What’s one thing we’ve learned eight weeks into the 2025 college football season? Well, the biggest takeaway so far has to be that the administrations behind the 136 FBS teams are no longer afraid to shell out for contract buyouts of failing coaches. The firing of James Franklin proved it, and there are plenty more to come as the number of departed coaches continues to soar.
Who’s next? The college football hot seat is an uncomfortable place for these five coaches after a Week 8 showing that raised more questions than answers about the direction of multiple programs.
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Last week, we concluded our assessment of Luke Fickell’s college football hot seat candidacy with a simple statement: “This situation feels like a when, not if.”
After another gutless performance characterized by a putrid offense, the Wisconsin Badgers might be about to provide the finality that fans have been asking for, nay demanding, for several weeks now.
A defeat to the Ohio State Buckeyes is nothing to be ashamed of. However, Fickell is now 15-18 as the Badgers head coach, including a 0-4 record in Big Ten play this season. They’ve scored zero points in the last two games, setting a devastating new marker that had previously stood since 1977.
With a difficult schedule still to come, Wisconsin could miss bowl eligibility in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1991-1992.
Bill O’Brien, Boston College
Bill O’Brien cut a desperate figure in the media availability immediately following another defeat for the Boston College Eagles that keeps him on the college football hot seat.
Dropping to 1-6 on the year, a season that many within the walls of Chestnut Hill felt had promise, is as lost as the head coach appeared in front of reporters in the wake of a program-defining loss to the UConn Huskies.
“I can’t fix it. I don’t know what it is… I’ve gotta do a better job of trying to figure it out.”
Boston College has now fallen to six consecutive defeats. Teams that had previously struggled this season have found their offensive footing against the Eagles (Pittsburgh and Clemson). At the same time, O’Brien switched quarterbacks this week in an attempt to resolve some offensive struggles, to no avail.
Bill Belichick, North Carolina
At some point, the sordid pantomime that is the Bill Belichick era at the North Carolina Tar Heels has to move from this college football hot seat column to an actual parting of ways. Not necessarily because of what happened late into Friday night’s encounter with the California Golden Bears, the fourth loss of the year, but because of everything that has surrounded this hire.
You could almost overlook all the weird off-field nonsense, from Michael Lombardi’s trip to Saudi Arabia to scouting shutouts and the never-ending Jordan Hudson saga, if this looked anything akin to a well-run college football program that promised results just around the corner from a potentially temporary crisis. The players look broken. The program seems broken.
Brian Kelly, LSU
If you believe that a head coach at a program that’s 5-2 heading out of Week 8 shouldn’t even be considered on the college football hot seat, I don’t know what to tell you. Questions have surrounded Brian Kelly’s tenure at the helm of the LSU Tigers dating back before their latest loss, but the result against the Vanderbilt Commodores adds more pressure to his tenure.
The Tigers came into the season with several returning playmakers, headlined by quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, and the expectation of challenging for an SEC and national title. Instead, they’re one of two teams not to score 25 points or more against an FBS opponent and have two conference losses, which clouds their postseason potential.
MORE: 5 Candidates to Replace Brian Kelly if LSU Fires Head Coach After Vanderbilt Loss
They now have just a 5.2% chance of reaching the SEC Championship Game in early December, per PFSN’s College Football Playoff Meter. Meanwhile, LSU has a 26.9% chance of reaching the playoff, down from 47.4% ahead of the week.
Despite Kelly’s extortionate buyout, it feels like there’s a greater chance of the Tigers looking for a new coach than playing meaningful postseason football at the end of the year.
Billy Napier, Florida
We usually wouldn’t include a coach who just won a game in our college football hot seat article. Yet, as rumors continue to swirl around the media landscape, there is a feeling that even the win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs won’t save Billy Napier from a fate that has felt inevitable at various points of his tenure as the Florida Gators head coach. His departure seems inevitable.
Will it be this week, in the wake of a win? Well, it’s not like we’re talking about a convincing or even deserved victory. If it hadn’t been for the defense bailing out an anaemic offense by picking off Blake Shapen with the game about to be decided in favor of the Bulldogs, this conversation would be much different.
If the Gators are to cut bait, they’ll want to do so before the events of last season repeat themselves, and they’re forced to keep a head coach who isn’t pushing the program in the right direction.
