Five College Football Coaches on The Hot Seat

By: Brock Vierra

We start with the shameless plug, check out my show The Hot Seat. New episodes every week. Now the origin of that show came from my desire to fire college football coaches, coaches that I don’t think live up to the standards that their position requires. Before you call me heartless, anyone can get fired, and unlike us lay people, coaches get massive buyouts so no I don’t feel bad. These are five coaches who aren’t living up to the expectations that come with leading a college program.

1. Ken Wilson, Nevada. Quite frankly, Ken Wilson should’ve never been hired. He came back to Reno, a place where he served as an assistant under longtime head coach Chris Ault for over 20 years. After stints at Washington State and Oregon, Wilson was tasked with leading the Wolfpack after Jay Norvell left for Colorado State. From unnamed sources, many people inside the program did not like the hire and Wilson has done nothing to prove those people wrong. After 14 games, he’s 2-12. Now I understand that he had the challenging task of replacing a roster that lost Carson Strong, Romeo Doubs, and Cole Turner but what he has done is almost criminal. His performance in his first year was so bad, that both Elijah Cooks and Daiyan Henley transferred out and now both are in the NFL. He ran Toa Taua into the ground and his two wins came against New Mexico State in the 2022 season opener and the following week against Texas State. NMSU was 2-10 in 2021 and it was Jerry Kill’s first game Texas State fired Jake Spavital after the season as well. He lost the Freemont Cannon to UNLV who subsequently fired their head coach after the game. He has 0 conference wins and he’s 0-2 against FCS opponents, losing last week at home to Idaho 33-6. His offense has scored over 25 points on only 3 occasions in 14 contests and with former Nevada assistant Nick Rolovich, current Texas State Passing Game Coordinator Craig Stutzmann, and Washington OC Ryan Grubb all possessing high-powered passing attacks and having connections to the Mountain West, Nevada needs to pull the plug sooner than later.
2. Butch Jones, Arkansas State. This is tough because I like Butch Jones but good thing there’s always an analyst role at Alabama open for him. We all saw him in tears in Norman as OU beat him 73-0. They followed that up with a 37-3 loss at home to Memphis. Jones is 5-20 at Arkansas State, he’s 2-14 in the conference, and if the Red Wolves were a perennial loser I could have some sympathy but Arkansas State went 8-5 with a bowl win in 2019 and won back-to-back Sun Belt titles in 2015 and 2016. The Sun Belt is also known as the “fun belt” due to the conference’s high-powered passing attacks, something Arkansas State used to have but it’s all bad right now. Time for a reset.
3. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M. The only difference between Jimbo Fisher and Kevin Sumlin is that A&M gave Fisher a bigger contract. Sumlin had a better record, better NFL production, better QBs, and better offense. Both have one win against Alabama. Both have one NY6 bowl victory and Sumlin didn’t need a pandemic to get it done. Also, Fisher’s one NY6 bowl win came against a North Carolina team that was without both Javonte Williams and Michael Carter amongst others who declared for the NFL Draft. Sumlin at one time had Johnny Manziel who won the Heisman, future first overall pick Kyler Murray, Kenny “Thrill” Hill, Nick Starkel and the best QB Fisher has had in Kellen Mond while Jimbo is in year six still trying to figure out his QB situation. The only reason A&M has as many wins as they have is due to Mike Elko and D.J. Durkin having their defenses play at a higher level than they should. The only safety net Fisher has is his 75 million dollar buyout but in under two years, Elko has turned around Duke and turned Riley Leonard into both a Heisman candidate and a bona fide NFL talent…as a defensive-minded coach. Now with Texas coming to the SEC and recruits realizing the NIL money A&M can give them might not be enough to justify the issues they would have to endure in College Station, the boosters are circling. Time to make a call to Durham, North Carolina.
4. Jeff Hadley, Boston College. The only thing Hadley has done in Chestnut Hill is lose. In 2020 and 2021, he was 6-6 and he was 3-9 last year. He just lost to Northern Illinois at home and needed OT to beat FCS Holy Cross in the original Holy War. To learn more about the history of Boston College and Holy Cross, check out the Hardware Pod where Omar Borja and I discuss the game in detail. I get that Boston College is a hard place to win but a 15-21 record just isn’t enough. With no realistic future of success, it is best if Hadley and BC part ways after this season unless something wild happens.
5. Brent Venables, Oklahoma. Well, now I’m gonna get death threats from Norman so I’ll probably make an annual move to the sight of the National Championship game considering no one from Oklahoma is going to be there anytime soon. This week marked two things that is very bad for Oklahoma. They underperformed against SMU while Texas smashed expectations by beating Alabama. With both teams headed into the SEC, it’s clear that recruiting has swung the way of the Longhorns. It is a tough transition going from Lincoln Riley to Jeff Lebby but Lebby has shown his behind to both OU and the nation. OU was shut out by Texas last year in the Red River Rivalry and no, it’s not a showdown. OU has yet to properly replace Cale Gundy, something that Oklahoma fans have yet to forget regarding Gundy’s exit, and for a team of moral high ground, Lebby bringing Art Briles to Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium missed the mark so badly, it should be a firable offense. The good thing for Venables is that his defense looks much improved and OU is willing to give Venables another shot with another offensive coordinator. The problem is that the top offensive minds in football can oftentimes be traced to Lincoln Riley, Art Briles, or Lane Kiffin. Garrett Riley isn’t coming, Kendal Briles shouldn’t and Lebby has shown that what they do in Oxford might not translate to Norman. Venables needs an answer soon but I think I have found it. Brennan Carroll out at Arizona might be the remedy needed for a pedestrian offense. If Venables can’t get it right, there is a silver lining for the Sooners. Bob Stoops is just a phone call and a five-minute drive away and trust me, Stoops isn’t gonna step on toes but anyone that is paying attention to him knows he still has the fire. If he doesn’t, then explain to me why he is on the recruiting trail for OU? Let’s not act like he didn’t prematurely retire. These next six weeks are gonna define Venables but a win at the Cotton Bowl would turn his seat from heating up to ice cold.