Top 5 College Football Head Coaches on the Hot Seat in 2023
Before we dive into coaches sitting on hot seats this season, let's first look at those who will be starting to feel the heat.
Justin Wilcox, California Golden Bears
Wilcox's career at Cal got off to a bright start. In 2018 and 2019, he led the Golden Bears to back-to-back bowl berths for the first time since 2008-09. But since then, the team is just 10-18. If 2023 is yet another below-.500 season, it may be time to make a change. However, Cal has to play Auburn in Week 2, as well as road games against Washington, Utah, Oregon and UCLA in the Pac-12 this season.
Mel Tucker, Michigan State
Tucker signed a 10-year extension worth $95 million in Nov. 2021. That season, MSU finished 11-2 and capped it off with a Peach Bowl victory over Pittsburgh. However, it finished 5-7 last year after dropping three of its last five games.
Tucker's 11-win season and contract extension give him some cushion, but missing a bowl again in 2023 would create some rumblings about his future. This season, MSU starts with four straight home games vs. Central Michigan, Richmond, Washington and Maryland.
The Spartans also will see Michigan and Penn State at home, but they have to replace quarterback Payton Thorne and leading wideout Keon Coleman.
Greg Schiano, Rutgers
Schiano returned to coach Rutgers in December 2019, but the team is 12-22 over the past three seasons, including a 6-21 mark against Big Ten opponents.
However, given the Scarlet Knights' poor onfield performance and The Athletic's recent report of the program's abysmal financial state within the Big Ten, the program could use some optimism in 2023.
We'll see if Rutgers returning 14 starters on both sides of the ball can help Schiano reach bowl-eligibility for the first time since 2014. (The Scarlet Knights played in the 2021 Gator Bowl despite finishing 5-6 following the withdrawal of Texas A&M).
Butch Jones, Arkansas State
Jones' return to the FBS with Arkansas State has not gone as hoped, with the team winning just five games over the past two seasons. The 55-year-old will look to avoid being the first head coach to have three straight losing seasons in Jonesboro since Steve Roberts in 2002-04. Would finishing below-.500 again in 2023 prompt Arkansas State to make a change? It wouldn't be surprising.
Dino Babers, Syracuse
Babers was on this list before the 2022 season, but Syracuse started the season 6-0 and made it into the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time since 2018.
However, the Orange lost six of their last seven games last season, including a 28-20 defeat to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl.
That strong start in 2022 likely bought Babers another season, but expect conversations about his future to rise again if Syracuse finishes below -.500.
It's no secret that the Texas A&M Aggies had a down year in 2022.
They entered as a preseason playoff contender and started the year 3-1. But then came a six-game losing streak—the longest since 1972—to finish 5-7 on the season. Prior to last year, they hadn't missed a bowl game since 2008.
The poor season was enough to raise questions about any coach's future...even if you're Jimbo Fisher with a 10-year, $94 million contract extension signed the previous year.
But signs seem to be pointing toward 2022 being a blip. The Aggies return 10 starters each on offense and defense this fall, including quarterback Conner Weigman, who threw for 896 yards and eight touchdowns with zero interceptions while starting the last four games of last season.
If TAMU can rebound and contend inside the SEC West this season, Fisher's seat will rightfully cool down. When the Aggies face Alabama at home on Oct. 7, we'll see if they have what it takes to get back into the playoff conversation.
The last time the Crimson Tide played at College Station, Texas A&M pulled off a thrilling 41-38 upset.
Tom Allen managed to lead the Indiana Hoosiers to back-to-back bowl appearances with an 8-5 finish in 2019 and a 6-2 season during the 2020 COVID-impacted campaign.
But Indiana is 6-18 over the last two seasons, and the Hoosiers went 1-8 in their final nine weeks of the season last year. That's not to mention Indiana has gone 2-16 in the Big Ten over the last two seasons. That's pretty ominous, considering the league is about to have USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon join it soon.
Allen will likely need to lead the Hoosiers to at least a bowl berth this year to gain some confidence from Indiana. That may be easier said than done, though, as the Hoosiers' 2023 schedule looks particularly tough.
It includes a Week 3 game against Louisville in Indianapolis, and road trips to Michigan, Penn State, Illinois and Purdue. The only games that look like easy wins for the Hoosiers this season include games vs. Indiana State, Akron and Rutgers.
Indiana also returns just eight total starters from last season, which is the least in the Big Ten, per Phil Steele. We'll see if Indiana can be more competitive in the last year of the conference as we know it.
Speaking of conferences changing, West Virginia will be playing in a new Big 12. In 2023, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston and BYU will be the newcomers in a league that the Mountaineers have failed to compete in for quite a while.
Despite leading the Troy Trojans to three consecutive double-digit win seasons, Brown has been unable to replicate that success at WVU. His best finish came in 2020, going 6-4 capped off with a Liberty Bowl win over Army.
But the Mountaineers are now coming off of back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1978-79.
Brown's overall record sits at 22-25 entering his sixth season with WVU. If the Mountaineers have yet another losing season, it'd be hard to justify keeping him. Not to mention the 43-year-old's reported buyout of nearly $17 million drops to $13 million at the end of the 2023 season, per The Athletic.
If the Mountaineers can show some competitiveness inside a revamped Big 12, perhaps new WVU athletic director Wren Baker can keep Brown around. He'll save some money in doing so, at least.
Any head coach who goes 7-24 over three seasons will be put on the hot seat, even for a program that has historically struggled like New Mexico.
For head coach Danny Gonzales, his fourth year on the job looks pretty important.
Unfortunately, the Lobos enter 2023 coming off a 2-10 season that saw them go winless in the Mountain West. They're currently tied for the fourth-longest losing streak nationally, having lost their last nine games.
It looks like that will extend to 10 games on Sept. 2, as the Lobos open with a road trip to Texas A&M in Week 1. But there is some hope for improvement this season.
New Mexico returns eight starters on offense and adds UAB transfer Dylan Hopkins at quarterback. His offensive coordinator at UAB, Bryant Vincent, is now with the Lobos as offensive coordinator. For a unit that finished 131st in total offense last season, any improvement there should help.
If Gonzales can lead New Mexico to its first bowl bid since 2016, that could give him one more year. DraftKings currently gives the Lobos -115 odds to finish under 3.5 wins.
For most college football coaches, you have a pretty good idea of where things stand by Year Four. For Jeff Hafley and Boston College, the last four years have been a mixed bag.
The Eagles went 6-5 in his first season in 2020, followed by a 6-6 finish in 2021. Unfortunately, the positive momentum that seemed to be building came to a halt during a 3-9 2022 season.
BC did manage to upset then-No. 17 NC State late in the season. But that didn't do much to ease the sting of the team having their first losing season since 2015.
To make matters worse, starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec opted to transfer to ACC rival Pitt at the end of the 2022 season. The Eagles still return nine starters on offense for 2023, but losing your star signal-caller to an in-conference rival raises eyebrows.
Steve Addazio had just the one losing season at Boston College. He was fired after failing to eclipse seven wins during his seven-year tenure. If Hafley's veteran offense can get BC to eight or more wins for the first time since 2009, he could get another year.
The ACC is dropping divisions in 2023, and this actually shakes out nicely for the Eagles. Their toughest ACC games include Florida State at home in Week 3 and the trip to Pitt to face their former quarterback.
Elsewhere, BC gets road trips to Louisville, Georgia Tech and Syracuse and home games vs. Virginia, Virginia Tech and Miami. BC's out-of-conference slate features Northern Illinois, Holy Cross, at Army and UConn.
The Eagles reaching eight or nine wins with a manageable ACC schedule just might be enough to earn Hafley another season.
All information about returning starters and all-time records via Phil Steele's 2023 College Football Preview.
