College Football Hot Seat Coaches: Win NOW, Or Else
These five coaches will likely hang on to their respective jobs with an okay final record, but they all need to put together a strong string of wins NOW.
5. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Up Next: Ohio State
The man probably can’t get fired considering he is Northwestern football, but his team is about to go 1-11 and not be all that terribly close in any of the final four games.
Seriously, who gives up 33 points to Iowa and makes the offense look like the Greatest Show on Turf?
What’s the perfect antidote for a struggling team that could use something positive? Come on in, Ohio State …
That, then at Minnesota, at Purdue, Illinois.
At the moment, Northwestern is 1-13 in its last 14 games and this going to be the third season in the last four with three wins or fewer.
4. Tim Lester, Western Michigan
Up Next: at Bowling Green
This can go either way.
There’s no reason Western Michigan can’t win three of its final four games to get to six wins and a bowl. It’s been a rough year with a whole lot of disappointments, but Lester hasn’t had a losing season in his first five years and he needs to get his struggling team hot to keep the streak going.
Beating Miami University a few weeks ago 16-10 wasn’t pretty, but it was a start. At Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, at Central Michigan, Toledo.
To take this to the positive, sweep this run – or win three of the four with one of them being Toledo – and the Broncos are playing for the MAC title.
3. Justin Wilcox, Cal
Up Next: at USC
The pressure is about as low as it gets for a coach at a Power Five program, but Wilcox can’t get this engine to turn over.
It’s his sixth season at the helm, he’s 29-33 overall, and his teams haven’t been bad. They’re just not able to put anything together on a consistent basis – he’s not getting any semblance of luck – and now they’re on a four-game losing streak and have to win three of the last four games just to get to six wins and bowl eligibility.
At USC, at Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA. There are chances to make noise – and Cal might be just good enough to pull off a few wins – but it’s going to be a fight for this to be anything but the fourth losing season in a row.
2. Jeff Scott, USF
Up Next: at Temple
This might be trickier than it seems.
Scott is just 4-25 in his career so far after the loss to Houston, and the only win over an FBS team was against Temple last year. However, the team isn’t playing that poorly, at least on offense.
The defense is an issue, but considering East Carolina and Tulane are strong this year, none of the seven losses in 2022 are bad – USF should’ve lost all of them and it would be a slight stunner and big upset if it pulled off any of those games.
However, who’s up next? Temple.
Losing those other seven games was actually okay, and USF will likely lose to SMU, at Tulsa, UCF to close.
Don’t lose to Temple.
1. Jeff Hafley, Boston College
Up Next: Duke
Yeah, you don’t lose to UConn 13-3 if things are going well. Now at 14-17 in almost three seasons, he needs a big November.
Boston College can still run the table and go to a bowl, but the offense can’t come up with anything positive on a regular basis, the defense isn’t holding up, and now at 2-6 the remaining run against Duke, at NC State, at Notre Dame, and Syracuse might mean a 2-10 run and the worst campaign since 2012.
To always try hoping for the best, beat Duke this week, come up with one win in the final three, and things might start to trend up a bit. But the O has to start working … fast.
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