answer, thus far, is no.
Mike Jinks, Bowling Green
In what could be a high turnover year in the MAC, Jinks should absolutely be headed out. I said, from day of his hire, that he was the wrong guy for this job, and had the lowest qualifications for it of anyone that was hired in his class. The record shows that I was right, and it won't get better soon. It's time to rectify this mistake.
Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
Martin is now a full year removed from the last bowl game that he took this team to. If he goes another year without returning to a bowl, and continues to point the ship in the wrong direction pertaining to win totals, as he did last season, he is likely on his way out, and could be yet another MAC casualty.
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
This job does not get a lot of attention, but the program seems stagnant under Calhoun these days, and there is really no indication that it's getting any better soon. I think that any more lost time really affects the future of the program in negative ways, as stagnation kills. It may be getting on time for a change here.
Bob Davie, New Mexico
There is only one reason why he is still coach. Money, and UNM has none of it. The very state of the program is in flux financially, and again, we see a recurring theme in programs in the Group of Five and below. Financlial times are tough for these schools, and New Mexico cannot even fire a guy they suspended for an investigation into player abuses.
Tony Sanchez, UNLV
Sanchez brought a lot of donations with him when he was hired, and the program desperately needed that cash infusion, and they have invested that money well. The problem here is that we have seen almost zero translation of that investment into the on field product, and the very real fact is that Sanchez has to win, and win now. There is no more time to spend.
Matt Wells, Utah State
Wells can remove himself off the chopping block by getting the Aggies back to another bowl this season. It will really not take much. If the Aggies start back into the slide that preceded last season's New Mexico Bowl loss, he is right back on the block, and his seat starts getting white hot.
Gus Malzahn, Auburn
We are talking about a program that fired Gene Chizek not long after winning a national title, so stop with your shocked responses. Malzahn was very much on the same hot seat entering last season. The late season flop (lost to Georgia in SEC title game, UCF in Peach Bowl), has left some bitter folks free to roam about The Plains, and let me tell you, anything short of expectations this season, and we won't be shocked to see some movement here.
Mark Stoops, Kentucky
Stoops will gladly tell you about his tenuous job status in Lexington. He's not shy about it. He knows that he has to keep the Wildcats in bowl games, or else he will be headed out the door, and he won't wait for the word. I appreciate him for that.
Ed Orgeron, LSU
Come on people, we all know that the brass really did not want to hire him. They got strung along so long by the Tom Herman situation, that they were left with few other choices that made any sense. Let it be no shock that Orgeron has not improved the program as head man, and that he now has had to fire Matt Canada, and his QB core is ruffled and half of them want to leave. That is not a great way to enter a season. Ask Kevin Sumlin.
Derek Mason, Vanderbilt
Let's look at the situation from a pragmatic point of view. James Franklin was here. He won enough to make Vandy respectable and got them to bowls. That is all anyone expects. Mason has not followed him up well. It's a bowl game or bust this season for Mason.
Everett Withers, Texas State
I expected more from him. This is the guy that built the foundation for the current state of James Madison football before bolting for this wasteland job. His experience at Ohio State was enough to convince me that he would be what the Bobcats needed to make them relevant, but the program has never truly been relevant, even when they were an FCS program in the Southland conference, known then as Southwest Texas State. Withers bit off more than he could chew, and that will sink his career here.
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