Fall camps open up in about a week, but it is never too early to look at what coaches need to have a good season to keep the seat they sit on cold. Chad Morris at SMU is in his second season and everyone at SMU knew it was going to be a long and tough rebuilding, so no need to worry about his job security.
Let’s take a look at some of the coaches around Texas that could be on the hot seat.
1. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M???
Sumlin has been at the helm for the Aggies since 2012 and got off to a blistering start, which sent expectations soaring. In his first year with Johnny Football, Sumlin led A&M to a Cotton Bowl victory, #5 ranking in the coaches and AP poll and an 11-2 going 6-2 in the Aggies first season in the SEC.
Since his first season Sumlin has put up win totals of 9,8,8 that is a disappointment considering how strong they came on in their first season and the rise in recruiting classes.
Also, the quarterback carousel and drama that has gone on in the past offseason has Aggie fans what has gone wrong. This is a big season for Sumlin as fans and boosters are growing restless with the inability to improve on previous seasons.
2. Charlie Strong, University of Texas ??
Strong has been under scrutiny ever since he walked onto the 40 acres. Some fans liked the hire of Strong as they saw Texas needed a disciplinarian as the face of the program and others including some boosters were looking at Jimbo Fisher from Florida State, but that never happened. Strong never having the full backing of the fan base was only going to make it more difficult for him.
Mack Brown left the cupboard bare for Strong at the most important position, Quarterback. Tyrone Swoopes has had playing time, but isn’t the answer and Strong hasn’t been able to get competent play.
Strong has yet to have a winning season at Texas and has had back-to-back seven loss seasons and if Strong has a third seven loss season there is a pretty good chance that he won’t see a fourth season in Austin.
3. Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech?
Kingsbury’s seat might be lukewarm in Lubbock as he enters his fourth season with a 19-19 record. Kingsbury rode the wave of being the offensive coordinator in Johnny Manziel’s breakout season leading him to the head coaching position at Tech.
After a strong 8-5 first season capped off with a Holiday Bowl victory, the Red Raiders have gone 11-14 in the past two seasons.
Kingsbury’s record in the Big XI conference is 10-17 and they haven’t finished higher than 5th. In his time at Tech the Big XI hasn’t been a world-beater either which should cause some concern if Kingsbury is truly the right man to lead the program back to a national stage as it was during the Mike Leach days.
Ice Cold Seat
- Tom Herman, University of Houston❄️❄️❄️
Herman’s seat at Houston is as cold as the North Pole at Christmas. Herman just got a big raise from Houston and is now making $2.8 million after just one season on the job. What a first year it was for Herman as he led Houston to a 13-1 season and a Peach Bowl victory over Florida State. Herman was one of the hottest names on the coaching carousel last offseason and no matter what the results are for the Cougars this season, Herman’s name will be mentioned at every big name job again.
Group of 5 first year head-coaches
Everett Withers at Texas State, Frank Wilson at UTSA, and Seth Littrell at UNT are all entering their first season at their respective schools and barring some type of scandal, they won’t have to think about job security for quite sometime. These three coaches are focused on building a winning culture and an identity to the program that fans can be proud of. It would be crazy for any of these coaches to be on the hot seat until they have three or four full recruiting classes come into build what they want.
