Even with the 2017 college football season still about a month away, the pressure is on and the walls are beginning to close. If these 10 guys don't turn things around or win the big one in 2017, some of the nation's biggest head coaching jobs could suddenly become open.
Had Hugh Freeze not decided to play a game of phone tag with a local escort service on a school-sponsored phone, he would have been one of the top names on this list with all of the pressure he was under as well as the NCAA probes going on at Ole Miss. Fortunately but unfortunately for Freeze, his tenure in Oxford came to end following his forced resignation last week.
1. Brian Kelly (Notre Dame)
Pressure comes with the job title in South Bend. But, when you go 4-8 with losses to all of your biggest rivals (Navy, USC, Stanford, Michigan State) as well as a bad home defeat to Duke, the pressure soars through the roof and the hot seat becomes almost scolding. Brian Kelly's task of bouncing back and getting Notre Dame to return to national prominence is going to have some significant challenges with the departures of starting quarterback DeShone Kizer (NFL) and one of his top wideouts from 2016 in Torii Hunter Jr (concussions, pursuing baseball instead). A week-two date with Georgia will serve as a good testament as to whether or not this team has what it takes to save Kelly's job. If the Irish fail to win at least eight games and get back to a mid-high level bowl game, it'll likely be the end of the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame.
2. Butch Jones (Tennessee)
Butch Jones has done nothing but improve the culture of Tennessee football since his arrival in 2013, leading the Vols to three straight winning seasons and bowl victories. Unfortunately for Jones, expectations at Tennessee are wildly high as the fans, alumni, and boosters want more than a 4-4 conference record. Jones and the Vols will likely need to take the next step and win the SEC East in 2017 in order to silence the critics. It'll be hard to fire a coach who leads his team to a third straight 8-4/9-3 season and fourth straight bowl game, but after the departures of Les Miles from LSU and Mark Richt from Georgia, a strict standard of expectations has been set in the SEC and that is that you have to win your division if you want to hang around. Butch Jones has yet to do so at Tennessee, despite beating both Florida and Georgia last season. If last year wasn't Tennessee's year to head to Atlanta, when will it be?
3. Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M)
From breeding lightning rod and NFL bust Johnny Manziel to having a multitude of his quarterbacks (Kenny Hill, Kyle Allen, Kyler Murray) transfer out and cite culture issues within the program, it's been a wild and semi-controversial ride for Kevin Sumlin in Aggieland. 2017 serves as a massive season for Sumlin, and how the Aggies fare in the SEC West could decide whether or not Sumlin remains at the helm. Two of A&M's first four games are against programs also fighting to help their coaches keep their jobs (UCLA, Arkansas) so expect a couple intense dogfights to start the season for the Aggies. A back-to-back set at home against Alabama and Florida will likely decide the fate of A&M's season as well as Sumlin's future at the school.
4. Rich Rodriguez (Arizona)
Last season was a disaster for Rich Rodriguez and the Arizona Wildcats, finishing at 3-9 (1-8 PAC-12). UA's offense never got going, scoring 17 or fewer points five times. In 2017, Rich Rod's team needs to make a major jump in order for him to remain as head coach, but weak recruiting classes and shake ups to the defensive coaching staff will make that task extremely difficult. Unless the Wildcats can somehow manage to climb back to bowl eligibility, this could be Rodriguez's final go out in Tuscon.
5. Jim Mora (UCLA)
Despite opening the season 3-2 following tough losses to Texas A&M (31-24 in overtime) and Stanford (22-13), UCLA still had hopes of a PAC-12 South crown in 2016, but that all went out the window once quarterback Josh Rosen suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Arizona State. After Rosen went down, the Bruins lost six of their final seven to finish the season 4-8. Obviously, a lot of the lack of success that took place last season was not Jim Mora's fault, but year-by-year regressions over the past three seasons (10-4 in 2013 and 2014, 8-5 in 2015, 4-8 last season) have generated a lot of discussions involving the future of Mora in Westwood. If UCLA is able to bounce back and return to a bowl game in 2017, Mora should be safe. But, if the Bruins falter and miss out on a bowl game for a second straight year with Josh Rosen back and healthy, it will likely lead to a coaching change.
6. Mark Dantonio (Michigan State)
In his 10-year tenure in East Lansing, Mark Dantonio has done almost everything that Michigan State fans and boosters could have possibly asked, appearing in nine bowl games (4-5 record), winning two outright BIG-10 titles and one shared, a victory in the Rose Bowl over Stanford (2014), and cracking the College Football Playoff (38-0 loss to Alabama in 2015 Cotton Bowl). Unfortunately, all that matters in today's dog-eat-dog college football world is the present, and after coming off a 3-9 season that saw the Spartans fall off the cliffs of relevance, the pressure is on Mark Dantonio is intensifying as we enter the 2017 season. Obviously, Michigan State boosters and alumni have taken notice to the resurgences from Jim Harbaugh's Michigan Wolverines and James Franklin's Penn State Nittany Lions after both programs took down Sparty rather handily in 2016 and earned spots in New Year's Six bowl games. If the Spartans do not bounce back and get to a bowl game in 2017 while competing with Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in the BIG-10 East, Dantonio could be shown the door, as crazy as that may sound.
7. Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech)
Even with a record-breaking quarterback like Patrick Mahomes (5,000+ passing yards, 53 touchdowns responsible for), the Red Raiders still finished the 2016 season 5-7 and missed out on a bowl game. Much of Tech's lack of success last season was thanks to having one of the nation's worst defenses, ranking dead last in FBS in both total and scoring defense. In four seasons under Kliff Kingsbury, the Red Raiders have been a middle of the road team in the BIG-12, appearing in two bowl games (1-1 record). Entering his fifth season, every player on TTU's roster will have been recruited by Kingsbury, so labeling underperforming players/defenses as the fault of former head coach Tommy Tuberville will no longer be an acceptable excuse. Tech's defense and overall results need to improve drastically in order for Kingsbury to keep his job. If the Red Raiders don't at least get back to a bowl game in 2017, Kingsbury will likely be out of Lubbock.
8. Steve Addazio (Boston College)
BC has had a handful of big wins during the Steve Addazio era, including a 37-31 upset of USC in 2014 and last season's Quicklane bowl win over Maryland (36-30), the program's first bowl victory since 2007. Unfortunately, the negatives and excruciatingly painful losses (3-0 to Wake Forest in 2015, 31-30 in overtime in the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl to Penn State, 21-14 to Colorado State a week after upsetting USC in 2014) during Steve Addazio's time at the Heights have outweighed the positives. A lot of BC's issues following the end of the Matt Ryan era back in 2007 cannot be put on Steve Addazio, as the recruitment done by Jeff Jagodzinski was deplorable, to say the least, and Frank Spaziani didn't exactly leave Addazio in the best situation. The departure of athletic director Brad Bates and the hiring of Martin Jarmond means that 2017 could be a make-or-break point for Addazio. No bowl game for BC in 2017 and Jarmond probably makes his first big move as the new AD in Chestnut Hill and finds a new football coach. If BC can build off of last season's success by staying competitive in a deep ACC Atlantic Division and get back to a bowl game, Addazio should be safe. Linebacker Connor Strachan and defensive end Harold Landry both need to have a big season in order for the Eagles to do that. BC opens up the season at Northern Illinois followed by home contests with Wake Forest and Notre Dame before a road date with defending national champ Clemson.
9. Bret Bielema (Arkansas)
Despite the backing from Arkansas AD Jeff Long, Bret Bielema's job security is still very much in question after a 7-6 season in 2016 dropped his overall record throughout his four seasons at Arkansas to 25-26 and 10-22 in the SEC. The Razorbacks had a handful of quality wins in 2016 including No. 10 Florida (31-10), No. 12 Ole Miss (34-30), and No. 15 TCU (41-38 in overtime), but a bad 28-24 loss to Missouri in the final week of the regular season and a 35-24 loss to Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl put a sour end to a once very promising season. Bielema's power-running style is perfect for facing rugged SEC defensive-fronts like LSU, Alabama, and Auburn, but the Hogs need to be more versatile in 2017 when it comes to their offense and not drop a stinker or two like they did against Missouri in order to stay competitive within the division. If Arkansas can do that and win at least eight games in 2017, Bielema's status as head coach should remain intact.
10. Chris Ash (Rutgers)
From a football perspective, it's safe to call the big move to the BIG-10 a complete disaster thus far for Rutgers. The Scarlett Knights have seen nothing but regression since the realignment, going 8-5 in 2014, 4-8 in 2015, and 2-10 in 2016 with a 0-9 conference record. Being in the BIG-10 East, it is going to be extremely difficult for Rutgers to compete in 2017. Thus was made clear last season when the Scarlett Knights were outscored a combined 136-0 against the class of the division, Michigan and Ohio State. Step one in getting this sinking this above water is to win a conference game, but even that may not be enough to save Chris Ash's job. Rutgers faces a grueling schedule this season having to open up the campaign at home against defending PAC-12 champ Washington before back-to-back games against Michigan and Ohio State to begin October to go along with their normal BIG-10 state (Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, Michigan State), so more likely than not, a coaching change could be coming in Piscataway. It might seem unfair to Ash given the short period of time he's been given to win and rebuild this program, but Rutgers is in desperate need of a reboot.
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