CFW Preseason 2024 - The Hot Seat Coaches

 CFW Preseason 2024 – The Hot Seat Coaches

Is Napier’s seat about to combust?

 

No doubt about it, Florida’s Billy Napier is sitting on the hottest seat in the country. Napier’s seat is the hottest, but eight other coaches aren’t far behind. Their seats range from lukewarm to Fahrenheit 451.

 

Only nine coaches enter the 2024 season on the hot seat and only four of those are Power Five coaches. The pink slips could be few and far between this season. Time will tell.

 

Coaches on the Hot Seat – 2024

 

In two seasons with the Gators, Billy Napier has compiled a 11-14 record – 6-7 in 2022 and 5-7 last year. Successive losing seasons doesn’t cut it in Gainesville. The Gators could be headed for their third-straight losing season. Napier must be having nightmares with a schedule that includes eight teams in the preseason Top 25. And three of the remaining four teams are no cupcakes.

 

To make matters worse, Florida’s final five games on the schedule are a murderers row – Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State. With that kind of schedule, if Napier can manage a 5-7 or 6-6 record, he may save his job. May? To his benefit, he has been recruiting well. Will the “powers that be” show him any mercy?

 

If it is any comfort to Billy Napier, he has company in the SEC. Arkansas’ Sam Pittman is sitting on a hot seat too. Pittman came close to getting the axe last year, but he managed to survive. He won’t survive this year if things don’t get better in Fayetteville.

 

In four years with the Razorbacks, Pittman is 23-25. He was 4-8 last year. That’s not exactly improvement. To help fix the problem, Pittman hired Bobby Petrino at the end of last season. He brought Petrino in to add pizzazz to the offense. The last time Petrino was in Fayetteville, he was the head coach. We know how that ended. Now Petrino is the offensive coordinator. Can he save Pittman?

 

Like Napier, Pittman faces a tough schedule – one that includes seven teams in the preseason Top 25. But unlike Napier, and to Pittman’s advantage, three of the other five teams on the schedule are cupcakes. This is a do or die season for Sam Pittman.

 

The third hot seat among the Power Five coaches is Baylor’s Dave Aranda.  Like Sam Pittman, Aranda is 23-25 after four seasons in Waco. He was a paltry 3-9 last season. That’s not showing any improvement. This season, Baylor has five tough games on the road – at Utah, at Colorado, at Iowa State, at Texas Tech and at West Virginia. Plus a couple of tough home games against Oklahoma State and Kansas. There are four preseason Top 25 teams in that group. That’s a challenging schedule. This may well be Aranda’s last season at Baylor.

 

Last among the four Power Five hot seat coaches is California’s Justin Wilcox. After seven years in Berkeley, Wilcox has compiled a 36-43 record. Somehow, he has managed to hang on. The Bears did go to a bowl game last season, but lost and finished with a 6-7 record. To make matters worse for Wilcox this season, he is facing a change. With the fall of the Pac-12, Cal will be competing in the ACC in 2024. Wilcox needs to make a quick adjustment. Cal’s first two ACC games are against Florida State and Miami. Good luck!

 

The five Group of Five coaches on the hot seat reside in three  conferences – one from the AAC, and two each from the MAC and Sun Belt.

 

The AAC coach is East Carolina’s Mike Houston. Following five years in Greenville, Houston is sitting at 24-34. Even worse, the Pirates were 2-10 last season. And there is not a lot of hope for East Carolina this year. Houston’s future looks grim. It seems like East Carolina has hired a slew of bad coaches during the past several years.

 

The two coaches sitting on a hot seat in the MAC are Ball State’s Mike Neu and Central Michigan’s Jim McElwain. After eight years with the Cardinals, Neu is a sad 37-56. Ball State was 4-8 last season. To make matters worse for Neu, Ball State is picked to finish at or near the bottom of the MAC.

 

At Central Michigan, Jim McElwain is in a little better shape. He does have a winning record but not by much – 29-28 after five years. CMU was 5-7 last year. Unlike Ball State, the outlook for Central Michigan this season is a little more promising. McElwain needs a winning record. That should keep him around for another year. A losing record will most likely send him packing.

 

The two Sun Belt coaches sitting in precarious positions are Will Hall of Southern Miss and Butch Jones of Arkansas State. Both schools are picked to finish at or near the bottom of the Sun Belt in 2024. That’s not encouraging. At Southern Miss, Hall has compiled a 13-24 record in three years. The Eagles were a sad 3-9 last year.

 

After three years, Butch Jones’ record at Arkansas State is worse – 11-26. However, the Red Wolves were an improved team last season, finishing 6-6. They earned a bowl bid, but lost to Northern Illinois by two points – 21-19. Jones may have turned the corner at Arkansas State. He needs a winning record in 2024. That should keep him around. If Jones has a losing record this season, Arkansas State will most likely be looking for his replacement.

 

Not yet hot, the seats of eight other coaches are warming up. They are Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi – 65-50 in nine years (3-9 last year); Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea – 9-27 in three years (2-10 last year); Temple’s Stan Drayton – 6-18 in two years (3-9 last year); Rice’s Mike Bloomgren – 22-46 in six years (6-7 last year); Marshall’s Charles Huff – 22-17 in three years (6-7 last year); Miami of Florida’s Mario Cristobal – 12-13 in two years (7-6 last year); Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield – 3-9 in one year, and Louisiana Tech’s Sunny Cumbie – 6-18 in two years (3-9 last year).  

 

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at this season’s top quarterbacks.

 

Touchdown Tom

August 14, 2024

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