The College Football Playoff can wait, because firings and the hot seat rules the zeitgeist. Luke Fickell and Hugh Freeze are up next.
Florida State kicks the can on a decision on Mike Norvell.
CFP bracket selection chaos would involve multiple bids for Big 12 and ACC.
The College Football Playoff can wait, because firings and the hot seat rules the zeitgeist.
Billy Napier became the latest coach to unlock the magic of buyout bliss, with Florida finally firing its long-embattled coach. In a twist of dark comedy, the Gators fired their sub-.500 coach after a victory.
So, who’s next?
That’s where my mind is after Week 8:
Will ‘frustration’ at Wisconsin result in James Franklin?
In a letter obtained by Madison’s 96.7-FM, Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh wrote he and underwater coach Luke Fickell share “disappointment and frustration” about the team’s 0-4 start to Big Ten play that’s produced a mere 20 points.
Well, I should hope so, but what does McIntosh plan to do about it? He suggested throwing more money at the problems. In the meantime, a 2-10 record remains on the table for Wisconsin.
‘We must provide our coaches the tools necessary to succeed,’ McIntosh wrote.
If McIntosh hasn’t done that already, then he needs to go, too, because providing coaches with the necessary tools to succeed is literally his job.
As the losses mount, one question lingers: Is Wisconsin prepared to fork over $27-plus million in failure money to fire Fickell?
Here’s an idea: James Franklin wants a job, badly enough he went on “College GameDay” and darn-near begged someone to hire him.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I don’t have hobbies. I don’t golf. I don’t fish,” the former Penn State coach said on ESPN. “This has been such a big part of my identity.”
You’d think Franklin could afford a nice set of clubs and a golf instructor with the $49-plus million buyout coming his way, but, hey, if he wants to coach, he’d be an upgrade at Wisconsin.
Not hip on Franklin? That’s fair. Hiring from the scrap heap isn’t an ideal model for success.
Well, Iowa State’s Matt Campbell would be worth a call if Wisconsin fired Fickell. A career winner, he’d suit Wisconsin’s needs, but it seems like it would take a SWAT team to get Campbell out of Ames.
Campbell’s former understudy, Alex Golesh, is lighting up the scoreboard as South Florida’s coach. Golesh previously worked as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator when the Vols led the nation in scoring in 2022.
Golesh’s up-tempo spread system would be the ultimate zig to Wisconsin’s usual zag.
Or, ride it out another season with a sunken coach who’s proven he’s not the answer. Remind me, how’d that work for Florida?
Will Hugh Freeze join Billy Napier among fired coaches?
Name one way in which Freeze has elevated Auburn since it hired him to replace Bryan Harsin. That’s an impossible task, because Freeze hasn’t elevated Auburn in any discernible way. Even recruiting has stalled. With Napier fired, Freeze inherits the SEC’s hottest seat.
“I certainly know we fit what Auburn is all about,’ Freeze said after his team’s fourth straight SEC loss by 10 points or fewer, the latest to Missouri in overtime. ‘But Auburn is also about winning football.”
Not anymore. That’s the problem. Under Freeze, Auburn has taken on a culture of losing.
Freeze’s quote sums up why he’s lasted this long and also why he’ll be fired if he doesn’t start winning at warp speed. He fit Auburn’s culture better than Harsin. That helped him outlast Harsin, whom Auburn officially fired in Year 2 after becoming a fired-coach-in-waiting on Day 1.
Being a good fit, though, only takes a coach so far.
Freeze failed to produce a competent quarterback in three seasons as Auburn’s coach. His offensive guru status got revoked years ago. He’s now a coaching liability.
Freeze’s 14-18 record and his inability to do what he once did so well at Mississippi — generate scoring — will be his downfall. By Year 3, winning matters more than fit.
Five years ago, Auburn fired a coach who’d never produced a losing season. Now, the standings say Auburn is one of the SEC’s four worst teams. That’s a recipe for a buyout check.
What is Florida State doing?
You’ve heard of a vote of confidence, but Florida State tried a different strategy with its own embattled coach, Mike Norvell.
It offered a vote of vapidness.
Florida State, in the midst of a four-game losing streak, put out a statement that said it plans to kick the can down the road for a month and re-evaluate Norvell at the end of the season.
“Our comprehensive assessment of the football program will be completed at season’s end,” FSU athletic director Mike Alford said in the statement. “Meanwhile, we are fully committed to helping Coach Norvell and the 2025 Seminoles strongly rebound in the coming weeks.”
That loosely translates to: We acknowledge we stink, but we’ll spend the next month deciding whether the coach stinks badly enough to eat a buyout that tops $58 million.
I guess you can’t put that in an official statement. Maybe, just say nothing.
College Football Playoff musings
Ready for playoff selection chaos scenarios? Here’s one:
Brigham Young goes 12-0 before losing to one-loss Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship. Plus, Georgia Tech goes 12-0 before losing to one-loss Miami in the ACC championship. BYU and Georgia Tech would still merit playoff qualification at 12-1, right?
Toss in 10-2 Notre Dame and Group of Five qualifier, and there’s half of the 12-team field.
That’s a doomsday scenario for the SEC and Big Ten bubble.
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Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
