2023 Pressure Check Rankings: Why Deion Sanders, Justin Wilcox are two Pac-12 coaches with the pressure-meter cranked up this fall

College football coaches, from Kirby Smart to Lincoln Riley, love to talk about how “pressure is a privilege,” and for some that’s true. 

Coaches like Smart and Riley aren’t in any danger of ever being fired, but there’s a demand for their programs to be excellent. To win championships. 

For others, there’s the burden of not meeting expectations, so they’re under pressure to win now or else risk finding their names on the coaching carousel come November. 

We rolled out the SEC first, and have since looked at the coaches from the Big Ten and ACC. Again: This is not a hot seat list. It’s a pressure gauge — Low, Medium, High and Extreme — for the 2023 season. 

Jedd Fisch, Arizona — Low

Jedd Fisch has breathed life into a listless program, nearly taking the Wildcats bowling in 2022 (5-7 with an upset over No. 12 UCLA). Arizona returns one of the more promising QB-WR combos in the conference and added a slew of potential impact Power 5 transfers to upgrade a defense that ranked near the bottom of the Pac-12 last season. 

Fisch was seen as a questionable hire in 2021, but because he’s done more with less to start his tenure, many are starting to buy into the idea he can make the program relevant again. If Fisch leads Arizona back to a bowl game for the first time in six years this fall, he’ll get even more time to guide the Wildcats through an interesting transition within the Pac-12. 

Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State — Low

Kenny Dillingham will be given ample time to rebuild his alma mater, but the former Oregon OC is certainly trying to expedite the turnaround.

Dillingham hasn’t been as vocal as Deion Sanders about overhauling his Year 1 roster, but ASU’s flip has been nearly as aggressive. The Sun Devils will welcome around 50 newcomers in 2023 — just a stunning amount of turnover. Dillingham smartly retained beloved interim Shaun Aguano and plucked Washington State DC Brian Ward for the same role at ASU. 

Arizona State went 3-9 last season, so if the Sun Devils manage to flirt with a bowl game amid so much change, then Dillimgham will see his pressure gauge increase next season as folks will believe his program could be positioned to make a leap with USC and UCLA headed to the Big Ten. 

Justin Wilcox, Cal — High

Justin Wilcox enters his seventh season at Berkeley under significant pressure to show new results after continued offensive ineptitude the last few seasons. 

Wilcox was done little favors during the shortened 2020 COVID season, but the Bears have still failed to make a bowl game for three straight years. The Bears are going to play good defense under Wilcox, but they need to have hit on hot-shot coordinator Jake Spavital, who is tasked with jumpstarting an anemic attack. 

With a buyout less than $4 million, Wilcox probably needs to get Cal bowling to guarantee a return in 2024.

Deion Sanders, Colorado — High

Deion Sanders took over a Colorado program that has made just one bowl game in the last 15 years, and yet after taking a blow-torch to the roster and completely flipping the makeup of the team, Sanders is talking about “winning now” with the Buffs. 

Coach Prime has shed a spotlight bigger than the bat signal on a moribund program, but with that comes added pressure — perhaps too much, too fast. 

Colorado was 1-11 last season, and lost its last four games by  42 points. With 11 Power 5 teams on the 2023 schedule, just sniffing the postseason would be considered a tremendous success for Sanders in Year 1, and yet because he’s talked that talked all off-season, he needs to walk that walk this fall. 

Dan Lanning, Oregon — Medium

Dan Lanning went 10-3 in his first season as a head coach. He signed a Top 10 recruiting class and landed a bunch of former blue-chip prospects from the transfer portal. 

So now Ducks fans want to get back to the Pac-12 Championship — and win it. 

Lanning proved he can assemble a strong staff and build a competitive roster, but his in-game management (all the 4th-down calls in the two late-season losses to Washington and Oregon State) remains in question. With USC leaving the conference, Lanning has an opportunity to position Oregon as the top-dawg in the league now — and for the future.

Jonathan Smith, Oregon State — Low

Oregon State won 10 games last season — something that’s happened just three times in the program’s 127-year history. Jonathan Smith has made his alma mater relevant in college football, and while it’s very hard to win consistently in Corvallis, the former Beavers QB has slowly turned OSU into a frisky Pac-12 foe. 

Smith landed former 5-star Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei out of the portal this offseason, hoping to continue the Beavers’ recent climb up the conference standings. It’s too much to expect Oregon State to replicate its double-digit win season in 2023, but with a navigable schedule, the Beavers could certainly win eight or nine games again this fall. 

Troy Taylor, Stanford — Low

Troy Taylor is off to a hot start as Stanford’s new head coach, leading the Cardinal into the 2023 season with much more momentum than many foresaw when he took over fort David Shaw. 

Taylor, a successful coach at the FCS level after going 30-8 in three seasons at Sacramento State, inherited a brutal situation at Stanford, but he already has the Cardinal recruiting at a Top 25 clip before Year 1, currently touting the nation’s No. 18 overall class. 

Still, after consecutive 3-9 seasons, on-field expectations remain low for Stanford this fall, especially with a roster that ranks near the bottom of all of college football in returning production this fall. 

Chip Kelly, UCLA — Medium

Chip Kelly is set to enter his seventh season at UCLA, which is wild since it seems like he was at Oregon just yesterday. He’s yet to win 10 games with the Bruins, which is why he certainly feels some heat before they move to the Big Ten in 2024. 

Kelly was overly aggressive in the transfer portal this offseason, and the Bruins also flipped 5-star quarterback Dante Moore away from conference foe Oregon. Kelly has the program trending in the right direction, but even after receiving a contract bump in January, he needs to show continued progress this fall — especially with a new AD in charge. 

Lincoln Riley, USC — Medium

Lincoln Riley is on the shortlist for best coaches to never win a national title, and after nearly taking USC to the playoff in Year 1 — with one of the most impressive single-season turnarounds we’ve seen — there’s pressure on the offensive mastermind to return the Trojans back to championship contention in 2023. 

USC returns the Heisman Trophy winner with quarterback Caleb Williams, and Riley has overhauled their roster again this summer, adding a slew of impact transfers expected to elevate the defense and supplement their star QB. 

Riley is one of the best coaches in the nation, but with the way USC is rubbing elbows in the transfer portal, he’s definitely under pressure to win another conference championship (this time in the Pac-12) and win a game (or two) in the playoff.=

Kyle Whittingham, Utah — Low

Kyle Whittingham has won two-straight Pac-12 titles, overcoming the odds both seasons to exceed expectations — even in Salt Lake City. 

The veteran head coach has won at least nine games 11 times in 18 seasons. The pressure isn’t on Whittingham to three-peat but for Utah’s administration to be ready on a moment’s notice to hire his successor. 

Whittingham is 63 and his flirted with the idea of retiring the last two seasons. Is he long for the job or set to call it quits after this fall?

Kalen DeBoer, Washington — Medium

Kalen DeBoer is an astounding 90-11 as a head coach and just led the Huskies from a 4-8 season to 11-2 and a Top 10 finish in 2022. So what does Year 2 have in store in Seattle?

With Michael Penix back at quarterback, the Huskies are among the favorites in the Pac-12 this fall. After the failed Jimmy Lake tenure, DeBoer has quickly proven he was the right hire to take Washington into the post-Chris Petersen era. But there’s pressure to capitalize on the Pac-12’s transition, and DeBoer is in a race with Lanning & Co., to become the king’s the conference in 2024.  

Jake Dickert, Washington State – Medium

Jake Dickert navigated Washington State through the Nick Rolovich saga and went 7-5 in his first season as the Cougars’ head coach. 

But Dickert is under some pressure to make sure the program doesn’t regress back to the basement of the Pac-12. WSU returns quarterback Cam Ward but the rest of the roster was raided by the transfer portal. Dickert also had to replace both coordinators — one of whom left for the same job at Arizona State.

2023 Pressure Check: Pac-12 head coaches

1. Justin Wilcox
2. Deion Sanders
3. Lincoln Riley
4. Chip Kelly
5. Kalen Deboer
6. Dan Lanning
7. Jake Dickert
8. Kyle Whittingham
9. Jonathan Smith
10. Jedd Fisch
11. Kenny Dillingham
12. Troy Taylor