Which college football coaches are on hot seat in COVID-19 campaign?

Hot seat coaches

The coaching hot seat has its usual suspects. Gus Malzahn’s seat is always hot so that goes without saying. The same is true with Clay Helton, and the Trojans are 2-0 to start the season. Tom Herman has to feel the heat in Austin with the way their season has gone. Vanderbilt is bad again, so Derek Mason is feeling it. If Scott Frost is not on the hot seat, he should be.

These three coaches are in desperate need of a turnaround.

Jim Harbaugh (Michigan)

It isn’t easy to evaluate Jim Harbaugh this season. If the administration did not like what they saw last season, it should have fired him at the end of 2019. It’s been apparent that Michigan’s expectations for its football program are different from the expectations others have for the program.

This season, the Wolverines suspended practice before the season started due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the school. Despite having restrictions on practice, Michigan had a lot of new pieces. Offensively, the Wolverines have a new quarterback, three new receivers and four new linemen. Defensively, the secondary is rebuilt along with four of Michigan’s front-seven.

How can you properly acclimate these new pieces with no spring or summer practice and weekly practice restrictions?

James Franklin (Penn State)

There have been few teams as unlucky as the Penn State Nittany Lions. They are without both of their star running backs. Noah Cain injured his leg against Indiana and is out for the season. Journey Brown was forced to retire from football because of a medical condition discovered during COVID-19 testing. Wide receiver KJ Hamler left for the NFL a year too soon.

Micah Parsons, Penn State’s best defensive player, opted out to prepare for the NFL draft. The Nittany Lions have had their issues with COVID-19 and injuries.

If there is one indictment of James Franklin, it would be an inability to recruit the transformational quarterback. However, it is hard to evaluate the football program that has to practice with gathering limits.

Will Muschamp (South Carolina)

South Carolina has already fired Will Muschamp. However, the university should have fired him last season. The offense was awful last year and the defense had begun to show signs of a decline. Maybe the Georgia upset last season earned Muschamp another chance. Last season should have been enough of a sample size to know exactly what he was as a head coach.

In Muschamp’s five seasons in Columbia, the Gamecocks hired six offensive coordinators. Charlie Weiss, Bryan McClendon, Kurt Roper (twice), Brent Pease and Mike Bobo were all hired to get the offense right. The South Carolina offense averaged over 30 points per game only once in five seasons. The defense gave up 25 points per game or more 4-of-5 seasons under Muschamp.

It is difficult to figure out what the South Carolina administration saw last season or thought would change this season that they did not terminate Muschamp last year.