8 College Football Coaches On The Hot Seat After Week 13

It’s hard to believe we’re on the verge of the final week of the college football season, and the teams that won’t have the chance to go bowling when everything is said and done will be doing some soul-searching once things wrap up next weekend.

The good news for college football coaches who haven’t been fired at this point in the season is that they probably don’t have to be worried about getting kicked to the curb before their team’s final game.

The bad news? For many coaches on the hot seat, programs are simply delaying the seemingly inevitable while gearing up to clean house shortly after their season comes to an end.

Here are the top candidates to befall that fate when we finally reach that point.

Ryan Walters—Purdue

Purdue is always going to face an uphill battle given the comparative level of competition in the Big Ten, but the Boilermakers certainly aren’t doing themselves any favors by sticking with Ryan Walters.

It’s hard to imagine anyone could have helped Purdue stage a dramatic turnaround if Walters had been fired midway through his second season, but the school would be insane to allow him to return for a third when you consider they’re 1-10 and have offered absolutely zero evidence they have what it takes to avoid getting blown out by Indiana in their regular season finale.

Kenni Burns—Kent State

It seemed like Kent State had nowhere to go but up after Kenni Burns posted a 1-11 record during his inaugural season in 2023. However, in the immortal words of Lee Corso: “Not so fast, my friend!”

The Golden Flashes are in the midst of a 20-game losing streak that stretches back to September of last year, and the listless team will almost certainly finish the 2024 season without a win as they prepare to bring it to a merciful end against Buffalo.

This was Burns’ first stint as the head coach of a college football team, and there’s a solid chance it also ends up being his last.

Trent Dilfer—UAB

UAB was able to “improve” to 3-8 with a win over Rice and will be playing for nothing but pride when it caps off the season against Charlotte next week.

The decision to hire Trent Dilfer was always going to be a risky one when you consider the former tight end had never coached at the college level, and it hasn’t really paid off when you consider he’s gone 7-16 as he nears the end of his second season with the Blazers.

The UAB job is far from the most attractive gig in college football, but you have to wonder if the school would benefit from going with someone with a more proven track record.

Brian Kelly—LSU

LSU was able to snap a three-game losing streak with a win against Vanderbilt, but that three-game skid is going to continue to be a very hot topic of conversation among fans who continue to debate if Brian Kelly has what it takes to get it done in Baton Rouge.

The school would owe Kelly more than $60 million if it decided to fire him after the season wraps up, and I’d be pretty shocked if it ends up going that route.

If we assume he’ll be coming back for a fourth rodeo, the 2025 season will probably be make-or-break for a man who’s running out of time to get LSU over the hump.

Mike MacIntyre—FIU

Mike MacIntyre’s tenure got off to a rocky start after he went 4-8 in both of his first two seasons, and there’s a chance FIU isn’t even able to match that total this year following a disastrous loss to Kennesaw State that dropped them to 3-8.

MacIntyre was able to hit 10 wins a single time during his stints at San Jose State and Colorado, but he’s essentially shown what he’s currently capable of near the end of his third year with the Panthers—a stretch that probably doesn’t merit a fourth.

Gus Malzahn—UCF

UCF got off to a fairly promising 3-0 start, but things took a very drastic turn for the worse when a loss to Colorado kicked off a five-game losing streak.

The Knights have lost six of their last seven games and are on track to finish at 4-8 as nearly 10-point underdogs against Utah. Gus Malzahn got off to a promising start with a couple of nine-win seasons, but UCF has gone 10-14 with him at the helm since making the leap to the Big 12.

The school had to expect a fairly rough transition to a P4 conference, but at this point, it has to ask itself if Malzahn is still the man for the job now that they’ve arrived.

Luke Fickell—Wisconsin

I get why Wisconsin decided to part ways with Paul Chryst after a rough start to the season in 2022, but the decision to replace him with Luke Fickell seems to be a pretty ill-advised one based on what’s transpired since then.

Fickell did an impressive job during his time at Cincinnati, but he hasn’t even come close to replicating that success since setting up shop in Madison.

There was plenty of room for improvement after Wisconsin went 7-6 during his first full season at the helm, but the team has regressed with the help of a four-game losing streak that’s led to them sitting at 5-6 and needing a win against Minnesota to go bowling.

Badgers fans became accustomed to a certain level of success during the Chryst Era, and Fickell hasn’t shown he has what it takes to get them back there.

Sam Pittman—Arkansas

Sam Pittman acknowledged he was on the hot seat heading into his fifth year at Arkansas, and I don’t know if he’s done enough to escape it during a season where the Razorbacks have gone 6-5 heading into a winnable season finale against Missouri.

A win against the Tigers would mean Pittman has been the definition of average since taking over, as he’d have a 30-30 record with the team with a victory.

Arkansas has largely beaten the teams they should have beaten this season while falling to every ranked opponent they faced off against (with the very notable exception of Tennessee), and it might be time for the Razorbacks to get off to a fresh start.