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10 college football coaches who need turnarounds to avoid 2017 hot seat

By Zach Bigalke

Nov 26, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly argues a call in the fourth quarter against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC won 45-27. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 26, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly argues a call in the fourth quarter against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC won 45-27. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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Even college football coaches who have brought acclaim to a school are not safe forever. Here are 10 who need to turn it around to avoid the hot seat in 2017.

The hot seat operates in different ways at different universities. Not every job in the FBS comes with the same expectations. In some cases, occasional success is cause for celebration, and downturns are seen as inevitable. A coach can survive for years in such locales as long as he manages to get his team bowling every few years and avoids any scandals among players or staff.

In other instances, even the slightest tapering off from peak performance can be grounds for termination. And as success grows, expectations increase exponentially. A coach that helps build an afterthought school into a powerhouse will remain beloved only so long as he manages to maintain that success rate.

Thus, let’s take a look at ten head coaches that enter 2017 needing a high-level performance from their squads in order to remain in the good graces of fans and administration. This list is in no particular order, so click through and see who we think will be fighting to avoid the hot seat in 2017.

Nov 12, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze during the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze during the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

Hugh Freeze arrived in Oxford in 2012 to replace Houston Nutt, and in his first four seasons he steadily improved the win totals at Ole Miss. In each of those first four years, the Rebels went bowling, culminating in back-to-back New Year’s Six appearances in the Peach Bowl in 2014 and Sugar Bowl in 2015.

But in the SEC, you are only so good as your most recent record. Last year Ole Miss tapered off dramatically, winning just half the number of games as it had the previous season. A large part of the team’s regression in 2016 was the result of quarterback Chad Kelly’s knee injury which ended his college career at the beginning of November. Even before the senior went down for the year, though, the team was just 4-5 and struggling to reach bowl eligibility.

This year, Freeze will need to return Ole Miss to greater prominence in a stacked SEC West. With Shea Patterson having already received three games of starting experience after burning his redshirt last year, Freeze will either sink or swim depending on the performance of his young quarterback.

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