Firing season: College coaches on the hotseat

[Brad]

Firing season: College coaches on the hotseat

By Matt Hooper

Before the postseason can commence, college administrators across the country must begin dumping their dead weight (and while that’s not a direct shot at Notre Dame…it is quite fitting, wouldn’t you say?). It’s firing season once again and Birmingham Weekly’s Matt Hooper has ranked every FBS school in the country by hotseat – that is to say, how likely a school is to fire their head football coach. As of Nov. 23, three coaches have already been canned, leaving 117 jobs hanging in some degree of limbo…

KEY: The rankings go in order from 1 to 117, most likely to be fired to least likely. Ranking, coach, school, 2009 record, overall record as a head coach and my rationale.

Already out the door

- David Elson – Western Kentucky – 0-10 (0-10) - WKU fired new head coach David Elson during his first season (and WKU’s first in I-A) on Nov. 9.

- Tommy West – Memphis – 2-9 (84-95) - Despite leading the Tigers to five bowl games over the last seven seasons, West was fired two weeks ago.

- Mike Sanford – UNLV – 4-7 (15-43) - Considering Sanford inherited a terrible program and squeezed out five wins last season, his firing seems a tad premature.

Positively Combustible

1. Charlie Weis – Notre Dame – 6-5 (35-26) - Not only  tore his ACL and MCL while coaching on the sideline, but also managed to gain weight after gastric bypass surgery. Can this guy catch a break?

2. Dan Hawkins – Colorado – 3-8 (69-37) - Not only has he been an enormous flop as the Buffaloes head coach, he might not be right in the head. However, his  “Division I football” rant is at or near Mike Gundy-level.

3. Mark Mangino – Kansas – 5-6 (50-47) - Whatever Mangino may or may not have done to a Jayhawks’ player during practice, he seems to have (quickly) worn out his welcome.

4. Al Groh – Virginia – 3-8 (85-92) - Every year he seems to pull his marshmallows out of the fire just in the nick of time, but with four or more losses in each of his nine seasons…

5. Mike Locksley – New Mexico – 1-10 (1-10) - Locksley’s already dragged the program through several embarrassing incidents, including allegations that he punched and choked one of his former assistant coaches.

6. Steve Kragthorpe – Louisville – 4-7 (44-42) - The fans in Louisville have developed a cottage industry around selling paper bags to wear over their heads at Cardinal games.

7. Bobby Bowden – Florida State – 6-5 (385-128-4) - It would take a boatload of cash and lot of guts to give Bobby the heave-ho, but his presence on the sidelines is getting pretty sad.

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Controlling their own destinies

90. David Cutcliffe – Duke – 5-6 (53-43) - Cutcliffe has managed to breathe some much needed life into a long dormant program.

91. Skip Holtz – East Carolina – 7-4 (74-48) - Skip maybe the missing link we’ve been looking for to determine if  coaching can be genetic.

92. Rich Brooks – Kentucky – 7-4 (128-153-4) - Brooks has the ‘Cats competitive, has already tabbed a coach-in-waiting…he’ll call the shots on his departure.

93. Bill Snyder – Kansas State – 6-6 (142-74-1) - Snyder has coaxed the program he helped build off the ledge and back to buoyancy. He’ll dictate his eventual departure.

94. Chris Ault – Nevada – 8-3 (206-94-1) - He’s one of four active coaches already inducted into the College Football HOF.

95. Mike Leach – Texas Tech – 7-4 (83-43) - After Leach flirted with Washington, it became obvious that Tech will do what they can to keep him for as long as they can.

96. Jim Leavitt – South Florida – 7-3 (94-54) - He built the Bulls from scratch, turned them into a legitimate contender and will leave when he’s ready.

Link

[Bull-by-Marriage]

7-3 is a good record, however, much like Leavitt said himself, it's not about winning or losing, it's about playing good football.

[postmortem]

He also says every year the goal is to win the big east. To do that we have to win. Soooo its definitely 100% about winning

[bullsbucsboltsrays]

That article is a big pile of excrement.

[postmortem]

What's wrong with the article? Because it mentions Leavitt? He's 96 on the list man. I'd say the writer understands his job is pretty secure...

[Bull-by-Marriage]

He also says every year the goal is to win the big east. To do that we have to win. Soooo its definitely 100% about winning

The Key is, if you have the athletes to compete (which we do), and if you play good football, you win a vast majority of your games. Conference titles are won by teams that play good football. The days of rolling the ball on the field and winning are over.

[Bulls 8_va]

So it goes through every program?

Hmm...and we are 96th?

Hmm...so leavitt isnt on the hotseat, right?

This thread is  :oldnews

GO BULLS!!!

[Who'sYourData?]

I really think Kragthorpe should be higher on the list.  I might put him number one.  Just reading his quotes makes me think he's already been told he's a goner.