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| The patron saint of our coaching hotseat this season: LOCKSLEY |
Welcome to my new weekly hotseat countdown, where coaches fight to avoid joining our patron saint Locksley.
10 Danny Hope, Purdue – Hope just hasn't worked as the Purdue head coach. The proof is in the apathy. Purdue fans aren't even in a rage or upset about what has happened in the post Joe Tiller era. They don't care. This also means they don't go to games, a big problem for a coach who hasn't won at all since taking over.
9 Joker Phillips, Kentucky – Phillips has a big problem: his predecessor won at the highest rate Kentucky has seen in most of our life times. That means Phillips is facing unrealistically high expectations. Given that he was the offensive coordinator for a bad offense on the last of those winning Rich Brooks teams and Phillips has been fighting an uphill battle all along. Now that the offense has completely cratered, Phillips has nothing left going for him in the eyes of Kentucky fans.
8 Frank Spaziani, Boston College – Should be much higher given the nonsense he has put on the field on offense, but Boston is such a pro sports town that there are few fans to care. It's the only reason this terrible team that appears to be headed to 1-11 might keep its coach for another season.
7 Mark Richt, Georgia – The last few wins mean nothing. After watching South Carolina upchuck against Auburn, Georgia fans are once again annoyed they lost that game. They are also annoyed at losing to Boise St. In addition, the wins they have aren't really notable. The road to real redemption start on Rocky Top Saturday night.
6 Tom O'Brien, NC State – The epic botching of the Russell Wilson situation on its own merits a mention here before we even get to the terrible defense. I still contend that NC State is plenty talented enough to at least be average, but O'Brien's ego (and need to get hotshot QB recruit Mike Glennon in the game) allowed him to chuck not only his best player, but also his team leader. And without Wilson's leadership, the team has tanked despite good quarterback play from Glennon.
5 Mike Stoops, Arizona – On the hotseat, but mostly because of a deathmarch of a schedule that has seen the Sun Devils play Stanford (2x), Arizona St., Oregon (2x), Oklahoma St. (2x) and USC (2x) since a 7-1 start a year ago. Now that all of them except the Sun Devils are out of the way this season, Stoops needs to get on a run to save his job.
4 Houston Nutt, Ole Miss – Had the Rebels lost to Fresno St., Nutt might have been jettisoned off the plane. Now, he has his stay of execution until the end of the season. His only hope is that the campaign to get the AD fired failed and the AD keeps him just to stick it to the fans.
3 Larry Porter, Memphis – Porter might seem to be an odd name for this list until you realize that he is in Locksley territory for on-field performance (nobody comes close off the field). There is a good chance Memphis will lose the season out, giving Porter a 2-22 career record (same as Locksley) with no hope. Of course Porter was hired for the same reasons as Locksley despite no real coaching acumen: supposed strong minority recruiter. Well, Porter, like Locksley at New Mexico, has failed at that too because it's a whole heck of a lot harder to recruit to Memphis than it is to LSU (where Porter was running backs coach before taking this job).
2 Luke Fickell, Ohio St. - Already in a tough spot given the circumstances, Fickell has shown that while he might be a decent defensive mind, he can't coach offense against air, let alone a competent defense. Unless the NCAA surprisingly lowers the boom on Ohio St., Fickell is gone.
1 Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – Slick Rick has been awful as the UCLA coach. Of course there hasn't been much he could do at times given the plague of injuries that has beset both the offensive line and the quarterback position for years. That said, this year's team lacks the depth or elite talent elsewhere on the field to give fans hope that only the quarterback and offensive line issues are problems. Considering the bar is set at six wins minimum, I don't see it happening.
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