College football coaches on hot seat entering 2022 season

As we saw in 2021, college football coaches who enter the season on the hot seat might not make it halfway through the year. It could be just one loss before a school decides to finally move on.

That’s what happened to Clay Helton, who was fired from USC after a Week 2 loss to Stanford. LSU, Texas Tech and TCU would all follow suit, parting ways with their coaches with multiple games remaining. Before the regular season finished, Florida and Washington State had let go of their head guys as well.

With changes happening so rapidly, it’s useful to know which coaches enter next season in already hot water. ESPN put together an early list of college football coaches on the hot seat for 2022, broken down by conference. Below is a look at that list.

College football coaches on the hot seat for 2022

ACC

Hot seat: Mike Norvell, Florida State; Dino Babers, Syracuse; Scott Satterfield, Louisville; Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech

Keep an eye on: Mack Brown, North Carolina

The ACC looks like a league that could have plenty of coaching changes come next season. Florida State is a prestigious football program that has struggled since the departure of coach Jimbo Fisher. Back-to-back losing seasons wasn’t a great start for the Mike Norvell era. Another one could mean the end of it.

Collins has failed to produce more than three wins in a single season after taking over Georgia Tech in 2019. Babers has led the Orange to a bowl game just once in six seasons. Satterfield has made two bowl appearances in three seasons with the Cardinals.

Big 12

Hot seat: None

Keep an eye on: Steve Sarkisian, Texas

Sarkisian failed to make a bowl game in his inaugural season, getting off to a rocky start in Austin. The coach has brought in plenty of talent for next season, however, including five-star quarterback transfer Quinn Ewers. That provides hope Texas will turn things around next year. But if it doesn’t, many will begin to blame Sarkisian.

Big Ten

Hot seat: Scott Frost, Nebraska

Keep an eye on: None

Frost is on the thinnest of ice, having failed to produce a winning season in four years with the Huskers. He accepted a reduced salary and made changes to his staff this offseason just to give himself another chance to turn things around. A former Nebraska quarterback, Frost has the support of the Huskers brass. But unless he starts winning games, he won’t last much longer.

Pac-12

Hot seat: Herm Edwards, Arizona State; Karl Dorrell, Colorado

Keep an eye on: Chip Kelly, UCLA

Edwards enters his fifth year with the Sun Devils in the midst of an NCAA investigation. The former NFL coach is a solid 25-18 so far, but the team expected more when it hired him. If he fails to produce in 2022 and Arizona State is hit hard with penalties, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the program move on.

Dorrell is entering his third season with the Buffaloes after an 8-10 performance over the first two. Kelly signed a contract extension with UCLA through 2025 after producing his first winning season with the Bruins in 2021.

SEC

Hot seat: None

Keep an eye on: Bryan Harsin, Auburn

For now, most of the SEC coaches appear safe. Harsin will enter his second season at Auburn after a 6-7 finish in 2021. The Tigers lost five straight to end the season, casting some doubt on how good this team can be next year. Even so, Harsin’s contract runs through 2026, and if he were fired after just two seasons the school would owe him a large sum of money.

Group of Five

Hot seat: Mike Bloomgren, Rice; Ryan Silverfield, Memphis; Jeff Scott, South Florida; Marcus Arroyo, UNLV; Tim Albin, Ohio; Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green; Jake Spavital, Texas State

Keep an eye on: Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Jason Candle, Toledo; Danny Gonzales, New Mexico; Butch Jones, Arkansas State