Many college football teams are approaching the halfway mark of their regular season. Already, two teams have fired their head coach. Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry after a loss to Old Dominion. UCLA also relieved DeShaun Foster of his duties. Other terminations will come, and these are the five coaches with the hottest seats currently.
While three weeks into a season is not normal for two coaches to already be shown the door, it is not unprecedented. Two power conference jobs this early are extremely rare. On average, 16.1 FBS coaches resign or are terminated during the season. This number does not include spring firings due to another issue in the program or coaches who leave for another job. With an average of over 16 coaching changes per season, there are sure to be more coming, and plenty of coaches find themselves on the hot seat.
1. Billy Napier, Florida
No seat is hotter than the one under Billy Napier. Now in his fourth season with the Gators, the former Louisiana coach has a record of 20-21. Every coach since 1990 has reached a conference title game at Florida in their first three season. The streak would have stretched back to 1984 had Galen Hall not inherited a postseason ban. Napier has not had a season with a record above .500.
Moreover, the Gators are already 1-2 this season, with the lone win coming over Long Island, and the team was upset by South Florida.
Meanwhile, not only are there struggles with losing games, but Napier has also lost control of his program. A player was ejected during the South Florida game due to spitting on an opponent. One of his assistants was just suspended for slapping an LSU player in a pregame scuffle as well. If it were not for the massive buyout, Napier could already be out of Gainesville.
2. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
Cincinnati had once been a successful program. Brian Kelly brought them to an Orange Bowl and a Sugar Bowl. Butch Jones and Tommy Tuberville both led the team to conference titles. Luke Fickell had the most success, with two conference titles and a playoff birth in 2021. Scott Satterfield took over for Fickell in 2023, as the team moved to the Big 12. It has not gone well. In his first two seasons with the Bearcats, Satterfield was just 8-16.
This placed Satterfield on the hot seat to enter the season, and he has not done much to cool it off. Cincinnati opened the season with a loss to Nebraska in a game in which Brandon Sorsby and the offense struggled heavily. They have rebounded to win two in a row, but those are over Bowling Green and Northwestern State. Cincinnati has an off week in Week 4, but then opens Big 12 play.
Since 2004, every Cincinnati coach has reached a bowl game in the first two years; Satterfield has already failed there. Furthermore, of the five coaches, all but Tuberville, who left coaching and is now a United States Senator, moved to better jobs. Satterfield will not be moving up the coaching ranks and could be the first coach fired by the school since Rick Minter in 2003.
3. Joe Morehead, Akron
Unlike Cincinnati, Akron does not have a history of winning. Regardless, Joe Moorehead is not helping his own case with his horrible record as the head coach. In his first two seasons, Akron went 2-10 each year with just one conference win. His 2024 season was an improvement, going 4-8 with a 3-5 record in the conference. That was still just an eighth-place finish in the MAC. Morehead is now 8-31 in his time at Akron.
To make matters worse, Morehead has struggled in close games. He is just 5-11 in one-score games as the head coach of Akron, with two of those one-score wins coming over FCS programs.
The team is already 0-3 this year, being outscored 109-28. The Zips have not made a bowl game since 2017, and will not this year either. Akron is ineligible for postseason play due to poor academic results. The good news is the loss to UAB kept Trent Dilfer off this list. The bad news, a loss to Duquesne this week probably seals Morehead's fate.
4. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Mike Gundy is the second-longest tenured FBS coach with one school currently, only behind Kirk Ferentz of Iowa. Gundy has become synonymous with Oklahoma State. He played there from 1986 to 1989 and joined the coaching staff from 1990 to 1995. After time at Baylor and Maryland, he interviewed for the head coaching job at Oklahoma State, but the job went to Les Miles. Gundy was brought in as the offensive coordinator, and when Miles left for LSU, he became the head coach in 2005.
After going 4-7 in his first year, Gundy was great for the Cowboys. The team made 18 straight bowl games, won a conference title, played for three others, and never had a losing season, until last year. Expectations were for Oklahoma State to compete for a conference title in 2024, but it was a 3-9 season without a conference win.
This led to a contract standoff between the school and the coach, but Gundy agreed to a return with a pay cut. The team is now 1-1, with a win over UT Martin but a 69-3 loss to Oregon. After last season and the blowout, Gundy needs to turn things around, or his days will be numbered.
For all Gundy has done for the university, he may be given the option to retire or resign, but with Gundy's well-known attitude, the school may be forced to fire him.
5. Jamey Chadwell, Liberty
Liberty joined the FBS ranks in 2018 under Turner Gill. He led them to a 6-6 record. Then, Hugh Freeze took over. Liberty had eight or more wins in every season under Freeze before he left for Auburn. Liberty then hired Jamey Chadwell, who had gone 39-22 at Coastal Carolina with a conference title. The first year under Chadwell was a success. Liberty started 13-0 with a conference title. This would lead to a Fiesta Bowl berth, but a loss to Oregon in the game.
The 2024 season was expected to be more successful, with Liberty the favorite to once again win the conference. After a 5-0 start, things started going downhill. They lost to Kennesaw State, giving the Owls their first-ever win as an FBS program. The next week, the team fell to Jacksonville State. Liberty still had a chance to make the conference title game the last week of the season, but lost to Sam Houston 18-20. This led to a Bahamas Bowl invite and a loss to Buffalo.
Liberty once again came into 2025 as the favorites to win the conference. After defeating Maine to open the season, Liberty is just 1-2 and already has a conference loss. The offense has struggled as well. Liberty is one of the largest universities by enrollment, including online students, in the United States. They have plenty of money to make them the strongest team in the conference, but recent failures are turning up the heat on Chadwell.
Chadwell is still regarded as a quality coach and has been mentioned in connection with the Virginia Tech job. Still, with lackadaisical efforts and falling victim to an upset becoming more common, Chadwell may be wise to run after that opportunity with the Hokies. The seat may not be fully hot yet in Lynchburg, but more losses will quickly turn up the temperature.
Honorable Mention: Trent Dilfer (UAB), Tony Elliott (Virginia), Mark Stoops (Kentucky)
