Last week we started up our off-season roundtables by discussing new coaches, National Championship long-shots and teams that might be ripe for a fall from the top. This week I decided to split up the questions into three different posts over the weekend so the topics don’t get lost in the shuffle. If you missed yesterday’s post we discussed the best assistant coaching hires from this past off-season. Feel free to chime in down below in the comments section or you can shoot us an e-mail at collegefootballzealot at gmail.com. If there is a question you would like to see discussed you can also leave it in the comments, shoot us an e-mail or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.
He’s wearing orange pants because his seat is hot!
QUESTION: Without talking about Derek Dooley or Randy Edsall, which coach do you expect to be firmly planted on the hot seat this year?
Jay: I’ve got a lot of coaches in mind, but for the purposes of this roundtable, I’ll go with Tommy Tuberville at Texas Tech. To say there was a solid contingent of the Red Raider fan base that was displeased with the circumstances of Tuberville’s arrival in Lubbock would be an understatement. The guy was always going to be playing from behind out there in west Texas, but he didn’t help his cause any when he posted Tech’s first losing season since the days of the Southwest Conference. The Pirate never missed a bowl game, you know. (Except that one they wouldn’t let him on the field for.) To top it off, he’s suffered a few public relations black eyes this offseason. Another losing season could provide all the impetus the power players at Tech need to send him back to his duck blind in Arkansas.
Pete: Tommy Tuberville has had mixed results at Texas Tech. During the offseason, both he and his wife have made the news for off-field troubles. Being in Lubbock, the attention and pressure is not as intense as elsewhere, but no school wants a lightening rod coach, especially if he doesn’t bring home the wins.
Ross: Frank Spaziani, Boston College. BC fans wanted him out last year, but he’s back to bedevil them for another year. BC was one of the steadiest programs in football under Tom O’Brien, but they’ve been on a steady decline under Spaziani. They looked bad last year and their recruiting hasn’t been strong, either. Without a fast start next year, I think Spaziani will be handed his walking papers by the end of the season.
Kevin: The correct answer to this question is every coach in the SEC not named Nick Saban. I like the choices of Frank Spaziani and Tommy Tuberville. Both guys are definitely feeling the heat. Like I did yesterday on the roundtable, I’m heading out West for my answer and it’s a coach who’s highly respected. As we found out last year with Mark Richt, just because you are highly respected doesn’t mean that you won’t be put through the fires of the hotseat. My choice is Mike Riley of Oregon State. From 2006-2009, Riley had a great run as he never won less than eight games and went to four straight bowl games with his worst conference record being an impressive 6-3. Over the last two years, the tide has changed as the Beavers went 5-7 in 2010 and then fell to 3-9 in 2011. It gets worse for Oregon State because both Washington and Washington State, who reside in their half of the conference, are on the upswing. Let’s not forget that Oregon and Stanford both also reside in the Pac-12 North. It’s going to get worse for Mike Riley before it gets better.
Come back to the site tomorrow as we discuss the most interesting position battles in the country.
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