College Football: Top 6 Group of Five coaches facing 2017 hot seat
By Zach Bigalke
It is never easy to navigate a transition to the FBS level. It is even harder when you are creating a new college football program from whole cloth. Before 2013, there was no 49ers football program. Brad Lambert has built up Charlotte from scratch, working through two seasons in the FCS before joining Conference USA. He is the only head coach the program has ever known.
If anything, moving to the FBS reset the clock on Lambert’s tenure. The pair of 5-6 seasons at the FCS level are little more than the growing pains of establishing a new program. In two years of Conference USA football, the 49ers have shown improvement. From a 2-10 season without a conference win in 2015, Charlotte went 4-8 after passing their transitional phase in 2016. The team went 3-5 in C-USA play, and lost to FIU and Marshall by one point apiece.
Another step in the right direction for the 49ers program would be promising. But it is probably a bit premature to be throwing Lambert on the hot seat. He was a solid defensive coach at Georgia and Wake Forest, and Charlotte seems to be moving in the right direction. The team is still building depth and returns only half its starters from 2016, so a bowl appearance might still be out of reach. As such, the postseason should not be a referendum on Lambert’s job.