College football hot seats: Josh Pate updates potential firings at Auburn, LSU, FSU, Wisconsin

Some massive jobs are already open in the college football world. Coaching searches are going to dominate the headlines, even as the 2025 season continues. And that’s without a few other big-time programs letting go of their respective head coaches.

Josh Pate looked at four still on the hot seat during Tuesday’s episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show. Pate even discussed what kind of candidate they could be looking for if/when the job comes open.

Two of them reside in the SEC, with another in the ACC, and wrapping things up in Big Ten country. Pate started down on the Plains, thinking this might pop sooner rather than later.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn Tigers

“It feels like the job is on the line Saturday,” Pate said. “That’s what it feels like to me. There are some people around the program who feel that way.”

Auburn goes to Arkansas on Tuesday, strongly hinting at some movement if the Tigers were to lose. Pate did actually mention two potential replacements for Freeze moving forward. One was James Franklin, after recently been fired by Penn State. The other was his favorite to eventually land the job, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall.

Mike Norvell, Florida State Seminoles

“I know they put out the statement yesterday,” Pate said. “I don’t care. I still think they’re going to move on from him. I just don’t think they’re moving on from him this week.”

Pate did not give any specific names on who might take over at Florida State. However, he is not worried about the Seminoles finding someone who is considered a good coach. In his eyes, being able to recruit at the high school level is the biggest factor. Getting a good baseline of talent into the program and using the NCAA transfer portal as a luxury is the way he wants them to go.

Brian Kelly, LSU Tigers

“They’re not close to firing him yet,” Pate said. “What they are close to doing is demanding that he make some changes internally. I would especially apply that to if they struggle offensively at home at night against (Texas) A&M, then he’s going to have to change things offensively on his staff.”

The big thing for Pate is Kelly’s failure to adapt to being in Louisiana. Always viewed as an outside hire due to his roots in the Midwest, the identity of LSU remains to be state pride. It’s why the fanbase is growing uneasy, and something Pate could see “ending poorly.”

Luke Fickell, Wisconsin Badgers

According to Pate, Wisconsin faces two options. Do they gather up the money required to buy out Fickell? Or do they give him another opportunity to start over while putting the potential buyout money into NIL?

“AKA, what Florida did last year. It did not work out for Florida, they still ended up firing (Billy) Napier. Remains to be seen what would happen if Wisconsin chose to do this. But it does look like that may be the route they want to go right now.”