2026 mid-season College Football hot seat rankings: Could Lincoln Riley be next to go?

2026 mid-season College Football hot seat rankings: Could Lincoln Riley be next to go? appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The college football coaching carousel got off to a slower start than it did in 2025, but it is starting to pick up. The first coach to be fired was Mike Locksley of Maryland. Dave Doeren at NC State and Dave Aranda from Baylor were the next two to go. Then, after a mid-week loss, Phil Longo was let go by Sam Houston.

Aranda was on the hot seat early in the season. Some coaches from the early college football hot seat rankings have been fired, such as Aranda. Meanwhile, others remain on the list, and some have coached their way off the list, such as Jamey Chadwell of Liberty. As the season heads into the November stretch run, there are coaches who could be finding themselves in the unemployment line by the end of the year. With most teams having between four and five games left in their season, these are the coaches who need to finish strong if they are going to keep their jobs.

1. Mike Norvell (Florida State)

Mike Norvell entered the season on the hot seat, and it has not cooled off much. Norvell has been the head coach of Florida State since the 2020 season. Norvell’s first college head coaching job was at Memphis. He took over a program that had been built up by Justin Fuente. In four seasons, Norvell brought Memphis to the American Conference championship three times in four years, winning it once, and earning Memphis a berth in the Cotton Bowl in 2019. He then took over Florida State from Willie Taggart. It was a slow build from the Taggart era, going 3-6 in his first year, before a 5-7 season in 2021. Then, in 2022, they finished tenth in the AP Poll after a 10-3 campaign.

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The next year, Florida State was 13-0, but with star quarterback Jordan Travis injured, they were left out of the playoffs and then lost the Orange Bowl. The next year was a complete disaster, as the Seminoles went 2-10. Since losing the Orange Bowl, Norvell is just 10-22. This year, FSU is just 3-4, and with some difficult games ahead, more losses could be coming. There is one thing that could save Norvell, though. Florida State is in financial trouble, and Norvell has a massive buyout if he is fired. Regardless, a third straight season without even a bowl game will likely seal his fate.

2. Lincoln Riley (USC)

Multiple schools have not met expectations. Texas A&M and Oregon came into the season with national title hopes, but will not be making the playoffs. USC had playoff expectations coming into the year. Unlike Mike Elko at Texas A&M and Dan Lanning at Oregon, Riley has consistently missed expectations at USC. Riley came in with high expectations. In his first three seasons at Oklahoma, Riley led the Sooners to the playoffs. In his fourth season, 2020, he led Oklahoma to a Big 12 title, but they just missed out on the playoffs. The Sooners went 10-2 in 2021 before he left for USC.

Riley started strong at USC, leading the Trojans to an 11-3 record with a loss in the Cotton Bowl. Since then, while Riley has led the Trojans to winning records, they have yet to make the playoffs. USC has dropped two games already this year, losing to Oregon at home, and then dropping a game to Wisconsin on the road this past week. Meanwhile, the schedule only gets harder from here. This week, USC will host Ohio State. They finish the season with a road trip to Indiana, a home date with Maryland, and then a road trip to UCLA. If USC drops to 8-4 or 7-5, they will not make the playoffs again, and USC could be looking for a change at head coach.

3. Bryant Vincent (UL Monroe)

Bryant Vincent is in his third year at Louisiana-Monroe. UL Monroe is not the easiest place to win. They last went to a bowl game in 2012, when they finished 8-5. Since then, they have had just two seasons in which they could have been bowl-eligible, going 6-6. Matt Viator went 19-29 in his first four seasons from 2016 through 2019. UL Monroe then went winless, going 0-10 in 2020. Then, Terry Bowden took over, going 10-26 in three seasons before Vincent took over.

Vincent had a successful stint as the interim coach of UAB in 2022, going 7-6 with a Bahamas Bowl win, but the full-time job was given to Trent Dilfer. After a year as the New Mexico offensive coordinator, he got the job at UL Monroe. The season started strong. UL Monroe was 5-1, with the only loss being to number one Texas on the road. They proceeded to drop their final six games of the year. They would then start the next season 3-1, before dropping the final eight games. Expectations were that Vincent would turn things around in 2026. This year, ULM opened up 0-6, extending their losing streak to 14 straight before beating Troy this past week. Still, without a strong end to the season, Vincent will be gone.

4. Greg Schiano (Rutgers)

Greg Schiano has not done much to cool off in his seat. Schiano is in his second stint with Rutgers, and his first stint was phenomenal. He took Rutgers from a 2-9 record in 2001 to bowl games in five of his last six seasons. Further, Rutgers went 11-2 in 2006 and won the Texas Bowl, finishing ranked 12th in the AP Poll. In 11 seasons, he won eight or more games five times. In his six seasons so far in this stint, he has yet to win eight games in a season, with just two winning seasons. Rutgers opened the season with a loss to UMass, and is just 2-5 this year. The only FBS win of the season is over Maryland, who promptly fired their head coach. If Rutgers does not finish the season strong, Schiano will be in trouble.

Much like Norvell at Florida State, money could be a reason to keep Schiano at Rutgers. It has been reported that Schiano could be on the hot seat, but his $17 million buyout has been seen as “more burdensome” for the program than moving on from the coach.

5. Sonny Dykes (TCU)

Sonny Dykes was one of the hottest names in coaching for some years. He built SMU into a contender in the American, finishing with three straight winning seasons. Dykes then got the job at TCU ahead of the 2022 season. TCU went 12-0 in the regular season that year, before losing to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship in overtime. Still, they were given a spot in the college football playoff and upset second-ranked Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. After their win in the CFP semifinal, they got blown out by Georgia in the national championship.

TCU would then go 5-7 the next year and miss a bowl game. In 2024 and 2025, the team went 9-4 both seasons, with wins in bowl games to end the year. Still, the team has not been trending in the right direction this year. TCU is just 3-4 for the year and has only one power conference win. The Horned Frogs have losses to UNC, UCF, BYU, and West Virginia, while the only conference win was on the road against Baylor, who has since fired their coach. With games against Arizona, Utah, and Texas Tech on the horizon, things could go south quickly. Still, the AD who hired Dykes at TCU is back in the role, which could help save his job.

6. Bill Belichick (North Carolina)

Bill Belichick was 4-8 in 2025, his first year as the North Carolina head coach. The 2025 performance, combined with off-field issues around GM Michael Lombardi and Steve Belichick, led to the elder Belichick being firmly on the hot seat. Belichick started to cool off the seat at the start of the year. They opened up 2-0 with a win over TCU. UNC then lost a close game to Clemson and fell by 11 to Notre Dame. They would then upset Pitt and beat Duke on the road. With North Carolina at 4-2, things were looking up for North Carolina.

North Carolina then welcomed Syracuse to town and came in as a 9.5-point favorite. The defense, which had been the calling card of the Belichick era, struggled against a bad Syracuse offense. They gave up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but after a missed extra point by Syracuse, the game went to overtime. North Carolina scored first, but Syracuse answered and then converted a two-point conversion to win. The loss to a bad Syracuse team put Belichick right back on the hot seat.

7. Scotty Walden (UTEP)

Scotty Walden came into UTEP with high expectations. He won back-to-back conference titles at Austin Peay in 2022 and 2023, and even led them to the playoffs his last year there. He then took over a struggling UTEP program. The program went 7-5 before a loss in a bowl game in 2021. They declined to five wins and then three wins in 2023, leading to Dana Dimel being fired and Walden taking over. UTEP has not improved, though. They went 3-9 in his first season, before going 2-10 in 2025. This year, things are going even worse. They are 1-6, with the only win being over FCS Texas Southern. If UTEP finishes the season with just one win, Walden will be gone.

Coaches to keep an eye on: Luke Fickell (Wisconsin), Dan Lanning (Oregon), Tim Albin (Charlotte), Fran Brown (Syracuse)

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