It's been a few weeks since I got to this particular post. To recap, Mike Locksley (I can't believe his team has gotten worse without him) of New Mexico, Mike Stoops of Arizona and Bob Toledo of Tulane are gone and done for.
10 Mike Riley – Oregon St.
Should Riley be on the hotseat given all he has done for the program? No. That doesn't change the fact that this team has failed for two seasons now and seems to not have the kind of dynamic athletes at the top of the roster that it once had (no more Rodgers brothers, no Ken Simontons, no Derek Andersons, etc.). Given that this program is generally going to have depth problems because of the inherent difficulty of the job, a lack of stars usually means a ton of trouble, as this season has shown.
9 Frank Spaziani – Boston College
This has been a train wreck as the team has gotten worse every year under Spaziani after the riduclous and stupid firing of Jeff Jagodzinki. Spaziani might end up getting another year undeservedly because the real problem here is the athletic director.
8 Neil Callaway – UAB
Only the fact that his team is playing at Legion Field and has no home field and no reason for anyone to care might save Callaway since his team doesn't win and has never won. This job and program looks like a smoking crater and a career killer all at once.
7 Turner Gill – Kansas
Normally, second year coaches avoid lists like this. Gill is an unfortunate exception. The program he took over had been decent and just three seasons removed from the BCS. What has occurred under him is the program not only falling into the ditch, but then watching the bottom fall out of the ditch, turning into a bottomless pit. The failure here has been so complete that all the progress the program made under Mark Mangino (before his fits of rage got him canned) is gone, likely forever. Also working against Gill is that the athletic director who hired him resigned in scandal since he got to Kansas. New athletic directors like to have their own guys in spots the first chance they get.
6 Jeff Tedford – Cal
The road woes of the last two seasons have continued as everything else has fallen apart. Losing badly to UCLA last week was another in a series of awful performances away from home. The administration may feel they owe Tedford for his work in resurrecting the program, but it's gone stale and too much longer will return the program to its previous wrecked state (1-10 the year before Tedford and put on probation for year one under him).
5 Paul Wulff – Washington St.
There has been improvement, but likely not enough to save Wulff. His overall record is still an abomination and losing at home to a worse version of the only team he managed to beat last season is not good.
4 Steve Fairchild – Colorado St.
Committed one of the ultimate sins: lost to UNLV. This is nearly unforgivable. Considering he was on a bit of a hotseat entering the season, he struggled with New Mexico (only a 3-point win), has provided rival Colorado with its only win and watched other rival Wyoming recover from a bad campaign by moving into the conference upper tier and this has been a nightmare for Fairchild's already tenuous job security.
3 Tom O'Brien – NC State
The Russell Wilson debacle is still fresh and this team needs to somehow win seven games to reach a bowl game because of the two FCS wins. Also, they didn't bother showing up at Florida St. last week, losing 34-0. Considering O'Brien had largely underachieved since getting to Raleigh, I expect he will be sent packing at the end of this season.
2 Houston Nutt – Ole Miss
His team is a wreck even as those around him in the SEC have improved (see Vanderbilt pushing teams and destroying his Rebels). His fan base is delusional, believing they should be on the level of Auburn, Aabama, LSU and Arkansas. His quarterbacks get noticeably worse as soon as he gets a hold of them (why anyone would ever transfer or sign to play quarterback under him is a mystery and knowing what we know, if he became my coach and I was quarterback, the first thing I do upon hearing the news is get my release to go) and his defense can't stop air unless the opposing offense helps him a bit. Like Spaziani further up the list, the only thing that might save him is that his athletic director is an idiot.
1 Rick Neuheisel – UCLA
Even in victory over Cal, the stench of the brawl and blowout defeat at Arizona lingers. At this point, I think he has might have to win the Pac-12 South to survive. And when I say win the Pac-12 South, I mean win it, not go to the championship game while USC is the rightful winner of the division.
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