Each and every season it seems like the coaching carousel gets up to a full spin by midseason. In recent years we have watched as head coaches such as Clay Helton (USC Trojans), Scott Frost (Nebraska Cornhuskers), and Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern Wildcats) were let go either before the season or early on. Not all coaches are removed after the season is doomed late in November.
As we inch closer to June, College Sports Wire is looking at the head coaches who could be on the hot seat radar for the upcoming 2024 college football season. Last year we saw coaches such as Neal Brown of West Virginia and Dave Aranda of Baylor avoid the pink slip. But is the pressure off as they head into a new year?
Here are 10 coaches that should feel the pressure during the next season of college football.
1
Dave Aranda, Baylor Bears
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Why Dave Aranda is on the list:
When the Baylor Bears hired Dave Aranda away from the LSU Tigers, it felt like a home run hire for a first-year head coach. He has one winning season in four years with a 12-2 record sandwiched around two 7-loss campaigns. With a combined record of 23-25 record and back-to-back disappointing years, passing on naming Joey McGuire the head coach looks worse and worse. The optics look better for the latter, who is coming off back-to-back winnings seasons with consecutive bowl wins over Ole Miss and California. For Aranda, he needs a winning season in the worst way. It won’t be easy with four new teams coming in, including Utah who beat the Bears 20-13 last season in Waco.
2
Billy Napier, Florida Gators
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Why Billy Napier is on the list:
Despite that Napier has signed back-to-back top 20 recruiting classes as well as a top-20 transition class, the natives are getting restless in Gainesville. The Gators have lost seven games in each of the last two seasons, something that hasn’t happened since Doug Dickey and Charley Pell roamed the sidelines. It doesn’t help that Florida has one of the toughest schedules in college football with trips to Knoxville to face the Tennessee Vols, Austin to face the Texas Longhorns, and Tallahassee for a Sunshine State Showdown with the Florida State Seminoles. It all begins in the “Anxiety Bowl” against Miami, who needs to get off to a good start as well.
Check out Gators Wire for more on Napier and Florida
3
Sam Pittman, Arkansas Razorbacks
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Why Sam Pittman is on the list:
Sam Pittman inherited a mess of a team after Chad Morris won four games in to seasons and was fired after just 22 games. He was 3-7 in year one and finished above .500 in each of the following two seasons but last year it felt like he was walking on eggshells with a 4-8 finish that included just one win in SEC play, a 39-36 overtime win against the hapless Gators. The team lost quarterback K.J. Jefferson and running back Raheim Sanders to the transfer portal and they will rely on Boise State transfer Taylen Green to run the offense. We will find out where they stand early on with they travel to Stillwater to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Week 2.
Check out Razorbacks Wire for more on Pittman and Arkansas
4
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt Commodores
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Why Clark Lea is on the list:
Winning at Vanderbilt isn’t exactly easy but after an impressive 5-7 showing in 2022, the Commodores fell back to 2-10. The team has won at least six games in a season since 2018 and that should be the bar for the upcoming season. Transfer quarterback Diego Pavia is coming from another program not used to winning and led the New Mexico State Aggies to back-to-back bowl appearances including the first 10-win season since 1960. It is going to be a tall task for Lea and company with matches against Virginia Tech, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee, and Texas on the docket.
5
Will Hall, Southern Miss Golden Eagles
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Why Will Hall is on the list:
We have our first Group of Five head coach that will be feeling the heat in the 2024 college football season. Will Hall had a good start to joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2022 going 7-6 overall with a win in the Lending Tree bowl game. Last season it came crashing down with another 3-9 (2-6) season as he had in 2021. Another poor showing could seal his fate after four seasons in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
6
Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati Bearcats
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Why Scott Satterfield is on the list:
Satterfield was a name synonymous with the hot seat rankings during his tenure at Louisville, so it was a bit of a shock when he jumped ship to Cincinnati. Over the last four seasons as a head coach, the current Bearcats head coach is a combined 20-28 during that span. He will need to do a lot better than 3-9 (1-8 in Big 12 play) to keep his current gig even though it is his second season with Cincinnati. He hasn’t seen anywhere near the sucess he enjoyed over the last three seasons at Appalachian State where he won a combined 29 games to just 9 losses.
7
Joe Moorhead, Akron Zips
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Why Joe Moorhead is on the list:
Some coaches might be better as coordinators than head coaches and that just might be the situation with Joe Moorhead. He served as offensive coordinator with Oregon prior to taking the job with the Zips. In two seasons, Moorhead is 4-20 with Akron and won just 14 games in two seasons with Mississippi State in his last tenure as a head coach. The Zips head coach needs a winning season or he could be back looking for a coordinator job in the winter.
8
Mario Cristobal, Miami Hurricanes
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Why Mario Cristobal is on the list:
There aren’t many coaches making as much per year as Mario Cristobal is with his alma mater. With that being said, expectations are raised with that level of financial investment into a football program. Recruiting hasn’t been an issue much like fellow in-state school Florida, it has been the on-field product or lack thereof. Cristobal is a bitter lower on the list after coming off a 7-6 season but a loss to the Gators to open the season might turn up the heat on Cristobal. Either way you look at it, Cristobal or Napier are starting off the season in the worst way for their situations.
9
Butch Jones, Arkansas State Red Wolves
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Why Butch Jones is on the list:
Thanks to a trip to bowl season, Arkansas State head coach Butch Jones is a bit lower on the list than he would have been if they had finished with three straight seasons without a bowl berth. Still, Arkansas State hasn’t seen a losing streak like the last four years in quite some time. The Red Wolves need more from Jones if he expects to stick around past the 2024 season.
10
Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana State Bulldogs
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Why Sonny Cumbie is on the list:
Sonny Cumbie finally earned the opportunity to run his program after serving as an assistant at his alma mater Texas Tech and TCU for the last decade-plus. However, it isn’t going too well in Ruston, Louisiana, in his first two seasons. The Bulldogs have finished with identical 3-9 (2-6 in Conference USA play) records. Even more worrisome is that Cumbie’s offense hasn’t really got going, which is his calling card. They were middle of the pack with 25.9 points per game, while the defense gave up a conference-worst 33.4 points per game. The offense might need outscore a poor defensive unit for Cumbie to have any success.
