9 College Football Coaches On The Hot Seat After Week 12

Most college football teams only have a couple of games left on the schedule before the regular season comes to an end, and we’re actively approaching the start of Hot Seat Season as coaches who’ve failed to live up to expectations await to hear about their fate.

There are a few college football coaches who seem destined to be swiftly kicked to the curb as soon as the regular season comes to an end as well as some others who are certainly trending in the wrong direction with time firmly running out to prove they should get another shot.

We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds, but everyone on this list should probably be a bit worried about their job security.

Brian Kelly—LSU

Things were going great for LSU until they weren’t.

The Tigers bounced back from a loss against USC to open up the season with a six-game winning streak to earn a berth in the Top 10, but their College Football Playoff hopes have vanished with the three-game skid that was extended with a loss to Florida.

Brian Kelly got into multiple shouting matches with his players as things fell apart against the Gators, and this marks the first year he won’t finish the season with 10 wins since arriving in Baton Rouge ahead of the 2022 campaign.

I have a hard time believing the second-half collapse is enough to justify his dismissal (his $61 million buyout is also a factor that can’t be ignored), but there will be a ton of pressure to prove it was a fluke if we assume he’ll still be there next year.

Sam Pittman—Arkansas

It seemed like Arkansas was headed in the right direction after surpassing expectations in the first half of the season with a 4-2 start that included an impressive win over Tennessee.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse after that point thanks to the slew of formidable SEC opponents remaining on the schedule, as the Razorbacks have lost three of their last four games and face an uphill battle against Missouri to close out the regular season.

Arkansas will still end up going bowling barring an unexpected implosion against Louisiana Tech next week, but the program may want to move in a new direction after being about as close to average as possible with the 28-30 record Pittman has posted as he nears the ends of his fifth—and possibly final—season.

Brent Venables—Oklahoma

Oklahoma got a much-needed bye week after losing to Missouri to fall to 5-5, but that break probably isn’t going to do much to help out a Sooners team that’s closing out the year against Alabama and LSU.

The school had to know what it was signing up for when it defected to the SEC, and if this is a sign of what’s to come, Oklahoma won’t be doing itself any favors by sticking with Brent Venables.

His $44 million buyout obviously complicates matters a bit, but this will be an interesting situation to keep an eye on.

Ryan Walters—Purdue

I don’t think there’s anyone on this list dealing with a seat that’s hotter than the one Ryan Walters is perched on, as Purdue predictably fell to 1-9 after Penn State cruised to a 49-10 victory on Saturday.

The Boilermakers are listed as 13-point underdogs against Michigan State and will likely only see that number grow when they face off against Indiana, which means there’s a very good chance their only win of the season ends up being against an FCS team.

I can’t envision a scenario where Purdue opts to stick with a guy who’s on track to post a 5-19 record over the course of his first two seasons, and at this point, Walters might want to get a head start on packing up his things.

Tom Herman—FAU

Tom Herman probably flies under the radar more than most of the guys on this list, but the Florida Atlantic coach is just one loss away from facing the exact situation Walters is currently dealing with.

The former Texas skipper went 4-8 during his inaugural campaign with the Owls last season, and FAU is currently sitting at 2-8 while in the midst of a five-game losing streak

Herman set a pretty low bar in 2023, and his failure to surpass it has very much put his job in jeopardy.

UPDATE: Herman was indeed fired shortly after publication. 

Neal Brown—West Virginia

Neal Brown landed firmly on the hot seat after West Virginia got off to a 3-4 start, and while it cooled down a bit with back-to-back wins, it warmed up yet again after the Mountaineers lost to Baylor in a game where Dave Aranda got a pretty big win in his quest to keep his job.

Brown inspired a little bit of hope after leading WVU to a 9-4 record last season, but it might be time to move on from a man who’s gone 36-34 while closing in on the end of his sixth season in Morgantown.

Shawn Clark—Appalachian State

WVU isn’t the only team known as the Mountaineers dealing with an underwhelming season, as Appalachian State is sitting at 4-5 and will need a bit of a miracle to make it to a bowl as it prepares to close out the year against James Madison and Georgia Southern.

Appalachian State has been good more often than not since Shawn Clark coached his first full season in 2020, and he’s gone 39-23 since taking the reins.

I do think it would be a bit rash to fire him based on what’s transpired this year, but he’ll need to turn things around in a pretty big way if he does end up getting a shot at redemption.

Mike MacIntyre—FIU

Mike MacIntyre was responsible for a dramatic turnaround at San Jose State that led to him being hired at Colorado, but he recorded more losses than wins during his time with both of those programs.

That is once again the case with his tenure at Florida International. The Panthers went 4-8 during his first two seasons and will once again finish under .500 with the 3-7 record they have with two games left.

FIU is probably never going to be a national powerhouse, but they can certainly do better than they have during MacIntyre’s time at the school.

Mike Norvell–FSU

At this point, it seems like Florida State has no intention of stomaching the buyout they’d need to fork over to part ways with Mike Norvell, but I can’t make this list without mentioning the man overseeing the virtually unprecedented collapse the Seminoles have endured this year.

There’s really nowhere for Florida State to go but up following a year where they’ll be lucky to get three wins when everything is said and done, but if Norvell can’t dramatically turn the tides next year, the school will probably be forced to bite the bullet and pay him a fortune to not coach.