While power four coaches like Mark Stoops, Billy Napier, and Dave Aranda remain topics of conversation for coaches squarely on the hot seat at this point in the 2024 college football season, others have cooled their seats this season.
With only a few weeks remaining in the regular season and the first College Football Playoff rankings just being released, it is pretty clear for most teams at this point what direction their season has gone, or is trending towards.
Stoops as mentioned has the Wildcats at 3-6 currently coming off of back-to-back 7-6 campaigns, while Napier has the Gators at an even 4-4 but looks to have improved the team throughout the year in his third season at the school.
Unlike the names mentioned above, there are some other coaches who at this point should consider themselves safe for at least 2025, so I wanted to identify them.
College football coaches who cooled their seat in 2024
Matt Campbell (Iowa State)
The ninth-year head coach of the Cyclones had only one season of nine or more wins in 2020, with his last three years prior to 2024 being a combined 18-20. This is not the trajectory I and many expected after Campbell took over due to a successful run as head coach of the Toledo Rockets from 2012-2015.
Campbell went 34-15 in four complete seasons with the Rockets which included three nine-win campaigns in four seasons. This was a much higher percentage of nine-win seasons than he has achieved to-date in Ames at his first power four stint being the Big 12.
The tide however seems to have turned for Campbell, at least for 2024. Led by quarterback Rocco Becht, the Cyclones are off to a 7-1 start with four games to play and only two of their remaining opponents having winning records.
Although the jury is still well up in the air beyond 2024 for Campbell given his nine-year overall track record, he is at least safe for now due to a fantastic start to 2024.
Tony Elliott (Virginia)
Many may remember this name during his years at Clemson where he served on Dabo Swinney’s offensive staff for over a decade from 2011-21. Elliott took the head coaching job for another ACC school, the Virginia Cavaliers in 2022 after they parted ways with previous head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
His first two seasons in Charlottesville saw Elliott only muster two three-win campaigns, which had his seat “toasty” let us say heading into 2024. Another three-win season without showing improvement undoubtedly would have had Elliott on the outs.
However, in Elliott’s defense, he inherited a program in shambles. And he is now showing that to be true with the Cavaliers off to a 4-4 start showing a lot of promise behind sophomore quarterback, Anthony Colandrea.
The Cavaliers face ranked ACC opponents in their next three games and round out the season on the road in Blacksburg to take on the rival Virginia Tech Hokies. Despite a tough end to the season, expect Elliott to be retained even if the Cavaliers lose out. The team shows promise and is on the rise under Elliott.
Shane Beamer (South Carolina)
Beamer’s seat was not necessarily scorching hot, or even seen as toasty by many heading into the 2024 season which is his fourth in Columbia. However, given the way the team looked throughout the entire 2023 season struggling at quarterback and with massive gaps on the offensive line, some skepticism surrounded Beamer at the least.
The 2023 campaign was overly concerning due to an apparent regression from year two under Beamer in which the Gamecocks seemed to be on the rise, going 8-5 and winning the 2022 Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Beamer seems to have righted the ship again in 2024 for the Gamecocks with the club 5-3 and riding high after a win against top 25 SEC opponent Texas A&M. Not only does the record at this point speak improvement, but on the field, the Gamecocks seem to have found their quarterback of the future in redshirt freshman, LaNorris Sellers.
While other SEC teams like Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn seem to be struggling to the finish line, things are feeling really good surrounding Beamer and the Gamecocks heading into 2025 and beyond. Consider this seat extremely chilly.