The best part about last week for Wisconsin Badgers fans is that Luke Fickell was unable to lose a game for their beloved football team. We have gotten past of the point of no return, so be prepared for a bumpy ride the rest of the way. This roller coaster is about to come off the tracks, so hold on for dear life! The question is not if Fickell is going to be fired at some point, but when will that day come.
At 2-2 on the season and 0-1 in Big Ten play coming out of the first bye, Fickell has to recognize that there are far fewer Power Four head coaches than there were to start the year. DeShaun Foster and Brent Pry were out at UCLA and Virginia Tech after 0-3 starts. Mike Gundy was fired on a Tuesday last week by his alma mater of Oklahoma State. Sam Pittman was the latest guy to get the ax at Arkansas.
So without further ado, these are the latest betting odds for the next Power Four coach to be fired.
- Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier: +200
- Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell: +300
- The Field: +400
- Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze: +500
- Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney: +800
- Northwestern Wildcats head coach David Braun: +1200
The inclusion of Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney does not seem justifiable at all. He is the greatest head coach in program history. Swinney won a pair of College Football Playoffs at Clemson, regularly making it to the tournament during his great run there. In time, he may step aside, or have to be forced out, but he is not a serious candidate to be fired mid-season at any point during this year.
As for the other four, those could all conceivably happen, plus, this one other notable head coach...
5. Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops
How Kentucky fans view Mark Stoops is somewhat in the same vein of how Wisconsin fans view Luke Fickell. The returns are undeniably diminishing. They know they can get a better product on the field than what they have seen of late. The problem has everything to do with the finances of it. The reason Stoops cracks this list at No. 5 has everything to do with his great run of success in Lexington before.
Stoops may be struggling right now at Kentucky, but he is the longest tenured head coach in the SEC by a few seasons. If he were to be ousted or leave on his own accord, he has strong ties to other programs such as his alma mater of Iowa, Florida State and his older brother Mike's former school of Arizona. He will have options, which is why Stoops will never be a serious candidate to replace Fickell.
Outside of the Wildcats' last non-conference game vs. Tennessee Tech, this team might lose the rest.
4. Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze
After a 3-0 start to the year in the non-conference, Hugh Freeze's Auburn Tigers are 0-2 in SEC play and on the brink of College Football Playoff elimination. This is year three for him down on The Plains. While he has won everywhere else he has coached before, Freeze is finding out that coaching at Auburn is not like a day on the links. His biggest issue is that he just cannot get the quarterback right.
Jackson Arnold is a great runner, but he has yet to develop as a thrower of the football. With four ranked opponents left on the schedule in SEC play vs. Georgia, Missouri, Vanderbilt and Alabama, the Tigers would be lucky to win more than one of them. Simply put, Auburn is going to make a bowl game because it has Arkansas, Kentucky and Mercer left on the schedule, but it is not good enough.
Freeze really needs to get Auburn to seven or eight wins to guarantee that he will get a fourth season.
3. Northwestern Wildcats head coach David Braun
For as much as we might feel bad for David Braun, he is not doing a great job of coaching a Power Four team in the Big Ten. Northwestern is a thankless job, and he is doing the best he can. However, any momentum he seized after taking over for Pat Fitzgerald is completely gone now. Not playing at a renovated Ryan Field yet has left Northwestern with no juice whatsoever from any real vantage point.
While the Wildcats did beat winless UCLA to get their second win on the season, this team has a four-win ceiling. If they beat Louisiana-Monroe and hold their own vs. Purdue, that might be all she wrote for NU. Simply put, Northwestern cannot enter next season with a whimper. Having a new face in charge of the program could work wonders. It might be time to empty the bag for alum Mike Kafka.
Nearly giving last week's game away to UCLA put even more pressure on Braun moving forward here.
2. Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell
What is left to be said when it comes to Luke Fickell? This was a bad fit from the start, but nobody in Wisconsin seemed to recognize that at the time. He is a Group of Five head coach pretending to be a leader of men in the Big Ten. He contradicts himself constantly at the podium. His teams look so woefully unprepared against Power Four competition. This is the worst Wisconsin has been in years!
As far as when Wisconsin could come to its senses and fire Fickell, it may not happen until right before the second bye. If this team is riding a six-game losing streak heading into the second bye with additional losses to Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State and Oregon, this cannot continue. At that point, give defensive coordinator Mike Tressel the interim tag to coach the Badgers during their final four games.
There is a very strong possibility Wisconsin has won its final game of the year over Middle Tennessee.
1. Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier
Outside of Luke Fickell's seat at Wisconsin, the only one hotter in the Power Four belongs to Billy Napier at Florida. Napier is 1-3 on the season and going nowhere fast. With losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, when is Florida going to win next? The big key to watch here is when Florida's next bye comes up. That would be right after the Mississippi State game just before The Cocktail Party.
Over the next month, Florida has games with Texas, Texas A&M and Mississippi State. The Longhorns and Aggies are playoff contenders at this point of the season. The Bulldogs feel like a bowl team under Jeff Lebby's watch. Given athletic director Scott Stricklin's ties to Mississippi State, a loss to those Bulldogs may prevent Napier from getting another chance to embarrass himself vs. Georgia.
Power Four programs love firing head coaches early this year, but we might have to wait for No. 5.