Despite putting forth yet another deplorable effort, Luke Fickell still somehow has a job leading the Wisconsin Badgers. After a 2-0 start with wins over Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee, Wisconsin has looked like an unmitigated disaster ever since. The Badgers are 0-4 vs. Power Four competition and 0-3 in Big Ten play with losses to Alabama, Maryland, Michigan and Iowa with a bye week in between.
After a weekend that saw Trent Bray be fired at Oregon State, James Franklin be kicked to the curb by Penn State, and UAB putting itself out of its own misery with Trent Dilfer, Fickell is still here! It is beyond hysterical at this point that he still has a job, but here we are. Either nobody wants to pay his massive buyout or he is allowed to operate with no consequence for as long as he damn well pleases.
With Bray, Dilfer and Franklin out of the picture, who are on the hottest seats across college football?
5. Boston College Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien
You know a dud when you see one... After clobbering Fordham in Week 1, the Boston College Eagles have lost five in a row under Bill O'Brien and it is not getting any better. They may have had close losses to Michigan State, Stanford and Cal, but its two most recent defeats were so jarring. Boston College lost by 47 on the road to Pittsburgh, only to then be outscored at home by 31 to Clemson...
O'Brien may have regional ties to the team, but it is clear the game has started to pass him by. Boston College was a borderline bowl team coming into this season. Now, it looks like the Eagles might be the worst team in the ACC. The fact they lost to a Stanford Cardinal team that is effectively on life support with Frank Reich serving as their substitute teacher is such an indictment of the Eagles now.
Boston College may not have wanted Jeff Hafley to leave, but it may regret hiring O'Brien soon after.
4. Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell
We have made a full 360 when it comes to Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell. While he did get some benefit of the doubt over last year's 2-10 campaign being a bit of a fluke, how about win a conference game for once, man? Since beating Alabama at home in Week 1 in the greatest game of Tommy Castellanos life, Florida State has lost its next three games to Power Four teams in ACC play.
The Friday night road loss to rival Virginia in overtime was tough to swallow. Getting one's clock cleaned at home by arch rival Miami was especially hard to stomach. To make matters worse, Florida State backed up those two conference losses with another one vs. Pitt. Any goodwill Norvell gathered from the Alabama win has totally gone to the wayside. He is coaching on borrowed time.
If Florida State fails to make a bowl game in back-to-back seasons, Florida State will have to fire him.
3. Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze
Oh, the coulda woulda shoulda Auburn Tigers... They have almost sadly devolved into this under Hugh Freeze's watch. After a strong 3-0 start to this season, including a road win over a feisty Baylor team in non-conference play, Auburn has gotten itself into an 0-3 hole in the SEC standings. They have suffered back-to-back-to-back losses to Oklahoma, Texas A&M and a massive rival in Georgia.
All three of Auburn's losses may be to quality opponents, but the Tigers have allowed the officials to beat them senselessly under Freeze's watch. When you are too busy blaming the officials to help your team win, you need to be replaced. Auburn has had a miserable last decade or so since moving on from Gus Malzahn. If the Tigers fire Freeze, they will get somebody good, but who will want this job?
Auburn not only struggles to win conference games, but it no longer has any home-field advantage.
2. Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier
The end may be near for Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier. After getting a crucial second win of the season over Texas two weeks ago, the Gators stumbled to their fourth loss on the year by falling on the road to the Texas A&M Aggies. They may have the same 2-4 record as Wisconsin, but at least Florida can beat a quality opponent every once in a while. Unfortunately, Napier will still lose his job.
This is a team that struggles to stay steady. It might be coaching, it might be personnel. Either way, it is not good. What is perhaps the most troubling about Florida is how divided the team and the fan base are on the head coach. The fans want Napier gone yesterday, while the Florida players still occasionally play hard for the guy. In the end, he will be let go as soon as he loses a seventh game.
This game coming up vs. the Mississippi State Bulldogs could be Napier's last game with Florida.
1. Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell
Although there should be a galaxy between him and Napier, only for Wisconsin reasons is Fickell still employed. The big thing with Fickell is every subsequent coaching performance is worse than the one before. Getting drubbed by Alabama in Tuscaloosa was one thing. Getting embarrassed at home by Maryland was another. He quit on his team vs. Michigan, only for the team to quit on him vs. Iowa.
In the end, Fickell will go down as one of the worst head-coaching hires in Big Ten history. The sad part in all of this is everyone thought he was a home-run hire at the time, well, almost everyone... Wisconsin swallowed the lure hook, line and sinker. They paid a gross premium for a Group of Five coach to destroy everything good that once was Wisconsin football. He should be ashamed already.
The great people of the state of Wisconsin should stop paying taxes until Fickell is out of his post.