Most teams are nearing the mid-way point of the 2025 season. Some teams have failed to meet expectations this year, placing their coach on the hot seat. It is now time to continue our Hot Seat Rankings series with a look at mid-season Hot Seat Rankings for the 2025 College Football season.
Currently, four head coaches have already been fired. Brent Pry and DeShaun Foster were both fired after 0-3 starts to the season. Then, on September 23rd, Mike Gundy was terminated after over 20 years at Oklahoma State after a 1-2 start to the season. Later, after falling 56-13 to Notre Dame and losing a third straight game, Arkansas moved on from Sam Pittman. With Troy Taylor being fired in the spring by Stanford, five power conference jobs are now open in college football.
This is already exceeding the number of power conference jobs that opened for the 2024 cycle. With the urgency for many programs to win now, plus changes at the non-power conference jobs sure to come, there will be more turnovers, and these are the five coaches who are in danger of losing their jobs soon.
1. Billy Napier, Florida
Billy Napier was at the top spot in the last rankings and continues to hold that place. At the time, the program was 1-2 on the year, making Napier 20-21 at Florida. Since then, the Gators have lost another game and had an open week as the team prepared to host Texas. To make matters worse, the team regressed when facing Miami. The defense was not good against Miami, giving up 344 yards and a season-high 26 points. Further, the defense allowed Miami to complete 50 percent of its third-down conversions, the worst of the year.
Regardless, it was the offensive regression that was eye-opening. Florida managed just 141 yards of total offense, went 0-13 on third down, and had just 61 passing yards against Miami. The team managed just seven points, which were scored on the only drive of the game that went further than 25 yards. The schedule for the Gators is also difficult, with six teams in the top 25 still on the schedule, which could lead to Florida missing a bowl.
The buyout for Napier is massive at $21 million, with 50 percent of the buyout due within 30 days. While the number is massive, it just takes one well-off booster to make this move happen quickly, if Florida decides it's time for a change.
2. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Wisconsin is now 2-2 on the season, and the seat under Luke Fickell is getting hotter. While the team started 2-0, it was wins over Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee. The Badgers then lost to Alabama 38-14, before losing at home to Maryland 27-10. During that game, the Wisconsin home crowd started a “fire Fickell” chant.
Fickell was a highly sought-after coach after his time at Cincinnati. He took the Bearcats to five straight bowl games, including a playoff game and a New Year's Six bowl game. He was 57-28 in his six years with Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Wisconsin was looking to replace Paul Chryst. This was a coach who had led the team to bowl games every year, three conference title game appearances, and three New Year's Six bowls. This was not enough for a program that wanted to win Big Ten Titles and compete for National Titles.
So after a 2-3 start in 2022, Wisconsin fired Chryst and allowed Jim Leonhard to be the interim. He went 4-3, but did not earn the full-time job, as the team brought in Fickell. Now, the former Cincinnati coach is just 15-15, missed a bowl game in 2024, and is an afterthought in the Big Ten. If the goal was to win titles, Fickell is not coming close to accomplishing that.
3. Joe Moorehead, Akron
Joe Moorehead is now in his fourth year with Akron and has just achieved his ninth win. Of the eight previous wins, five of them were one-score victories, and two of them came over FCS opponents. Akron won for just the fourth time under Moorehead by over a touchdown, but it was against an FCS opponent, as the team took care of business with a 51-7 win over Duquesne.
A win over Duquesne should be expected, and it was nice that it was a comfortable victory. Still, the tide of good feelings was crushed quickly. In Week 5, Akron hit the road to face Toledo. The defense gave up five touchdowns on six drives in the first half against Toledo. Meanwhile, the offense managed just 77 yards in the first half and one field goal. The team was even worse in the second half, having just two drives that saw a first down, as Akron fell 45-3. Unless Akron can turn things around quickly, Moorehead will be out of a job at the end of the season.
4. David Braun, Northwestern
David Braun was in a tough situation when he took over the job at Northwestern. Pat Fitzgerald has turned the program into a respectable Big Ten team, playing in two conference title games and making ten bowls in 17 seasons. His last season was a disaster, though, as the Wildcats went 1-11 and looked bad in the process. Fitzgerald was fired as part of an investigation into hazing allegations. This led to Braun, the defensive coordinator, taking over for the 2023 season as the interim coach. After leading the team to an 8-5 record, with a win in the Las Vegas Bowl, Braun kept the full-time job.
Still, the team took a step back in 2024. The team went just 4-8, and the wins were not impressive. There was a win over Miami (OH), FCS-level Eastern Illinois, Maryland, which was also 4-8, and Purdue, which went 1-11. This year, the team is 2-2 with losses to Tulane and Oregon. If Northwestern fails to make a bowl again, the team may look for a fresh start as Northwestern opens its new stadium in 2026.
5. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
After Fickell left for Wisconsin, Cincinnati hired Scott Satterfield to replace him. The team is 3-1 now, which had cooled off the seat some for Satterfield, after the team defeated Kansas on the road 37-34. Regardless, that was just his fifth win in Big 12 play now in his third season. The Bearcats have yet to finish better than tied for 11th in the conference, and have not been to a bowl game under Satterfield. The rest of the schedule has some difficult games as well. First, the team hosts Iowa State in Week 6, and a loss could undo the goodwill Satterfield got with the win over Kansas.
Meanwhile, the team also has to face Baylor, Utah, Arizona, BYU, and TCU to end the season. Cincinnati could be the underdog in all five of those games. Ending the season on a five-game losing streak would all but secure another season without postseason play. It was also most likely to secure a coaching change for a program that was once a consistent conference title contender. While the seat cooled off with the last win, it will heat right back up with losses. That keeps Satterfield on the list, but in the five spot.
Honorable Mention: Jamey Chadwell (Liberty), Trent Dilfer (UAB), Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
