Dave Aranda, Billy Napier lead Week 7’s hot seat rankings

These seats are getting hot midway through the season.

We saw plenty of action on Saturday, some good and some not-so-good. The same can be said of the coaching over the last seven weeks of action. There could be quite a handful of coaches who could be on the unemployment line before the year comes to an end.

At the top of our list, we have Dave Aranda of the Baylor Bears who has not enjoyed much success this season. Currently, Baylor is 0-3 over their last three games. The Bears aren’t the only team struggling this season with their coach under scrutiny, look no further than out in the Sunshine State with the Florida Gators. Head coach Billy Napier has been a topic of conversation all season and it continued with some questionable decisions on Saturday night in Knoxville.

As we approach midseason, these five coaches have the hottest seats:

Dave Aranda, Baylor Bears

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The further we get from the 2021 season the more it looks like an aberration. Under Aranda’s guidance, the Bears are 13-27 in the other three and half seasons compared to 12-2 in the Big 12 championship season of 2021. The Bears haven’t defeated a Power Four team since Oct. 21 of last season against the Cincinnati Bearcats. This coming Saturday they play the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who blasted them last year 39-14 in Waco.

Billy Napier, Florida Gators

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There was a moment or two where I thought that there was a path for William Napier to survive the 2024 season. That completely went out the window when the Florida Gators head coach went ultra-conservative and played for overtime. Fortune favors the bold and when the Gators had a chance to bury the Tennessee Vols in Knoxville, the embattled head coach had second thoughts about going for two with just 29 seconds remaining.

After this week’s matchup against Kentucky, the Gators will face Georgia, Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss before wrapping up against Florida State. This feels like a third-straight losing season for the Gators and an offseason filled with yet another head coach search.

Mack Brown, North Carolina Tar Heels

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It is almost surprising that UNC head coach Mack Brown is roaming the sidelines given the fallout of the loss to James Madison on Sept. 21. On that day the Tar Heels scored 50 points and still lost by three touchdowns. That was followed up by UNC blowing a 20-0 lead against rival Duke, who scored 21 unanswered to steal the win in Durham. In each of the last three losses to ACC opposition, they had a chance to win but found ways to lose. While I understand letting a coaching legend go on his terms, it might be time to re-think that mentality in Chapel Hill.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn Tigers

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The good news is that Auburn didn’t play this past weekend so quarterback Payton Thorne didn’t have to worry about being thrown under the bus again. Now for the bad news, the Tigers are still searching for the first SEC win of the year. The Missouri Tigers are up next for Freeze, who stated he is looking for guys who will fight for 60 minutes of football. Perhaps if you fell on the sword every once in a while instead of acting like a petulant child in your post-game pressers, they might be willing to play harder.

Trent Dilfer, UAB Blazers

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When Bill Clark retired due to back issues, the Blazers went with Bryant Vincent as the interim head coach. The team looked promising during that 2022 season. However, the school opted to get former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer as their next head coach. Dilfer was coaching at the high school level with some success but in just 18 games the team looked barely competitive. This season the Blazers have lost games by a combined 144 points. That breaks down to an average margin of victory of 28.8 points.

It might be time to start over in Birmingham.

Where does Jonathan Smith land in CBS Sports’ Hot Seat Rankings?

Who doesn’t love a little college football hot seat chatter in the thick of the summer?

Who doesn’t love a little college football hot seat chatter in the thick of the summer?

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd has released his annual “Hot Seat Rankings” this week, which lists out all 134 college football coaches at the FBS level and where they rate on the hot seat meter. The ratings range from zero (Untouchable) to five (Win or be fired).

So where does new Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith land? Well, he’s in a pretty safe spot as you would expect.

Dodd has Smith listed as a one rating, which is considered “safe and secure” at the moment. As the new lead man of the Spartans’ program, this is an expected spot for Smith.

Check out the complete rankings from Dodd by clicking on the post below:

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Big Ten hot seat rankings: CBS Sports evaluates head coaches’ futures in the conference

Scott Frost’s seat is scorching hot at Nebraska. How does CBS Sports rate every other Big Ten head coach’s hot seat situation?

There’s already been plenty of Big Ten offseason fodder out there. On3 recently released its Big Ten power rankings, CBS Sports ranked every Big Ten head coach, and ESPN updated its Football Power Index rankings of every team in the conference.

Iowa was ranked No. 37 nationally according to ESPN’s FPI and the computer simulations projected the Hawkeyes’ complete 2022 season game-by-game results as well. According to ESPN’s game-by-game FPI simulations, Hawkeye fans can expect Iowa to finish 7-5 in the 2022 season.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly penned up a full Big Ten West breakdown and there’s now odds out for the 2022 season as well. According to Tipico Sportsbook, Iowa is tied for the sixth-best odds to win the 2022 Big Ten championship. Tipico set the Hawkeyes’ win total at 7.5 entering this upcoming season as well.

Needless to say, there’s plenty out there to consume and dissect before the season kicks off in earnest for Iowa against South Dakota State on Sept. 3 at 11 a.m. from inside Kinnick Stadium.

CBS Sports just released one of its most fascinating pieces entering each college football season, though. Dennis Dodd revealed the 2022 college football hot seat rankings.

CBS assigns ratings of 0 to 5 to describe a current head coach’s current situation. The number ratings work out like this:

  • 5 – “Win or be fired”
  • 4 – “Start improving now”
  • 3 – “Pressure is mounting”
  • 2 – “All good…for now”
  • 1 – “Safe and secure”
  • 0 – “Untouchable”

Let’s take a look at where each Big Ten head coach finds themselves according to CBS Sports entering 2022.

Pat’s POV: These 10 coaches should be on ‘hot seat’ alert

College Wire’s Regional Editor Patrick Conn releases his hot seat rankings for the 2022 season.

The 2021 college football season was wild enough before you factored in the coaching carousel. That alone was a train on the tracks without any brakes.

With so much movement around the college football landscape, could we see anything that rivals that in 2022? Conventional wisdom says no, but I don’t question anything these days when it comes to the sport. Last year we didn’t think Oklahoma or Notre Dame were stepping stone universities but both Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly proved us wrong.

In this week’s edition of “Pat’s POV”, we look at the head coaches who could be on hot seat alert ahead of the 2022 college football season.