Every college football coach is under some amount of pressure to win, but heading into 2026, only an unfortunate few find themselves squarely in the "hot seat" conversation. Widespread coaching changes over recent years have left more than half of the FBS in a position where their coaching outlook seems pretty stable, barring something crazy. But for a trio of power-conference coaches, hot-seat talk will dominate the conversation until results change. Florida State coach Mike Norvell, Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell and Baylor coach Dave Aranda each received a 5.0 hot-seat rating average during the annual polling of CBS Sports experts for our 2026 Hot Seat Rankings. That's the hottest possible seat on our 0-to-5 scale, and the unanimous rating across all of the experts drives home the urgency these coaches face to improve.
With Maryland coach Mike Locksley close to unanimous at 4.9, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer at 4.3 and North Carolina coach Bill Belichick scoring a 4.1, you can quickly identify the places where the pressure is starting to get turned up the most.
It is worth noting that a high hot-seat rating does not guarantee doom, but recent history shows more firings than not. Last season, five of the eight coaches who received a CBS Sports Hot Seat rating of 4.1 or higher were fired during or after the season. Coaches like Hugh Freeze, Sam Pittman and Mike Gundy were shown the door, but Oklahoma coach Brent Venables and Arizona's Brent Brennan put together the type of season that reversed the narrative around their tenure.
A better hot seat rating does not guarantee future employment, either. Last season, Brian Kelly had a 3.33 before his midseason dismissal, and perhaps in a moment of CBS Sports Hot Seat Rating history, we saw James Franklin fired by Penn State despite 1.33 preseason rating.
Those three coaches with a 5.0 rating should look at Sonny Cumbie. The Louisiana Tech coach also had a 5.0 rating going into last season and then led the Bulldogs to a fourth-place finish in Conference USA and an Independence Bowl win. Cumbie still faces some pressure with a 3.2 mark, and perhaps a similar adjustment could come for some of those hottest seats in search of cooling.
Below, you'll find where all 138 FBS coaches stand before the season kicks off, as voted on by CBS Sports college football experts Matt Zenitz, Shehan Jeyarajah, Brandon Marcello, John Talty, Tom Fornelli, Chris Hummer, Chip Patterson, Austin Nivison, Cody Nagel and Brad Crawford.
Each was asked to rate each coach's job security on a scale of 0 to 5, and we averaged those 10 evaluations to assign a score. Check out the ratings key, then see where every coach ranks with kickoff just under two months away.
2026 Hot Seat Rankings: Luke Fickell, Dave Aranda among six college football coaches with jobs on the line Shehan Jeyarajah
Rating What it means Coaches 5
Win or be fired
3
4-4.99
Start improving now
3
3-3.99
Pressure is mounting
14
2-2.99
All good ... for now
23
1-1.99
Safe and secure
48
0-0.99
Untouchable
47
The table below is arranged in alphabetical order by school. Listed is each coach's win-loss record at his current program and the number of years he's led that team prior to 2026. If the coach's rating has changed from the 2025 season, the old rating is listed in parentheses. Asterisks (*) indicate that games won/lost as an interim coach immediately preceding a full-time hiring are included.
2025 Hot Seat RankingsTeamCoachYearsRecord2026 Rating
Air Force Troy Calhoun19139-971.1 (1.1) 
Akron Joe Moorhead313-352.2 (3.8) 
Alabama Kalen DeBoer120-83 (2.3) 
App. St. Dowell Loggains15-81.8 (0.6) 
Arizona Brent Brennan213-121.8 (4.2) 
Arizona St. Kenny Dillingham214-120.9 (0.2) 
Arkansas Ryan Silverfield----1 
Arkansas St. Butch Jones519-312.4 (2.4) 
Army Jeff Monken1289-630.7 (0.1) 
Auburn Alex Golesh----0.7 
Ball St. Mike Uremovich14-81  
Baylor Dave Aranda636-37(5) 2.2 
Boise St. Spencer Danielson224-8*1 (0.9) 
Boston College Bill O'Brien29-163.5 (1.6) 
Bowling Green Eddie George14-81 (1.6) 
Buffalo Pete Lembo214-112.1 (1.1) 
BYU Kalani Sitake1084-450.3 (1.1) 
California Tosh Lupoi----0.8 
C. Michigan Matt Drinkall17-61.1 (1) 
Charlotte Tim Albin11-111.9 (1) 
Cincinnati Scott Satterfield
315-223.5 (4) 
Clemson Dabo Swinney17187-533.1 (0.2) 
C. Carolina Ryan Beard--0.9 
Colorado Deion Sanders316-213.1 (0.33) 
Colorado St. Jim Mora Jr.----0.7 
Delaware Ryan Carty333-171 (0.78) 
Duke Manny Diaz218-91 (1.22) 
East Carolina Blake Harrell114-5*1.8 (1.56) 
E. Michigan Chris Creighton1261-832.8 (1.4) 
FIU Willie Simmons17-61 (0.8) 
Florida Jon Sumrall----0.8 
FAU Zach Kittley14-8(0.8) 
Florida State Mike Norvell638-345 (3.3) 
Fresno St. Matt Entz19-41.1 (0.8) 
Georgia Kirby Smart10117-210.1 (0.1) 
Ga. Southern Clay Helton327-253.1 (2.6) 
Georgia St. Dell McGee24-203.3 (1.9) 
Georgia Tech Brent Key327-200.1 (1) 
Hawaii Timmy Chang313-251 (2.4) 
Houston Willie Fritz214-110.7 (1.3) 
Illinois Bret Bielema537-260.9 (0.8) 
Indiana Curt Cignetti227-2(0.22) 
Iowa Kirk Ferentz27221-1490.8 (1.7) 
Iowa St. Jimmy Rogers ----0.9 
James Madison Billy Napier----1.2 
Jacksonville St. Charles Kelly----1.2 (1) 
Kansas Lance Leipold527-352.3 (1) 
Kansas State Collin Klein----0.5 
Kennesaw St. Jerry Mack110-40.4 (0.8) 
Kent St. Mark Carney 15-7*1.3 (3.6) 
Kentucky Will Stein----0.7 
Liberty Jamey Chadwell325-132.7 (1.8) 
Louisiana Michael Desormeaux429-25*2.2 (1.7) 
Louisiana Tech Sonny Cumbie419-313.2 (5) 
Louisville Jeff Brohm328-120.8 (0.8) 
LSU Lane Kiffin----1 
Marshall Tony Gibson15-71.8 (1) 
Maryland Mike Locksley737-494.9 (3.2) 
Memphis Charles Huff ----0.7 (1.7) 
Miami (Fla.) Mario Cristobal435-190.5 (2.6) 
Miami-OH Chuck Martin1272-740.8 (0.8) 
Michigan Kyle Whittingham----1.5 
Michigan St. Pat Fitzgerald ----0.7 
Middle Tenn. Derek Mason26-183.6 (2.2) 
Minnesota P.J. Fleck966-442.1 (1.8) 
Miss. State Jeff Lebby27-18(3.3) 3 
Missouri Eliah Drinkwitz646-291.8 (1.1) 
Missouri St. Casey Woods ----0.7 
Navy Brian Newberry326-120.8 (1.2) 
NC State Dave Doeren1395-703 (3.1) 
Nebraska Matt Rhule319-193 (2.11) 
Nevada Jeff Choate26-192.2 (1.1) 
New Mexico Jason Eck19-40.8 (1.1`) 
New Mexico St. Tony Sanchez27-172.7 (2.4) 
North Carolina Bill Belichick14-84.1 (2.1) 
North Texas Neal Brown----0.7 
N. Illinois Rob Harley (I) ----2.6 
N. Dakota St. Tim Polasek226-3 (FCS)1 
Northwestern David Braun319-19*2.5 (2) 
Notre Dame Marcus Freeman443-12*0.5 (0.1) 
Ohio John Hauser----1.3 
Ohio State Ryan Day782-12*0.8 (0.9) 
Oklahoma Brent Venables432-261.9 (4.7) 
Oklahoma State Eric Morris ----0.7 
Old Dominion Ricky Rahne530-331.7 (2.8) 
Ole Miss Pete Golding--2-1*1.9 
Oregon Dan Lanning448-80.3 (0.2) 
Oregon State JaMarcus Shephard----0.7 
Penn State Matt Campbell ----0.9 
Pittsburgh Pat Narduzzi1180-612.1 (2.6) 
Purdue Barry Odom12-101.8 (1) 
Rice Scott Abell15-81 (1) 
Rutgers Greg Schiano6 (17)35-42 (99-108)2.8 (1.4) 
Sam Houston Phil Longo12-102.6 (1) 
San Diego St. Sean Lewis212-131.3 (2) 
San Jose St. Ken Niumatalolo210-152 (1.11) 
SMU Rhett Lashlee438-160.9 (0.8) 
South Alabama Major Applewhite211-142.5 (1.8) 
South Carolina Shane Beamer533-304.3 (1.1) 
So. Miss Blake Anderson--0-1*0.8 
South Florida Brian Hartline----0.7 
Stanford Tavita Pritchard----0.8 
Syracuse Fran Brown113-122 (1) 
TCU Sonny Dykes436-172,1 (2.7) 
Temple K.C. Keeler15-70.9 (1) 
Tennessee Josh Heupel545-202.3 (1.1) 
Texas Steve Sarkisian548-202.6 (0.4) 
Texas A&M Mike Elko219-70.8 (1.7) 
Texas St. G.J. Kinne323-161.7 (1.1) 
Texas Tech Joey McGuire435-181.4 (2.3) 
Toledo Mike Jacobs----0.7 
Troy Gerad Parker212-141.6 (2.8) 
Tulane Will Hall----1.1 
Tulsa Tre Lamb14-81.2 (1) 
UAB Alex Mortensen--2.4*1.3 
UCF Scott Frost3 (2)5-7 (19-7)1.6 (2) 
UCLA Bob Chesney----0.5 
UConn Jason Candle----0.9 
UL-Monroe Bryant Vincent28-161.5 (1.2) 
UMass Joe Harasymiak10-122.2 (1) 
UNLV Dan Mullen110-40.8 (1) 
USC Lincoln Riley435-183.8 (3.3) 
UTEP Scotty Walden25-193 (1.4) 
UTSA Jeff Traylor653-261.9 (0.9) 
Utah Morgan Scalley----1.9 
Utah St. Bronco Mendenhall16-70.8 (1) 
Vanderbilt Clark Lea526-370.4 (1.8) 
Virginia Tony Elliott421-261.1 (3.3) 
Virginia Tech James Franklin----0.3 
Wake Forest Jake Dickert19-41.1 (1) 
Washington Jedd Fisch215-111.7 (1.6) 
Washington St. Kirby Moore----0.7 
West Virginia Rich Rodriguez1 (8)4-8 (66-34)1.5 (1.4) 
W. Kentucky Tyson Helton757-361.4 (0.9) 
Sacramento St. Alonzo Carter----1 
W. Michigan Lance Taylor320-191.2 (3.1) 
Wisconsin Luke Fickell317-215 (3.7) 
Wyoming Jay Sawvel27-172.9 (2.7) Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments 
