2015 College Football Odds Coaches Hot Seat Predictions

Posted by Alex Murphy on Saturday,August 15, 2015 6:40, EDT in

As NCAA Football betting fans know, in the world of professional sports, there’s nothing like a coach having job security. Unfortunately, there’s also an age-old adage that is also true about professional coaches and it says that coaches are hired to be fired, which is why you rarely see coaches with lengthy tenures like the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich, New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick or Kansas State’s Bill Snyder. No, these long-term icons are rarities not the norm as each and every year, head coaches in every sport either gain or lose ‘job security’ based on myriad factors like the success of a previous season or seasons, the state of their relationship with their players and mostly whether they display competence at the chosen vocations.

Having said all of this, this fun-filled look at the top 10 college football coaches that will enter the 2015 regular season on the proverbial ‘hot seat’ will both inform and entertain. With that said, let’s get started.

2015 College Football Odds Coaches Hot Seat Predictions

10. Al Golden – Miami

Record: 28-22 in four seasons
The Scoop: I like Al Golden (and so does everyone else) but the fact of the matter is that he hasn’t quite gotten the job done in South Beach, though he owns a decent 28-22 record in four seasons. Unfortunately, the Hurricanes had their first losing season under Golden in going 6-7 in 2013, putting their likeable had coach on the hot seat as he gets set for the 2015 campaign. The bad new for Golden is that Miami lost a bunch of talent to the 2015 NFL Draft, including flat-out stars at wide receiver, running back, linebacker, offensive tackle and tight end.

9. Scott Shafer – Syracuse

Record: 10-15 in two seasons
The Scoop: Syracuse won seven games under Shafer in 2013 but sank to just three wins last season, putting Scott Shafer squarely on the hot seat entering the 2015 regular season. Making matters worse for Shafer is the fact that the Orange will be less experienced than they were a year ago after losing a dozen starters from last season’s team.

8. Kevin Wilson – Indiana

Record: 14-34 in four seasons
The Scoop: Wilson is on thin ice after going 4-8 a year ago and never winning more than five games in four seasons. Sure, the Hoosiers were banged-up badly last season and lost their top two quarterbacks to injuries, but Wilson will not be given another reprieve if the Hoosiers don’t win at least six games in 2015.

7. Tim Beckman – Illinois

Record: 12-25 in three seasons
The Scoop: Beckman led the Fighting Illini’ to a modest 6-7 record in 2014 and an accompanying berth in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Still, Beckman is on the hot seat, seeing as how Illinois has won just four Big Ten games in Beckman’s three seasons while three of his dozen career victories have come against lower level FCS schools with two others coming over modest MAC programs. If Illinois doesn’t reach the seven-win mark in 2015, I believe Beckman will become past history in no time at all.

6. Derek Mason – Vanderbilt

Record: 3-9 in one season
The Scoop: I know Derek Mason is highly regarded after a successful four-year stint as an assistant and defensive coordinator at Stanford and that he’s only been at Vanderbilt for one season, but that lone season was so abysmal, that Mason will almost assuredly be given the hook if the Commodores don’t show some songs of actual competence. Not only did Vandy go 3-9 under Mason last season, but making matters worse is how the Commodores went about losing. Vanderbilt looked awfully overmatched last season, particularly in SEC play where they lost all eight of their league games by a whopping average of 22.5 points per game.

5. Willie Taggart – USF

Record: 6-18 in two seasons
The Scoop: Taggart won two games in his first season at the helm of South Florida in 2013 and managed to double that win total to four victories last season. Still, six wins in two seasons is not going to cut if for an institution that really wants to be competitive now, especially competing in an AAC conference that isn’t exactly brimming with legitimate national title contenders.

4. Paul Rhoads – Iowa State

Record: 29-46 in six seasons
The Scoop: Iowa State went 2-10 under Rhoads last season after going 3-9 in 2013.
Sure, Rhoads led the Cyclones to bowl games in three of his first four seasons and signed a 10-year extension following the 2010 season, but as the legendary Janet Jackson once sang, it’s a case of ‘What have you done for me lately?’ for Rhoads and Iowa State.

3. Norm Chow – Hawaii

Record: 8-29 in three seasons
The Scoop: I know how highly regarded Norm Chow is football circles that encompass both, the collegiate level and the NFL, but after seeing the former USC and Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator win a paltry eight games in three seasons, including 4-9 in 2014, I believe this will be the last go-‘round for Chow if he doesn’t lead the Warriors to at least a half-dozen wins.

2. Paul Petrino – Idaho

Record: 2-21 in two seasons
The Scoop: Paul Petrino has doubled Trent Miles’ win total of the last two years, so I guess that means he’s not the worst coach in the country. Unfortunately, he’s recorded back-to-back one-win seasons and will almost certainly be shown the door if he can’t reach at least six wins this coming season.

1. Trent Miles – Georgia State

Record: 1-23 in two seasons
The Scoop: Trent Miles led his Georgia State Panthers to one more win in 2014 than they recorded in his first season in 2013, so I guess that’s making some sort of progress. Unfortunately, Georgia State never won a single game two years ago. Now Miles enters the 2015 season riding an abysmal 1-23 mark that has him on the hottest seat in the country – and rightfully so.

Honorable Mention

Mike London, Virginia
Record: 23-38 in five seasons

Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Record: 115-85 in 16 seasons

Bob Davie, New Mexico
Record: 11-26 in three seasons

Larry Fedora, North Carolina
Record: 21-17 in three seasons

Les Miles, LSU
Record: 103-29 in 10 seasons