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6/23 Roundtable - The Coach On The Hot Seat
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Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez
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CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Jun 22, 2009
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6/23 Roundtable - And the coach on the biggest hot seat is ... ? It's the Tuesday topic in the CFN Daily Roundtable Discussion.
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CFN Daily Roundtables
 June
23
The Coach On The Biggest Hot Seat Is ... ?
Over the next several weeks, as part of the CFN 2009 Preview, we'll
examine some of the key questions going into the year with a
daily discussion of the big topics.
Pete
Fiutak,
CFN
Yes, I'm part of
the problem. You can check me out at
twitter.com/CFN_Fiu and find
out future roundtable topics and other random musings.
Q:
The Coach On The Biggest Hot Seat Is ... ?
A: I always kind of look at the
coaching hot seat question a little differently. Once a coach is being
given the win-or-else ultimatum, it's usually over, it's not working,
and it's time to move on. Tommy Bowden was the prime example of this,
while Kentucky's Rich Brooks was one of the more recent exceptions to
the rule. This year, it's simple for Charlie Weis, Wisconsin's Bret
Bielema, and Colorado's Dan Hawkins (despite rumors to the contrary):
win, or it's probably time to find gainful employment elsewhere.
No, I'm more interested in the guy who's two steps removed from critical
condition. He's safe for next year, but he has to produce or there might
be grumblings that start to get the Fire Him! snowball rolling.
My other way of looking at the Coach On The Hot Seat is to examine what
coach is safe, can't be fired, won't be fired, but has to prove to the
world that he can produce at the level the fan base is looking for. Last
year I argued that Georgia's Mark Richt was on my version of a hot seat
because he had the nation's No. 1 team going into the season and he had
to show he could finally finish the drill, as he would say. No, of
course Richt wasn't going to be on any sort of a firing hot seat, but
pretty soon, after being so long in Athens, Bulldog fans are going to
want national title appearances like Florida and LSU.
So
with that in mind, here's my version of the hockey assist. The pass that
leads to the pass that leads to the goal. Here are my five Hot
Seat coaches who likely won't be fired after this year no matter what,
but they had better come up with a big step forward this year or they'll
be on the Red Hot Flame Seat in the near future.
5. Mike Gundy,
Oklahoma State - Put this in the Mark Richt category from last year.
He's a man, he's 40 (actually, he's probably 42), and he has a loaded
team that should be this year's Texas Tech. No one's stopping this
offense, and the defense should be better, but if his Cowboys don't come
up with a ten-win season, if might be a little while before it gets a
chance to be so nasty again. More than anything else, the team has to
beat someone. Winning at Missouri was strong, but that was it last year.
4. Lane Kiffin, Tennessee - (And I don't use this salutation
lightly. I can't stand calling anyone Dude, or Buddy, or Pal, or what
I'm about to use, and I bring it out only for emphasis. Kids, please
don't try this at home.) Bro, if you're going to be this much
of a raging, bull's-eye-on-the-chest asshat, you had better bring it out
of the gate. He's got the assistants, and he has the talent coming in,
but he'll have to answer for a 49-3 beatdown from an angry Urban Meyer
and Florida and will have to show better diplomacy if his team isn't far
better than Phil Fulmer's 2008 squad was.
3. Bill Stewart, West
Virginia - He has the best team in the Big East, and it's not really
even close (with a possible exception of Pitt). He was great at stepping
in and leading the Mountaineers to the Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma a
few years back, and while it's way too much to ask for a national title
appearance, he needs to show everyone he can get his program back to the
BCS to truly prove the transition from the Rich Rod era was a smooth
one.
2. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA - He'll get a lot more leeway than
just the next few years after a good recruiting class brought in, but
for being an offensive guru, and with the best in the business, Norm
Chow running the attack, everyone will start to get a little testy going
into 2010 is the offense doesn't improve after finishing 111th in the
nation in total offense, 116th in rushing, and 109th in passing
efficiency.
1. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan - Anyone with a brain
should've known that last year's disaster was no big deal. After all, do
Michigan fans really care if their team goes to the Alamo Bowl? No,
RichRod was brought in to make Michigan a national title contender, and
the Big House had to be torn down to be built back up again. He's going
to need at least another year to rebuild from this year's solid
recruiting class, but the team can't be so embarrassing again. This
year, yes, an Alamo Bowl would be a big step forward, and if this is
another losing season with the team looking so inept, he'll get a year
three, but he won't get a four unless his 2010 team rocks.
Honorable Mention, according to my criteria: Steve Spurrier, South
Carolina; Dennis Erickson, Arizona State; Mike Sherman, Texas A&M; Ron
Zook, Illinois
Richard
Cirminiello,
CFN
Q:
The Coach On The Biggest Hot Seat Is ... ?
A:
This is a trick question, right?
No matter how you spin it or
what angle you’re looking from, no one in the country has warmer
buttocks than Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis as the 2009 approaches.
Now, obviously he won’t be alone under the microscope. Michigan’s
Rich Rodriguez comes to mind as someone, who will undergo intense
scrutiny in Ann Arbor if his Wolverines don’t start showing immediate
signs of life. However, it won’t compare to what Weis will endure if he
doesn’t ramp up the Irish in a hurry.
Listen, when you sign on to
be the head coach at Notre Dame, you’re basically on the hot seat from
that first introductory press conference. That’s just the way it is in
South Bend. When you’ve gone 10-15 over the past two seasons, nearly get
canned last December, and have just a Hawaii Bowl victory on the
postseason resume, you can pretty much guess which direction the mercury
is headed.
Preseason expectations have risen to their highest
level in a few years for Notre Dame. The offense is loaded with talent
and the schedule is not. That can mean just one thing for Weis: If he
can’t deliver marked improvement from the last two years—and possibly a
BCS bowl berth—he’ll again be clinging to his job at the end of the
regular season. And this time around, he may not be so fortunate.
Matthew
Zemek, CFN
Q:
The Coach On The Biggest Hot Seat Is ... ?
A:
Have Rich Rodriguez and Charlie Weis flip a coin. No one else is
even remotely close.
Hunter Ansley,
Publisher,
DraftZoo.com
Q:
The Coach On The Biggest Hot Seat Is ... ?
A: The
sweatiest seat cushion belongs to Bret Bielema.
Michigan has a high profile head man who
is at least brining attention to the program.
Ron Zook has more BCS appearances at
Illinois.
Mark D’Antonio has Michigan State on the
right track.
Ohio State has probably already booked a
trip to a major bowl.
And Joe Paterno has defied all odds and
laws of nature by continuing to compete for the
conference title.
Somehow, despite employing one of the
youngest coaches in the country, Wisconsin has
been left in the past. I
have no allegiance to Bucky, but badgers were my favorite animal as a
kid, and call me nostalgic but I like seeing them do well.
And for a while, I got my wish.
But now the future doesn’t look so bright.
Bielema came in and led Wisconsin to a terrific
12-1 season and a horrible BCS snub, but at least a nice Capital One
Bowl win. Then, in year two,
the Badgers slipped despite lofty preseason expectations and finished
4-4 down the stretch after a 5-0 start.
And most recently we saw the Badgers cap off a 7-6 year with a
vicious beating at the hands of Florida State.
Now I know that injuries have hobbled the team, and Bielema isn’t to
blame for all of the last second losses… entirely.
But he’s the head coach, and when a program gets used to
competing with the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State it’s
hard to warm up to the idea of perennial battles with Central Michigan
in the Motor City Bowl.
Jon Miller,
Publisher, HawkeyeNation.com
Q:
The Coach On The Biggest Hot Seat Is ... ?
A:
There are some names that come to mind from the Big Ten. I think that that Bill Lynch of Indiana is in trouble. Kellen Lewis put him in a trick bag last year and whatever sort of experiments they tried at quarterback didn't work. They return like 18 starters this year, but I don't think it's going to matter much and I think he is in trouble. I would also throw Rich Rodriquez in the mix from Michigan. If they have another year anything like last year, things could get ugly. But, to make a change from Rich Rod's style, in the middle of the transition to it, would set the program back too far, so he is probably on decent footing. Bret Bielema at Wisconsin saw the dark side of Badger Nation last year and cannot afford another year like the one they had in 2008, where they needed Cal Poly to miss an extra point in overtime in order to get to seven wins in the regular season.
In the Pac 10, Mike Stoops won a bowl game, but I think they want to see the program take that next step and get to a better bowl game. I wonder if just doing what they did last year is going to be good enough, especially with the turmoil in basketball. Lute Olsen's program was pretty good job security for the football coach; just get us through October as a nice diversion. That's no longer the case. Also, I don't care about coaches that got contract extensions, because we all know those are not worth a whole lot on the job security front...just as Phil Fulmer, about one year ago. In the Big 12, I believe that Dan Hawkins needs a breakout eight-win or more season. Another 6-6, 7-5 campaign might not cut it, and I think Coach Hawkins knows that.
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