ESPN lists coaches with hottest seats entering Week 1
It doesn’t take long in college football these days for coaching moves to be made, with the hot seat firing up quicker than ever. Scott Frost, for example, was fired just three weeks into the 2022 season at Nebraska.
Already some coaches are feeling their seats warm up going into the 2023 season.
So who are the coaches who most need to worry about posting some positive results to avoid the pink slip? ESPN+ released its full list of FBS coaches on the hot seat on Friday, and On3 breaks down the inclusions that fit into the category of “Hot.”
ACC
The lone coach in the ACC who is on the hot seat according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel is Syracuse‘s Dino Babers. Babers is entering his eighth season in charge of the Orange, showing some significant longevity, if not top-end results.
Babers made waves when he won 10 games in his third season in charge back in 2018, but it’s been tough sledding ever since, including a one-win season during the COVID-19 impacted 2020 campaign. Babers did manage to win seven games last year, and a repeat performance or better in 2023 would likely cool his seat quite a bit.
Big 12
Like the ACC, the Big 12 has only one coach on the hot seat and that’s West Virginia‘s Neal Brown. Brown is going into his fifth season in charge of the program and unlike Babers has shown remarkable consistency from year to year. Unfortunately for Mountaineers fans, that consistency has been a steady diet of five- and six-win seasons.
Brown has just a 22-25 overall record, but he’s just 14-21 in the Big 12. If he can’t fare a little better against an expanded Big 12, where the newcomers should, in theory, take a little time to get their feet under them, it could be a short stay in Morgantown for Brown.
Big Ten
The Big Ten also has one coach on the hot seat according to Thamel, though it’s notable that Northwestern already has a coaching opening following the exposition of a hazing scandal this offseason. The other coach worrying about his job is Indiana‘s Tom Allen.
Allen is going into his seventh season as Indiana’s head coach. After a high-water mark of eight wins in 2019, Allen has struggled quite a bit against the Big Ten. He’s just 6-18 overall the last two years and 2-16 against conference opponents. That’s not going to get it done if it continues.
Group of 5
ESPN and Thamel have five different Group of 5 coaches on the hot seat. Two come from the AAC: Rice‘s Mike Bloomgren and Memphis‘ Ryan Silverfield. Bloomgren has just a 16-39 overall record going into his sixth year, while Silverfield is just 6-10 in the AAC the last two years at a place more used to high-level conference success.
Meanwhile, UTEP‘s Dana Dimel, Miami (Ohio)‘s Chuck Martin and New Mexico‘s Danny Gonzales round out the Group of 5 hot seat list. Dimel is on the list despite winning 12 games the last two seasons after winning just five total in his first three years. Martin is in his 10th year with a high-water mark of eight wins in 2019. Finally, Gonzales sports just a 3-20 record in the Mountain West going into his fourth year.
Bottom line: College football’s coaching carousel is likely to get spinning sooner than later and these are the coaches you most need to keep an eye on going forward.