College coaches on the hot seat

Ash is certainly on the hot seat, though it is doubtful he will be fired after this season. Rutgers showed it was willing to give him more time by extending his contract and including an over $10 million buyout if the school does fire him after this season. That doesn't mean there isn't a fan revolt of sorts. Rutgers has suffered some historically ugly losses during his coaching stint, which includes a blowout loss to Kansas this season.

Beaty's Jayhawks have actually improved a bit this year (2-4) after going 3-33 over the last three seasons. However, he just fired his offensive coordinator and will take over the play-calling duties, which puts a lot of the responsibility (and blame) on him. With Kansas in a hyper-competitive Big 12, more wins will be tough to come by and Beaty's time in Lawrence could be winding down.

San Jose State has been in a free fall since its magical 2012 season when it went 11-2. Brennan is in only his second year with the Spartans, but this program has been horrible defensively. The team has had some close calls — which shows some improvement — including hanging with Oregon and going to five overtimes with Hawaii. But the Spartans are still 0-6, and Brennan needs wins to get the chance to see his rebuild all the way through.

Edsall's return to UConn has been a disaster. There was the state legislative mess that played out over the summer, and this season has seen a bad defense get even worse. Through six games the Huskies are giving up nearly 54 points per game, which is problematic when the offense has scored more than 21 points just once this year. The success of Edsall's first stint in Storrs seems like it may not happen.

In 2015, the Tar Heels were in the ACC Championship game with a sliver of hope of earning a College Football Playoff spot. Since then, North Carolina has fallen apart, going 12-19. Fedora has a big buyout that could get him another season, but all the good vibes the Heels gained from that ACC title game (and placing Mitchell Trubisky as the NFL's No. 2 overall pick) could be overshadowed with another horrible season. Fans are restless, and there would be a lot of interest in this job.

There's no way. No way. Right? Frost was the head coach of a UCF team that last season went undefeated and, in its mind, won a national championship. He left to coach the program he starred in, and everyone was excited — except the Cornhuskers are 0-6 for the first time ever and finding new ways to lose games. Remember that Frost was a head coach for only two years before heading back to Lincoln. It is doubtful that Nebraska would dismiss Frost after just one season, but his seat is certainly getting warm.

Most of the programs on this list would love to have the problems Michigan has. The Wolverines are winning games...just not the right ones. Harbaugh has already watched his team lose to rival Notre Dame earlier this year, with Michigan State and Ohio State coming up. Harbaugh is 1-6 against those three teams, which not only angers the fans but keeps them from sniffing a national championship. It would be hard to see Michigan firing Harbaugh, but the fans' disappointment could help push Harbaugh to another (read: NFL) job, if one he likes opens up.

Helton hasn't done a bad job at USC, but the fans are restless as they wait for the Trojans to be nationally relevant again. Competing for a Pac-12 South title just isn't enough for them. Now, the loss to Texas early in the season doesn't look as bad as it did at the time, but the Trojans aren't playing at the level where they could be a legit College Football Playoff contender. Helton doesn't have many people on his side, which could be his doom.

Jinks had trouble on two fronts: He was not winning games (1-6 this year), and his players had been getting in a lot of trouble. So Jinks' seat was so hot, he got fired this past weekend. The Falcons were getting blown out by the likes of Georgia Tech, Toledo and Miami...of Ohio. Some of his players have been arrested for brawling, driving drunk and robbery, among other transgressions. Losing on and off the field usually is a recipe for a pink slip, and in this case it appears it was.

What is Georgia Tech? It is a program that's had a good history with a fertile recruiting area but seems to be stuck in a rut. In Johnson's first seven years in Atlanta, the Yellow Jackets won three Coastal Division titles and finished lower than third in the division only once. In the last three years, they've finished higher than fifth just once. There's also a feeling that the Jackets are missing out on the top recruits due to the run-heavy offense they use. If Tech finishes off another bad season, it could be time to move on.

Would UCLA fire Kelly after just one season? Probably not, but that doesn't mean the Bruins are happy with what's going on there (1-5 start). You can argue that they've had a tough schedule to start the season. You can also point out that the remaining schedule isn't a push-over either. The San Francisco 49ers moved on from Kelly after just one season, so it wouldn't be shocking if UCLA did the same. 

Lambert has been at the helm of the Charlotte program since before there were any players. The university is grateful to him for starting the program as well as moving it to the FBS quickly. But it may be time to go in a new direction. The 49ers have won four of 24 conference games before this season and are coming off a 1-11 season. Yes, Charlotte is playing a bit better this season, but that doesn't mean the program is where it wants to be. Attendance has been falling, and some life needs to be put into the team.

Mason is in his fifth season, has yet to produce a winning record and has reached just one bowl game. Everyone understands it is logistically tough for Vanderbilt to compete in the SEC annually, but there are expectations that it should at least be in the mix. Mason sure picked a bad make-or-break season, as the SEC East is stronger than it has been in a few years and Vandy's finale against Tennessee may be its best chance at notching a fourth win this year.

Meyer will not be fired for anything he does on the field. Ohio State is on that short list of true national championship contenders and is beating up on the Big Ten. He's on the hot seat because of how he handled the Zach Smith allegations. We all know how that turned out, and Meyer is back on the job. But that doesn't mean all is forgiven. He and the university took a huge PR hit and if anything else comes out or if anything new develops, it may not end the same way.

Montgomery was cruising along at Tulsa, finishing 10-3 in 2016, getting to two bowl games and even getting a contract extension. But last year's 2-10 debacle has been followed by another poor start to the season. The high-octane offense seems to have broken down a bit and the ascension to the top of the AAC has halted. If this season ends similarly to last year, then Montgomery could be out of a job.

East Carolina prides itself on being a school that is right at that spot where it could be a top-level Group of Five program. Montgomery lost some of that with back-to-back 3-9 seasons and an early loss to North Carolina A&T this season. The Pirates did follow that with a win over North Carolina, but that doesn't look like much of one given the Tar Heels' struggles. Their remaining schedule is tough and unless the Pirates show they are going in a positive direction, Montgomery could be out. 

It's rare that a coach can come into an SEC school — especially one like Arkansas —  struggle to win any game and expect the natives to be patient. Morris (who was 14-22 in three years at SMU before taking the Razorbacks job) has watched his team get blown out by both Alabama and Auburn, which is understandable, but also lose to North Texas by 27 points. Only a catastrophe would cause Morris to be fired this year, but the way things are going (1-6) the future doesn't seem too bright.  

You can argue that Petrino's Cardinals underperformed during the Lamar Jackson era. The games were sure exciting, but the team lost nine games in 2016 and 2017. This year without Jackson, Louisville has gotten off to a rough start and was blown out by Georgia Tech, 66-31, and just lost to Boston College, 38-20. Petrino has a complex buyout clause, and Louisville isn't as flowing with money after recent issues involving other areas of its athletic department. Still, if Petrino's buyout gets larger after each season, would it be smarter to cut bait now and try to lure Purdue's Jeff Brohm?

Sanchez is in his fourth season in Vegas and has yet to produce a winning record. This season, his only wins have come against Prairie View A&M and lowly UTEP. Sanchez is a high school coaching legend but it just hasn't worked in college, and UNLV, which is competing for the sports dollar with the NHL Golden Knights and, soon, the Raiders may need to go in a different direction.

Western Kentucky had set itself up to be one of those Group of Five schools that was always heading to bowls and was a scary foe for the power teams to face off against. Now the Hilltoppers are losing to Maine. Sanford extended WKU's bowl streak to four years last season, but it didn't feel like a success. Following guys like Willie Taggart, Bobby Petrino and Jeff Brohm was difficult, but Sanford has no reason to have this team near the bottom of the Conference USA standings.

Sitake cooled off that hot seat a bit when the Cougars shocked Wisconsin in Madison, but he isn't off the hook yet. Sure, BYU has played much better this season than last year's squad that went 4-9, but the team has looked a bit lost in defeats to Washington and Utah State. BYU still has trips to Boise State and Utah to build confidence in Sitake's program, but another collapse and that Wisconsin win may just be an outlier if it moves on.

Smith is the latest coach to try to turn Illinois into a program that can compete in the Big Ten. After a 5-19 start to his tenure in Champaign, his Illini did win three out of the first five games this season. They hung tough with South Florida but were blown out by Penn State. Illinois' remaining schedule has plenty of winnable games on the slate, so if the Illini struggle down the stretch, Smith could be gone. 

Taggart will be back next season, most likely, but his seat is getting pretty warm already. The Seminoles aren't used to having their finest moment in a season a loss to Miami, but that's sadly the case in Tallahassee. No one expected him to have the 'Noles back as title contenders, but they also didn't expect their 36-year bowl streak to come to an end either. If that happens, expect the clock to start ticking on Taggart.

Whipple's second stint as the Minutemen's head coach isn't going as well as the first. He's gone 14-41 in four-and-a-half seasons, during which time UMass left the MAC to become an independent. It doesn't help that Whipple was suspended for a week for using the word "rape" to describe officiating, for which he must attend sensitivity training.

Texas State has been just plain bad with Withers at the helm. Everyone knew it would take some time, but when you are 5-24, it may not be in the cards. He's been getting testy with the reporters, so the pressure seems to be getting to him.