College Football: 10 coaches on the hottest seats entering 2018

4. Scottie Montgomery

After a 5-7 season in 2015, ECU fired Ruffin McNeil. Ruffin, who had won 26 games over the three seasons before that. Ruffin, who in six years, had just six fewer wins than future Auburn legend Pat Dye had during his six years at ECU. He had one down year, and they fired him, because they thought they could do better.

As per usual in situations like this one, they couldn’t, and it backfired horribly. McNeil was replaced by Scottie Montgomery, a former Duke offensive coordinator with no previous head coaching experience. That hire has been an absolute disaster after just two seasons.

A 3-9 season in 2016 saw no improvement in 2017, as the Pirates once again put an absolutely miserable product on the field. Their offense was awful, led by an inefficient passing attack, little to nothing on the ground, and a patchwork offensive line.

Somehow, the defense was even worse. They allowed an astounding, and frankly upsetting 45 points per game, and struggled to stop even the worst of offenses from putting up loads of points. Feeling his seat heating up, Montgomery made a hire that I actually like a lot. Former Jacksonville State defensive coordinator David Blackwell. It probably still won’t be enough.

What does Montgomery need?

He needs more talent, and to show any signs of life on either side of the ball. ECU is one of just a few teams in the AAC with nothing to be excited about this season. That’s a huge problem for a program that would really like to be in the forefront of realignment (specifically moving up to the P5) conversations.

They can’t do that if they’re not winning games, and so far, Montgomery hasn’t done a whole lot of that. The athletic director that hired Montgomery is gone. That means, essentially, that he’s a lame duck coach. The only thing that can save Montgomery is a big turnaround season. That probably means six or seven wins, and a solid recruiting class.