It might only be Week 2 of the college football season, but some troubling trajectories are forming for certain programs. Don’t let the fact that it’s only early September fool you; there are some head coaches on the college football hot seat already, and those seats are only getting warmer by the week. Who is feeling the heat heading out of the second full slate of 2025 action?
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy spent the week leading up to the program’s Week 2 trip to Eugene throwing jabs at the Oregon Ducks’ ability to buy success with an enlarged budget. Perhaps his time would have been better spent figuring out how to maximize the talent on his roster and motivate them to compete, like a good head coach might do.
Gundy has always been a character, but for the past two seasons, he’s become a caricature of a head coach. He’s dined out on being synonymous with success, which likely afforded him an element of comfort even as he led the Cowboys to their worst overall record since 1991 a year ago. Yet, the program hasn’t learned, developed, or grown since that disappointment.
The result is a 69-3 loss to the Ducks, the third-worst in school history. The program hasn’t been embarrassed on the national stage in such a manner for over 100 years. Yes, this was a historic beatdown for the Oklahoma State football program, and one that’s difficult to glaze over or excuse, even for the most ardent Gundy sympathizer.
Part of being a good leader is owning your inefficiencies, holding your hands up to failings, and learning from them. Gundy would rather throw shade at other programs than hold himself up to the light in self-examination. Until he can do that, Oklahoma State can’t expect to see a change of direction from their current trajectory. Perhaps a change of head coach could be the answer.
Billy Napier, Florida
If a team is a reflection of its head coach, Billy Napier might be in more trouble than even his position on this college football hot seat suggests. On Saturday night, the Florida Gators were undisciplined, unruly, and unlike a team with any right to call themselves one of the best in the nation. From multiple penalties to a spitting incident to poor play calling, the loss was a disaster.
We could talk about the historical precedent set for the USF Bulls, or the negative spot in history that Week 2 of the 2025 college football season will forever hold in the heart of Florida football, but Napier’s return to the college football hot seat brings one issue to the fore: It’s the hope that ultimately kills you. Allow me to explain.
We’ve been here before. If you’re a Florida fan, you’ve been here before. How much of the 2024 season was spent expecting Napier to be fired at any moment? With a quarter of that campaign remaining, a 4-5 record, and two ranked opponents remaining, most people expected the Gators to cut bait. Yet, they rallied. They beat LSU and Ole Miss. They gave hope.
That hope led to national expectations in 2025. Yet, once more, that expectation has produced nothing but disappointment, frustration, and a clamor for a replacement. Oh, and the relentless social media researching of how much it will actually cost to buy the most reviled man in Gainesville out of his contract.
Welcome back to the college football hot seat, Coach Napier.
Deshaun Foster, UCLA
A difficult first season at the helm for Deshaun Foster turned into a tumultuous offseason, which has developed into a 2025 college football campaign that, right now, holds very little hope for UCLA Bruins fans. Just over a year into his tenure, Foster finds himself well and truly on the college football hot seat, with apparently very few answers on how he might turn down the temperature.
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The excitement at landing Nico Iamaleava has dissipated with disappointment, enraging a fan base who are watching from afar as presumptive QB1 Joey Aguilar leads the Tennessee Volunteers’ high-powered offense. From his conduct with the local media to his inability to establish an identity on the field, Foster appears to be backing himself into a corner from which there is no escape. He’s now 5-9 as UCLA head coach.
Trent Dilfer, UAB
In its short spell as an FBS program, UAB has set a certain standard, and under Dilfer, it’s simply failing to live up to that. A once proud team has been gutted and reduced to somewhat of a laughing stock. Rumors of the head coach being on the college football hot seat have been swirling since early November, and there’s been little to suggest a turnaround in fortunes.
That’s what we wrote about Trent Dilfer’s college football hot seat candidacy a week ago, and that was in the wake of a win! One week later, the Blazers are back in the losing column, this time to a Navy Midshipmen team that UAB hasn’t figured out how to tame. Dilfer’s overall head coaching record in Birmingham slips to 8-18, with just five FBS wins to his name.
