The Hot Seat is just lukewarm now: The annual firing of college football coaches got off to an early start this year with LSU's Les Miles not surviving September, but the ascension of Interim Coach Ed Orgeron tamped down a lot of the possible juggling of lower-tier coaching jobs. Ditto the rapid fire-and-hire of Charlie Strong and Tom Herman at Texas. Oregon let go of Mark Helfrich (the first time the Ducks have fired a coach since 1976), and the Notre Dame-Brian Kelly relationship is said to be strained, but it looks like there won't be a high-profile Harbaugh-to-Michigan type story to keep football writers working through December this year. (Incidentally, CoachesHotSeat.com is for sale.)
After many early season calls for his head (example), Clay Helton has turned his critics around and put any uncertainty on the shelf (for now at least).
posted by billsaysthis at 10:22 AM on December 01, 2016
I'm still not sold on Helton. He's supposed to be smart enough to see that Darnold was better than Browne before the season. If Helton had been that smart, there's a good chance that USC would be in the Pac-12 title game this weekend and have a legit shot at the playoff.
posted by Etrigan at 11:49 AM on December 01, 2016
There is absurd speculation in central FL that Willie Taggart (USF coach, 10-2 this season) is being looked at for the Oregon HC position. Seems little more than idle speculation by sports radio hosts to get callers on the phone to talk about how absurd that HC move would be.
In other FL NCAA coaching rumors, I can't express how glad I am that Jimbo Fisher is sticking around at FSU. Here's hoping that Fisher sticks around as long as Bobby Bowden did.
posted by FLsportsman at 02:58 PM on December 01, 2016
I wish Brian Kelley would pursue one of those made-up "other offers" he's mentioned so I could go back to watching Notre Dame.
posted by yerfatma at 01:35 PM on December 02, 2016
I haven't followed the Chip Kelly saga, but is he going to be stubborn and dig in at SF or return to college ball. Where everybody but him thinks he belongs.
Is Bill O'Brien going to tire of trying to make the Texans competitive with Osweiler and his crazy contract and also go back to college. I still think what O'Brien did at PSU was remarkable.
Somebody has to make SMU relevant because they just have one of the best team logos in the land. The Denver Bronco hood ornament/bottle opener logo is lame by comparison.
posted by beaverboard at 04:53 PM on November 30, 2016