There are a lot of coaches heading into next season who are on any level of hot seat - from blazing hot to just slightly warm - but they will be watched closely because things just have not been going well.
South Carolina’s Will Muschamp scored a huge and hard-fought win to secure five-star defensive end Jordan Burch to bolster a strong defense, but the Gamecocks need a tremendous amount of help on offense after averaging just 22.4 points per game last season.
Miami’s Manny Diaz is only entering his second season, but 2019 was a disaster - to put it mildly. The Hurricanes finished 6-7 and collapsed down the stretch with losses to FIU, Duke and they were held scoreless in a bowl-game loss to Louisiana Tech. On the positive side, Miami finished second in the ACC team recruiting rankings and signed 13 four-star prospects, the most in the conference.
Scott Frost at Nebraska is probably not on any kind of hot seat but he needs to turn this thing around in Lincoln or things could turn bad. The Huskers have had three-straight losing seasons (two under Frost) for the first time since 1959-61 and it looked like quarterback Adrian Martinez regressed a year ago. For someone who had dynamic and exciting offenses at UCF, Frost has not delivered at Nebraska yet. He’s 9-15 overall and 6-12 in the Big Ten in two seasons.
MORE ASK FARRELL: Which coach is off to strong start for 2021 cycle?
At Texas, Tom Herman overhauled his coaching staff - and that’s usually a sign a head coach is feeling the heat. A 10-4 season in 2018 including a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia that could have sparked a great 2019 instead fizzled and the Longhorns went a disappointing 8-5. Texas did finish with the top-rated recruiting class in the Big 12, led by five-star running back Bijan Robinson.
The Pac-12 is also dotted with some coaches who are definitely on some kind of hot seat from USC’s Clay Helton to Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin to UCLA’s Chip Kelly.
If there’s been any good news for those three, it’s probably with the Trojans where offensive coordinator Graham Harrell decided to stay instead of leaving for the NFL and some new assistants including defensive coordinator Todd Orlando has breathed some fresh life into the program.
FARRELL'S TAKE
We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell to name one or two coaches who could have a bounceback season coming up and one name that might be in trouble?
"This is a tough question but I’m going to say that Herman will have a bounce back season and take some heat off himself. Oklahoma will still win the Big 12, but Texas will win 10 games and all will be OK in Austin for a bit.
"This also might sound crazy, but Helton will keep his job, compete for the Pac-12 title and improve the Trojans' recruiting results somewhat.
"Muschamp will be gone after this year. Recruiting is going well, but the SEC East is getting tougher and a poor season will seal his fate."
