JEFF ALLEN’S COLLEGE COACHES ON THE HOT SEAT
Coaching college football is a pretty good gig if you can get a job. Last year 34 FBC head coaches made in excess of
$3 million dollars. With winning at a premium, these jobs have are also hard to hold on to and this year 29 of the 128
FBS board programs will have new faces at the controls. Some, like Mark Richt and Georgia (9-3 last year) and Art Briles
(10-3) were fired. A couple of icons like Steve Spurrier and Frank Beamer retired. For some like Bronco Mendenhall
(99-43 at BYU), it was just time to move on. Several just never go the job done and were shown the door.
While baseball has the hot stove league to keep bases in the news during the off season, college football has it’s “Coaches
on the Hot Seat” to stir the pot during the slow and down time. With college football right around the corner, rumors of coaches
that must win now start to heat up. Before we get to our top five, some quick thoughts on the three “usual suspects” … Les
Miles of LSU, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin and Charlie Strong of Texas.
Les Miles isn’t going anywhere unless he wants to leave which could be a possibility if the Tigers were to lose three games
with it’s success friendly schedule and Leonard Fournette back for his junior and likely final year. The Bayou Bengals get
Bama at home and should really only be on upset alert when they travel to Arkansas and in their season finale at College
Station. Speaking of the Agglies, Kevin Sumlin would figure to be in the most danger off B2B 8-5 seasons, the revolving QB
situation, assistants gone wild and program perception. That said, A&M is pretty much pot committed through 2019 at $5
million dollars per. Charley Strong is an excellent coach and it would border on criminal if he were to clean up the mess left
by Mack Brown and not be given the time to put his own kids and systems in place. Now in his third year and rolling with an
11-14 overall record, ten wins against a rugged schedule will put out the fires. Winning at Cal is key.
Jeff Allen’s Fatal Five …
Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State: Took over from “Anytime, anywhere” Pat Hill and promptly went 20-6 in his first two years with the
Bulldogs. The thing is, that was with Derek Carr at quarterback which was none of his doing. Last last the Bulldogs plunged
to 3-9 with one of the wins over Abilene Christian. This year’s prospects do not look much better. The team returns 12 starters,
seven on offense but last year FSU didn’t have a quarterback that threw for more than 800 yards. With UNLV and Nevada much
improved the Bulldogs could go 0-6 on the road and best case scenario with home losses to stacked San Diego State and Air
Force outfit would leave DeRyter and Co. 4-8 and holding his breath.
Darrell Hazell, Purdue: The Boilermakers have gone 6-30 under Hazell with 17 of his 22 Big Ten losses coming by double-digits.
An unlikely win over Nebraska was last year’s lone bright spot and may have bought Hazell one more year. Lets also remember
that the Boilers reside in the weaker of the two Big Ten divisions. With 16 returning starters, things would figure to improve but
non-conference games vs. Nevada and Cincinnati are not gimmes and Purdue plays just four conference home games and those
are versus Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Penn State. We could pile on with so much more including 2-22 Big Ten straight
up marks and two of six wins courtesy of Indiana State. This looks like and other two or three win season at best in Lafayette and
a change of scenery for Darrell Hazell.
Dana Holgersen, West Virginia: The former spread offense guru that put the Oklahoma State air attack on the map has not lived
up to expectations in Morgantown despite a 36-28 overall record. Holgersen is just 21-25 over his L46 but has survived thanks
to winning records the last two years after a brutal 4-8 year in 2013. Oliver Luck hired Holgersen but is no longer the Mountie athletic
director. Holgersen was given the dreaded vote of confidence by the new AD but then went on to turn down an extension after contract
talks hit an impasse. Holgersen’s an the Mountaineers future this year depends on Sr. quarterback Skylar Howard having a big year
and a miracle from a defense that returns just three starters.
Paul Haynes, Kent State: The Flashes went 11-3 in 2012 and made a trip to the MAC championship game and a Bowl, a season the
Darrel Hazell then parlayed into the Purdue job. Paul Haynes got the nod as a Flash legacy after many years on the staff of Ohio State.
Kent is just 9-26 with Haynes calling the shots including a 3-9 team last year that was held under 10 points six times last year and shut
out three times. The Golden Flashes do have a decent defense which returns eight starters. The offense returns ten from a unit that was
last in the FBS in yards per play. Kent conference home games are against teams that were 22-10 in conference last year meaning
they need to take care of business on the road where they’ve one twice straight up in three years under Haynes.
Dave Doeren, North Carolina State: The clock is ticking on Doeren who is 6-18 in three years in the ACC with two wins against Wake
and Syracuse and a notch vs. Boston College and North Carolina. The Wolf Pack has never beaten a Power Five school with a winning
record despite having a pretty good quarterback and skill people. For some reason NC State always seems to play Florida State tough
which could lead some to believe the team was actually better than it was. The Wolf Pack return 14 starters including eight on defense
their glaring weakness. If State can beat East Carolina in their second game and then run the table against a couple of rebuilding ACC
weaklings, Doeren might be able to hang on with smoke and mirrors.