Sorry, there's no Budweiser sponsorship on this one. Unlike that contraption, this is a real hot seat.In the real world, we know that not everyone will coach forever, like the guy to the right has. The old saying is that coaches "are hired to be fired". These days, you're lucky if you can survive back-to-back years that don't meet everyone's expectations. You could almost argue that everyone is on the hot seat, but we're not going to do that. It's too easy.
When selecting three Big Ten coaches who are on the hot seat, the first thing to do is list the veteran coaches who are definitely NOT on the hot seat:
1. Lloyd Carr
2. Jim Tressel
3. Bret Bielema
4. Kirk Ferentz
5. Joe Paterno
From there, we can eliminate the coaches who were hired to replace fired coaches in the last year. You don't fire a first-year coach that you just hired unless he gets arrested. That would mean that Mark Dantonio and Tim Brewster are "safe", and it leaves us with four candidates for three positions on the hot seat. Join us after the jump to find out who made the cut.
| 1. Joe Tiller, Purdue |
 Tiller seems like a nice guy, and he's done a very nice job at Purdue in his ten years there, averaging around seven wins a season for a program that had been struggling before his arrival. He tutored Drew Brees and helped him set records on his way to the NFL. However, the last couple years have brought their share of struggles to a suddenly spoiled fan base. Purdue started 5-0 in 2004 before the famous Kyle Orton fumble that led to a Wisconsin upset win in West Lafayette. Since that 5-0 start, Purdue is a rather pedestrian 15-17 overall, 10-12 in Big Ten play, and 0-2 in bowl games. Tiller wouldn't be on the hot seat if his Purdue career had started in 2004, but that Rose Bowl trip and two other New Year's Day bowl trips have set the bar higher than the Champs Sports Bowl. Not only that, Purdue avoided Michigan and Ohio State on the league schedule in each of the last two years, but still managed to disappoint. Other coaches in the league have some serious success to their credit in recent years, just got their job, or are in very difficult positions. Tiller needs to get the ship righted, or things underneath him will begin to get quite smoky. Seems like a good season to have 18 starters returning, doesn't it? |
| 2. Ron Zook, Illinois |
 If it weren't for that insane recruiting class, Zook would be on top of this list. But he is building as quickly as he can at Illinois, a program gutted by poor recruiting and even poorer play. The Illini have eight sophomores listed as starters for 2007, and this is still a really young football team. Their top receiver, Arrelious Benn, is a true freshman. Quarterback Juice Williams played most of last year as a true freshman (and he took some lumps as a result). While Zook can't afford another two-win season, the bar isn't that high for this year in Champaign. You could argue that he'll get at least one more year as long as the team continues to show improvement. And don't make any mistake, even though the record didn't show it (2-10 after a 2-9 2005 season), the Illini were better. Last year, it was the defense that showed great improvement. They went from 39.5 PPG allowed to 26.8, 5.5 rush yards per carry to 3.3, and from 67 percent completions allowed to 55.5. This year, the onus is on the offense to hold up their end. |
| 3. Bill Lynch, Indiana |
 I'm not here to make any light of Lynch's situation. The former Ball State head coach is in the impossible position of taking over for the extremely popular Terry Hoeppner. Hep died in June after two seasons at the helm of the IU program. He was there long enough to get people energized about Hoosier football, though he was not able to lead the team to a bowl game.In placing Lynch on the "hot seat", we are by no means saying that Lynch is not going to do a good job. He is a veteran coach, and he will provide the program with a steady hand and quality leadership as they attempt to move forward. However, there is no guarantee that Lynch's hiring is permanent. With that in mind, it makes no sense to leave Lynch off such a list, since he really isn't guaranteed a job as head coach beyond 2007. The Hoosiers were on the brink of a bowl bid in 2006. It will be hard not to root for IU to finish that journey in 2007, and the schedule is favorable to make that happen. And while Lynch doesn't appear to have any guarantees beyond 2007, a bowl bid would be a giant step in that direction. |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-01-2007 @ 3:26AM
Allison said...
Why isn't Kirk Ferentz on this list? I mean come one! For the past 10 years we have been ranked number 25 in the preseason, no higher, nothing lower. Kirk needs to go. We barely made it to a bowl game last season. He relied on Drew Tate for way too long. Jake Christiansen should have had a chance before Drew got hurt last season. Now we have a Red shirt sophomore with barely any game experience ready to lead the team into what looks to be like another great year of Big 10 football. Kirk should be under close watch, we barely had anyone good in the recruiting class. Look out for number 78 Dace Richardson, one of the outstanding players on the team. He is fully recovered from his knee injury from the Indiana game this year and is ready to for fierce competition. Kirk needs to go.
Ron Zook did a great job recruiting this year. After having a horrible season last year and being able to pull out one of the best recruiting classes in that nation?!?! The guy knows talent and knows how to get them to wear Illini on their uniform.
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8-01-2007 @ 3:35AM
Allison said...
One more add in... Whoever wrote this has never sat in the stands at the University of Iowa. It is always packed. It is like going to church for most of us. Wake up at 5 am just so that we can have a bratwurst by 6 am. I cannot sit through another season like the last. Watching the fans be disappointed by the same thing over and over again. I am glad Tate didn't get drafted. I knew him, I run and work out in the football facility. He needed to go. When he was hot, he was on fire; but when things went bad, they got worse. He couldn't get the offense motivate. Sitting on the sidelines, it even brought the fans to an all new low.
PS I am not saying 25 in the nation is a bad thing at all, but a coach that has been at IOWA for nine years now, should have made vast improvement. Put Ferentz on the list, he belongs on it. He is no Hayden Fry.
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8-01-2007 @ 9:20AM
ugh said...
how is lloyd carr not on the hot seat? john cooper was fired for the exact same thing that carr is stuck in the middle of, that is, not being able to beat your chief rival. michigan would be much better off if they got rid of him anyways, he can't coach in any big game (unless its against cooper) and it's not like you have to worry about recruiting at UM. how is a guy who is a season removed from a 7-5 campaign, who's lost 3 straight to the only team they HAVE to beat, got embarassed in their last bowl game and has an offense that seems to disappear when it matters most NOT on the hot seat?
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8-01-2007 @ 10:53AM
James said...
Tough situation for Lynch, but 10 games are winable and 5-5 in those ten is not good enough. 6-4 is mediocre if the program is to continue ascending. The Hoosiers must go 7-3 (7-5 OVERALL) in those winable games for Lynch to lock up the job. Otherwise, he should be in the pool to compete for the job, if we learned anything from the Mike Davis debacle. Anything less than 6-6 calls for a search.
Indiana will probably never be in the upper tier of football schools, but then again, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and others, were not household names at one time. We cannot concede. We must continue to aspire to more.
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8-01-2007 @ 11:36AM
ChicaGoBlue said...
Lloyd Carr is nothing like Cooper. For starters, his record against OSU is 5-5. He also has a national championship, several Big Ten titles, and (this summer's hijinks notwithstanding) runs a squeaky clean program. Saying "he can't coach in any big game" betrays even common knowledge about Carr. He has one of the best records against Top 10 teams in the nation. If anything, the knock against him is that he can't get the team pumped up for less pretigious opponents, leading to debacles like Oregon in 2003 and last year's near-catastrophe against Ball State.
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8-01-2007 @ 11:53AM
bradley messer said...
Bret Bielema (wisconsin) i think he set the bar a little to high for hiself in his first season because those players ultimately were not his recruits so maybe he might not be on the hot seat this year anything less than a duplicate of last season might get him there quick
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8-01-2007 @ 1:06PM
steve said...
These make for interesting discussion, but truth be told college football Big 10 football has become a bear. People need to look beyond the numbers. Take for example Joe Must GO- some idiots actually bought into that. Speaking on Coach Carr's behalf, AS BO used to say he's a Michigan man Don"t think guys like he and Ferentz are easily replaced
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8-01-2007 @ 2:10PM
ugh said...
we live in a "what have you done for me lately" world and, in carr's case, what has he done lately?
sure he has a great program, loaded from top to bottom. but last time i checked, he won a co-natl championship in 97, quite awhile ago. he is like cooper in the fact that, right now, he can't beat OSU, always has a loaded team that always seems to fail and has ONE bowl win since 2002 which was the outback bowl.
final results nonewithstanding, what he has put on the field is wholly underwhelming. cooper and carr have very similar records and carr has 2 more big ten titles. there is a statute of limitations on how long a natl champ gives you 100% job security, and if UM loses to OSU again, dont think there won't be people screaming for carr's head.
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8-06-2007 @ 6:05PM
Ryan Ferguson said...
I am surprised that Ferentz is not on the hot-seat.
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8-17-2007 @ 2:19PM
David said...
The absence of Lloyd Carr on the list of coaches on the hot seat proves that this author doesn't know beans from beehives. Lloyd Carr, year in and year out, has some of the best talent in the country. Yet his lackluster play-calling and conservative style have hurt Michigan terribly. Now is the time, with the years decidedly powerful offense, to open up the flood gates and beat teams badly when they are suppose to. With the BCS, points count and Lloyd has a history of just scoring enough to win the game. Let me put it this way: His seat is so hot I sure wouldn't want to lay my rear end on it!
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