Who’s on the hot seat? College football coaches under most pressure today

College football’s game of musical chairs got an early start this season, with 11 positions in the FBS ranks already coming open, seven of those in the Power Four, and what happens this weekend could influence an over-active coaching carousel even further.

The sacking of James Franklin, who took Penn State to its first College Football Playoff a year ago, illustrates just how quickly a program can go off the rails and how swiftly a school can react by taking your job.

Two coaches whose jobs appear to be on the line, Mike Norvell at Florida State and Luke Fickell at Wisconsin, received tepid endorsements from their respective superiors this week, while Auburn’s Hugh Freeze went as far as to ask for one publicly.

He didn’t get one.

What college football coaches are on the proverbial hot seat this weekend?

Luke Fickell, Wisconsin

Who’s on the Hot Seat? College Football Coaches Under Pressure Today — Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Things haven’t panned out since Fickell’s heralded arrival from Cincinnati. His team has lost 10 straight games against Power Four teams and dropped 10 of the last 12 entirely.

Shut out in consecutive games for the first time since 1968, the Badgers are standing by Fickell for now, but a lot has to change for him to get another year.

Wisconsin today: at No. 6 Oregon

Mike Norvell, Florida State

Ever since the Seminoles were snubbed from the College Football Playoff despite being the undefeated ACC champion in favor of one-loss Alabama, everything has gone wrong.

Since that moment, Florida State is 5-14 and boast a miserable 1-11 mark in ACC play, including the last four by a single possession, with the nadir coming in a road loss to Stanford last week.

The school has expressed disappointment in those results, but is standing by Norvell for now. That can change unless there is radical improvement, though.

Florida State today: Idle

Hugh Freeze, Auburn

Auburn’s offense is M.I.A., not scoring more than 17 points in an SEC game this season, and having fallen to 0-4 in conference play on the back of an unit that just cannot find an identity despite scoring transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold, and boasting a quality wide receiver corps.

Games against Arkansas and Kentucky present Auburn (5-14 in SEC competition under Freeze’s direction) with a shot at bowl eligibility, but matchups against Vanderbilt and Alabama will be problems.

This looks like the coach’s third-straight losing season, which just may be enough to pull the plug.

Auburn today: at Arkansas

Jonathan Smith, Michigan State

It’s hard to find any positives for the second-year Spartans coach, who left his alma mater at Oregon State, where he had been so successful, only to flop in the Big Ten, where his team sits at 0-4 in conference play this season.

Smith’s offense has failed to gel despite the presence of athletic quarterback Aidan Chiles, and this defense is near the bottom of the conference in most statistics.

Michigan State today: vs. No. 25 Michigan

Bill Belichick, North Carolina

Always regarded as a risky experiment, not just to hire a coach with no college experience, but one regarded as the most-accomplished in NFL history, so far the Belichick exercise has been mired in constant gossip about his girlfriend, followed by disastrous results on the field.

Sitting at 2-4 entering this weekend, the Tar Heels need to show some kind of pulse in the second half of the season to build any momentum on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal for Belichick to earn some kind of confidence.

A big buyout likely shields Belichick from the embarrassment of being fired after one season, not to mention the humiliation the school would feel after such a ballyhooed hire, but it’s tough to argue that his team has not been brutally out-coached and out-played in every phase.

North Carolina today: vs. No. 16 Virginia

Brian Kelly, LSU

Winning 10 games in each of his two seasons, there was such hope that Kelly would be able to pull LSU out of its post-2019 doldrums.

But so far there’s been no College Football Playoff berth, then a step backwards after winning 9 games in Year 3, and now Kelly has lost 2 of his first 7 games in 2025, thanks to an offense that has lost momentum, averaging under 21 points in SEC play.

Saturday’s ranked-on-ranked matchup against undefeated, No. 3 Texas A&M at home followed by a road trip against current No. 4 Alabama could go a long way either in spiralling LSU’s season (and Kelly’s tenure) out of control, or saving both.

LSU today: vs. No. 3 Texas A&M