Six weeks into the 2025 college football season, and we’ve already seen four coaches succumb to a results-oriented business. In fact, there has been at least one head coaching departure in each of the last three weeks. Will there be another following the Week 6 action? The college football hot seat could cremate the hopes of one of the following five head coaches.
James Franklin, Penn State
It almost seems insane to consider that a coach with a 104-44 overall record at his current program, an overall winning record in bowl games, 12 winning campaigns, and six double-digit win seasons under their belt might be considered to be on the college football hot seat, but that’s exactly how James Franklin should be viewed coming off the Week 6 loss to the UCLA Bruins.
Franklin’s struggles in big games are well-documented. He’s 15-30 vs. Top 25 teams, a fairly damning statistic in isolation. But it gets worse. He’s 5-21 against Top 10 teams, and has just one win in 17 attempts against Top 5 teams. For a team that consistently churns out top-tier talent to the NFL, his inability to push Penn State over the edge into a national contender has been a stain on a stellar resume.
Yet, he’s endured because he has consistently won the games that the Nittany Lions should win… until Week 6. The UCLA Bruins were the only team in the country not to hold a lead this season entering their matchup with Penn State in Pasadena. They’d fired their own head coach and replaced their offensive coordinator. They were 0-4 and looked like it.
A season hyped by the retention of mega stars and the capture of transfer portal wide receivers has come crashing down and dissipated into the Los Angeles night air. It is essentially a lost season now, behind a head coach forever associated with the unthinkable: a top-10 team losing to a 0-4 outfit. Penn State demands more, and Franklin simply cannot deliver.
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Two weeks since boos and calls for his firing rang around Camp Randall, Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell remains on the college football hot seat. He received the dreaded “vote of confidence” from Athletic Director Chris McIntosh in the wake of that loss to the Maryland Terrapins, but there’s only so long that support can continue as the program slips into Big Ten obscurity.
Ordinarily, a loss on the road to the Michigan Wolverines wouldn’t be a result deserving of scrutiny. However, their opponent on Saturday afternoon isn’t a classic outfit from Ann Arbor, in much the same way this Badgers team isn’t the same as the mid-late 2010s vintage. Fickell was meant to bring excitement and relevance to Wisconsin, but right now, they have neither.
Trent Dilfer, UAB
After a bye week, the UAB Blazers returned to action, rested and ready to roll. Yet, as has been the case consistently under Trent Dilfer, a once-proud program was found wanting on the college football field. The reigning American Conference champion Army Black Knights have been a shadow of themselves this year, but they were still far too potent for a dismal Blazers’ showing.
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It’s another week with a loss, another week without a win over an FBS program. Dilfer remains on the college football hot seat as his overall record moves to 9-20. The program’s 2-3 record certainly isn’t the worst in the country. However, their outlook is arguably the most bleak of any team in college football, with a lack of wins, discipline, and direction under their current coach.
Bill O’Brien, Boston College
While most people will focus on a different former NFL head coach struggling in the ACC, it’s time to start questioning the Bill O’Brien regime at Boston College. There were bright spots in Year 1, but the Eagles ultimately ended the 2024 campaign with the same record as the final season of the Jeff Hafley era. In Year 2, results — and performances — have become more difficult to come by.
After beating Fordham to open the year, Boston College has fallen to four consecutive defeats. Two of those were by tight margins, but in Week 6, the Eagles were absolutely curb-stomped by a Pittsburgh Panthers team led by a true freshman in his first start. Quarterback Dylan Lonergan was benched, while former starter Tommy Castellanos leads one of the top-scoring units in the ACC. The defense is as bad as any under Hafley.
Trent Bray, Oregon State
We let Trent Bray have the week off from the college football hot seat seven days ago, partly due to a close-fought loss to a Houston Cougars team that was undefeated at the time of their matchup, but also due to the sheer number of deserving candidates. However, the Oregon State Beavers head coach is back in the spotlight as the program is one of just three winless teams after a loss to the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
Oregon State is now 0-6 for the first time since 1991. Heading into the game, the offense ranked 123rd in the country for points per game. For a head coach whose entire football experience is predicated on defensive success, the fact that the Beavers ranked 129th for points allowed is the damning statistic. In the wake of the Week 6 defeat, Bray accepted responsibility for a mistake-laden outing.
It might have been his last act as head coach.
