Tag: Big Ten football coaches

Hot Seat Coach Rankings For Every Power Five Team: 21 For 2021 College Football Topics, No. 14

20 for 2021 College Football Topics, No. 14: The coaching hot seat rankings for all of the Power Five teams.

20 for 2021 College Football Topics, No. 14: The coaching hot seat rankings for all of the Power Five teams.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

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What’s the hot seat status of all the Power Five head coaches?

Being on a hot seat isn’t just about whether or not a head coach needs to win a football game or have a big season to keep the job. That’s obviously the biggest part of staying hired, but it’s about pressure, too.

Some of the biggest-name head coaches have no real shot of getting fired, but they have to deal with through-the-roof unfair expectations. Really, though, these rankings are about who needs to win … NOW.

The hot seat rankings go from who’s on the coolest of seats in each Power Five conference to who desperately needs a massive campaign.

21 for 2021 Preview Topics (so far)  
21. Thoughts, Wishes, Hopes for 2021
20. Best Teams To Not Make CFP
19: Teams That Will Rebound Big
18. Teams That Will Fall Back
17: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
16. Expectations For New Head Coaches
15. Expectations For 2nd Year Head Coaches

– CFN 2021 Preview: All 130 Team Previews

ACC Preseason Hot Seat Coach Rankings 2021

14. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

The pressure is now at a whole other level – not winning the ACC Championship and going to the College Football Playoff would be a failure – but he’s obviously in the high-rent district of elite coaches.
Record With Team: 140-33
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 14, 2019: 14, 2018: 14
Clemson Preview | Schedule

13. Mack Brown, North Carolina

No, he’s not on any hot seat when it comes to potentially being fired, buuuuuuuut … is Mack Brown going Mack Brown? He recruited well enough to have a team worthy of playing for the ACC Championship – UNC isn’t in Clemson’s division – and this year the results have to match the talent.
Record With Team: 15-10
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 9, 2019: 3, 2018: NA
UNC Preview | Schedule

– 2021 CFN Preseason ACC Rankings

12 . Dave Clawson, Wake Forest

If you want to make a list of who’s doing the most with the least, Clawson might be at the top. Five straight bowls at Wake Forest is amazing – he can have a dud of a year and be more than fine.
Record With Team: 40-45
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 10, 2019: 8, 2018: 10
WF Preview | Schedule

11. Jeff Hafley, Boston College

The passing game is great, Boston College is looking dangerous, and there’s a shot Hafley becomes one of the hot rising coaches with a big year. As long as BC goes to a bowl, all is fine.
Record With Team: 6-5
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 12, 2019: NA, 2018: NA
BC Preview | Schedule

10. Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia

He can still live another year off the Orange Bowl appearance of 2019. Virginia is never going to be the pressure cooker of jobs that others are, and even if the results aren’t always perfect, Mendenhall is still among the best coaches in the league.
Record With Team: 30-32
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 13, 2019: 12, 2018: 8
Virginia Preview | Schedule

9. Scott Satterfield, Louisville

It’s not like the buzz wore off after a huge 2019, but going 4-7 last season was a huge disappointment. He’s a good guy, he brings a great attitude and tone for the program, and he’s fine to 2022 no matter what, but there’s still rebuilding to do.
Record With Team: 12-13
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 11, 2019: 13, 2018: NA
Louisville Preview | Schedule

8. Dave Doeren, NC State

Doeren got it back after a 4-8 2019 season with is typical 8-4-like campaign, and now he has to keep it all going with one of his better teams. He’s always going to be on a tepid seat – that’s sort of the nature with the NC State gig – but he’s good through next year even with a disappointing run.
Record With Team: 55-46
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 2, 2019: 7, 2018: 5
NC State Preview | Schedule

7. Pat Narduzzi, Pitt Panthers

The pressure has chilled out a little bit as Pitt has found a bit of a groove with its style. However, he can’t afford one really bad year. As long as the Panthers are going bowling, he’s fine.
Record With Team: 42-34
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 4, 2019: 2, 2018: 1
Pitt Preview | Schedule

– 2021 CFN Preseason All-ACC Team

6. Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech

So how much longer does the “he has to totally restyle the offense” thing work? It’s Year Three, and now the production has to come and the wins have to be there, but that’s going to be a problem with a nasty schedule.
Record With Team: 6-16
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 6, 2019: 11, 2018: NA
GT Preview | Schedule

5. Manny Diaz, Miami

It’s amazing what happens when you have a great quarterback and an offense that works. It’s Miami so the pressure is always going to be high and the seat will always be hot, but things have chilled a bit after going 8-3.
Record With Team: 14-10
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 1, 2019: 6, 2018: NA
Miami Preview | Schedule

4. Mike Norvell, Florida State

Yeah, one year in a pandemic shouldn’t mean much, but considering how quickly Willie Taggart was run out of town, the same standards need to apply here, too. Start winning or else.
Record With Team: 3-6
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 8, 2019: NA, 2018: NA
FSU Preview | Schedule

3. David Cutcliffe, Duke

Yeah, he might be one of the best teachers in the game, and the pressure is never there for football at Duke, but he’s 4-15 in his last 19 games with three losing seasons in the last five. This is his 13th year – there has to be something positive this season.
Record With Team: 74-88
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 7, 2019: 10, 2018: 7
Duke Preview | Schedule

– 2021 CFN ACC Predictions For Every Game

2. Dino Babers, Syracuse

He’ll get one more shot to prove that the ten-win 2018 season wasn’t a total fluke. Syracuse doesn’t have to win the ACC title – and it might not have to even go bowling – but this can’t be among the worst teams in the conference again. Just pull up out of the nosedive and show hope for 2022 and things might be okay.
Record With Team: 24-36
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 3, 2019: 9, 2018: 2
Syracuse Preview | Schedule

1. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech

It’s about as make-or-break as a year gets. The Hokies haven’t totally underachieved over the last few seasons, but they’re not in the ACC title mix like they need to be. At the very least, they have to make some noise in the Coastal.
Record With Team: 38-26
ACC Preseason Hot Seat Rankings
2020: 5, 2019: 4, 2018: 13
VT Preview | Schedule

2021 Preseason Hot Seat Coach Rankings 
Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC

NEXT: 2021 Preseason Hot Seat Coach Rankings: Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

Ranking the Big Ten football head coaches heading into 2021

There’s still a months before we see real, live college football again, but that didn’t stop us from ranking the Big Ten football coaches.

Perhaps nothing is more important in college football than getting the right head coach that fits the culture and tradition of the program. Even schools that sell themselves per se can go from conference and national title contenders to teams that simply go to a good bowl on a yearly basis.

In the Big Ten, each school has its own separate history and ways of winning that have to fit the personalities that are hired to be caretakers of what has come before them. In some cases, the coaches hired are brought in to take the school to the next level.

But, no matter how you look at it, each is judged by the job they do with each program in relation to what we’ve seen in past history. Expectations at a place like Ohio State for instance are a lot different than those found at Northwestern or Indiana.

The Big Ten went through an upgrade in its coaches when Urban Meyer arrived on the scene, and it’s still got some pretty good ones now that he rode off into the sunset in Columbus and is now trying his hand at the NFL. Ryan Day has done pretty good picking up where he left off, but what about the rest of the conference?

We decided to rank all fourteen Big Ten head coaches heading into the 2021 season and here’s how we believe things look as they stand today.

 

 

Mel Tucker ranked No. 13 among Big Ten football coaches by CBS Sports

Tucker is ranked No. 55 among all Power Five football coaches.

CHIP ON THE SHOULDER BACK.

CBS Sports has ranked the Power Five (plus Notre Dame) football coaches from 1-65 and boy were they not kind to new Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker. (And really how could they be given he’s been a head coach for one year and went 5-7 BUT STILL! THE CHIP!) Tucker is ranked No. 13 among the 14 Big Ten coaches, which puts him at No. 55 nationally. That’s behind the likes of Lovie Smith and Kevin Sumlin among many others. At least he’s above Mike Locksley who already has a season at Maryland under his belt?

Of Tucker CBS writes:

“He climbed from No. 64 to No. 55 with the move to Michigan State. My theory is it has a lot more to do with all the new hires than our voters being overly impressed by his 5-7 season in Colorado. He steps into a difficult situation at Michigan State thanks in part to the timing of his hire and lack of spring practice.”

Tucker is up nine spots from last season when he ranked No. 64.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, James Franklin is the top-ranked coach at No. 9 in the country. Ryan Day is next at No. 10. Those two are followed by Jim Harbaugh (No.12), Kirk Ferentz (No. 14) and PJ Fleck (No. 15).

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Power ranking all the Big Ten head football coaches for 2020

Who’s the best head football coach in the Big Ten? We ranked them from fourteen all the way down to No. 1. Who do we have at the top?

We went through this exercise last year just before the season, and we’ve now got one more year to observe and react to. Ryan Day proved a lot of folks wrong, and so did P.J. Fleck at Minnesota. Pat Fitzgerald had a down year, while Mark Dantonio rode off into the sunset.

So yeah, we’re doing it again and waiting for the hate mail to arrive from the fans of other programs (we got plenty last year). Regardless, trying to be as unbiased as possible, here’s our power rankings of every head football coach in the Big Ten going into 2020.

Of course, it’s all opinion based and every fanbase seems to have an elevated view of their coach, but off we go. If we don’t write anything else by this time tomorrow, send out a search party.

Next … No. 14

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 10, Page 11, Page 12, Page 13, Page 14, Page 15

Hot Seat Coach Rankings For Every Power Five Team: 20 For 2020 College Football Topics, No. 14

20 for 2020 College Football Topics, No. 14: the coaching hot seat rankings for all of the Power Five teams. 

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20 for 2020 College Football Topics, No. 14: the coaching hot seat rankings for all of the Power Five teams. 

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Being on a hot seat shouldn’t just be about whether or not a guy needs to win a football game or five to keep his job. That’s obviously the biggest part of the staying hired equation, but it’s about pressure, too.

Sometimes, a relatively safe made man has all the pressure in the world on his shoulders to beat the arch-rival, and sometimes a college football head coach just has to win big, or else.

The rankings go from who’s on the coolest of seats in each Power Five conference to who had better come up with a big season to survive.

ACC Spring Coach Hot Seat Rankings

14. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

Yeah, the pressure is on to win the national title or the season is a disappointment, but Swinney has coached in four national championship games in five years. He’s at Clemson for life if it’ll have him.
Record With Team: 130-31
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 14
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 14
– Full Schedule Analysis

13. Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia

The guy just beat Virginia Tech and took the Cavaliers to the ACC Championship and the Orange Bowl. It’s Virginia, the pressure isn’t that intense – he can have a few rough seasons and still be more than comfortable.
Record With Team: 25-27
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 12
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 8
– Full Schedule Analysis

12. Jeff Hafley, Boston College

A total disaster of a year would cause a little grumbling, but get to six wins and everything will be okay in Year One. Even if the record is awful, it’ll be seen as a step back to possibly take a big leap forward.
Record With Team: 0-0
– Full Schedule Analysis

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11. Scott Satterfield, Louisville

Everyone likes him, the overall attitude has changed around the program, and the talent is starting to come in. There’s still a rebuilding process to be done, but he showed last season what he can do with the Cardinals.
Record With Team: 8-5
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 13
– Full Schedule Analysis

10. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest

It’s Wake freaking Forest, and Clawson has managed to take it to four straight bowl games and four straight winning seasons. There might be ebbs and flows to the record throughout the years, but he has already proven what he can do.
Record With Team: 36-40
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 8
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
– Full Schedule Analysis

9. Mack Brown, North Carolina

It was a positive first season to pull the Tar Heels out of the nosedive, but it has to be a beginning and not a culmination. The recruiting class was great, everything appears to be pointing up, but … win more.
Record With Team: 7-6
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 3
– Full Schedule Analysis

8. Mike Norvell, Florida State

He’ll get a very, very, very short leash. He got Memphis over the hump, and the early returns are all positive, but he has yet to win a bowl game and he’s not the A-list of A-list possible hires. Brand name doesn’t always matter – ask UCLA how the Chip Kelly era is going – but it’s Florida State. A losing season will set off panic sirens.
Record With Team: 0-0
– Full Schedule Analysis

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7. David Cutcliffe, Duke

A third losing season in five years wouldn’t be a plus, but it’s Duke, and it’s Cutcliffe, so it would take something awful for this to be over in a bad way. However, after 12 years, the “go another direction” thing could come out if the campaign is a total disaster.
Record With Team: 72-79
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 10
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 7
– Full Schedule Analysis

6. Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech

It’s still going to take a little while to completely turn this whole thing around – a brutal schedule won’t help – but grade him a bit on a curve. That’s fine, but there had better be signs that something big is coming in 2021 no matter what happens record-wise in 2020.
Record With Team: 3-9
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 11
– Full Schedule Analysis

5. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech

Last season was stronger after a losing 2018 season, but he has lost three straight bowl games and there can’t be another loss to Virginia. At the very least, it would be a big plus if the Hokies were in the mix for the Coastal title until the end.
Record With Team: 33-20
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 4
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 13
– Full Schedule Analysis

4. Pat Narduzzi, Pitt

The pressure always seems to be on Narduzzi to do more, and then he goes out and wins 7-to-8 games. However, after five years, one total clunker – and a second losing season in three years – would be a big problem
Record With Team: 36-29
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 2
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 1
– Full Schedule Analysis

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3. Dino Babers, Syracuse

The ten-win season of two years ago seems way back in the rearview mirror. With three losing seasons in his four years, last season has to be more of the aberration than 2018.
Record With Team: 23-26
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 9
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 2
– Full Schedule Analysis

2. Dave Doeren, NC State

The opening line of last year’s blurb on Doeren: “There’s a problem if the Wolfpack come up with a 4-8 run.” State went 4-8. That was okay once, but it can’t happen again. The team wasn’t even competitive over the second half of the season.
Record With Team: 48-41
2019 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 7
2018 ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 5
– Full Schedule Analysis

1. Manny Diaz, Miami

Miami fans are already a fickle lot as they expect greatness – and are right to do so – but losing to FIU, losing to a bad Duke team, and getting shutout by a Group of Five team in a lower-tier bowl on the way to a losing season is never going to be okay in Coral Gables.
Record With Team: 6-7
Last Season ACC Spring Hot Seat Ranking: 6
– Full Schedule Analysis

NEXT: Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC

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