Coaches on the hot seat in 2021
How many wins will it take for some of the biggest names in college football to keep their jobs? Dan Wetzel, Pete Thamel and SI's Pat Forde have the answer on the latest College Football Enquirer. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: How many wins and losses? Let's play this game. How many wins does x coach need to be the coach at this job a year from now? That's going to be-- that's going to be the game we're going to play, OK? And we'll go-- go with you guys. Pete, I can start with you. OK? Nebraska coach, Scott Frost.
PETE THAMEL: My guess is he would need seven wins, Dan. Frost is fascinating. You have a coach with a completely unnecessary contract extension who now to fire him, would cost $20 million. But, I mean, you have to extend Scott Frost. I mean, he's been nine and 17 in the Big Ten. Overall, he's a robust 12 and 20. The schedule is not user friendly for Scott Frost. They open at Illinois in week 0, and then their-- their second league game is at Michigan State. Three of their first five games are road games. Oklahoma being a surefire loss, and then you've got Ohio State at home, you're at Wisconsin, you're at Minnesota, you're Michigan at home, you're home Iowa. Like I don't-- I don't--
DAN WETZEL: To me, it's the end. I mean, they got-- Yeah. If they don't beat Illinois and Michigan State, he's in a world of trouble.
PETE THAMEL: Correct.
PAT FORDE: I think Pete said seven. I think seven's probably about right. I mean, I look at it this way. I think they're going to be five and four. Going to the last three games Ohio State and Wisconsin, Iowa, I think you're lucky to get bowl eligible. And then it's going to be real interesting to see what happens.
DAN WETZEL: All right. Let's move on to number 2. Staying in the Big Ten, James Harbaugh. How many wins does Jim Harbaugh need to keep his? job? He certainly could have lost that last year. I think he better win eight or I don't think he's the coach.
PETE THAMEL: I'll say this. I think he has to win one game. He has to beat Ohio State I just think that this is the season where all of those mediocre three star Connecticut recruiting classes that Matt Dudek put together there and Jim Harbaugh was asleep at the wheel on. That's your roster. Those are your, you know, those are your guys playing 25, 30 snaps a game. Those are guys running down on special teams. Michigan just isn't that talented. And that will show up all year, but it will especially show up on November 27th at noon in Ann Arbor, which will be Jim Harbaugh's last stand.
PAT FORDE: Harbaugh's going to be very much up against it-- Wisconsin has absolutely plunked them two years in a row. I think they beat them again this year. They lost Indiana last year, they can certainly lose to them this year. At Penn State, that's an L. Ohio State, certainly that's an L. And as Pete said, that could very well be the end right there.
DAN WETZEL: I think the key game, not that those other ones aren't, but Michigan State. They cannot lose to Michigan State again. I don't even think Michigan fans care about beat-- They want to beat Ohio State, but I don't think that's a standard anymore. But you cannot lose to the Spartans. Michigan has to at least be that team that they've always been which is like, their floor is nine and three. If we're accepting below nine and three for Michigan, he's not the guy. And so I think eight is the bare minimum that he can somehow argue, but I don't even know if that'll get it-- get it for him.
All right. Go West. Clay Helton, USC. He is on the hot seat every year. Survives and survives, gets good recruits, makes it. What do we got? Pat, you want to start?
PAT FORDE: Yep. I like their chances. I think, you know, I think that we have seen Clay Helton ultimate survivor. I think he can survive this too. I-- I think it's the schedule, they could start out like, 6 and 0. I think they're the-- they have the chance to be the best team in the Pac-12 South. They also do not play Oregon or Washington in the regular season, which are the best teams in the North. So the schedule gives them a shot. I think that USC has a chance to be a top 10, top 15 team and that keeps Clay Helton around.
PETE THAMEL: Clay Helton wears asbestos pants, man. The guy's been on the hot seat more times and he's only still the coach because the combination of the corrupt administration at USC and the incompetent administration at USC extended him to the point where even USC couldn't afford to fire him. And then they had to run out those ADs. They brought in a new crew, Mike Bohn and those guys, they've done a good job supporting Clay Helton in terms of reviving the quote unquote, "front office" right? Recruiting all those things. USC is actually at a level to compete nationally. The only thing holding back USC from competing nationally is Clay Helton. And so I really think this is-- like, they could win eight or they could win nine and still fire Clay Helton. I just have general skepticism. They will week in and week out live up to that with Clay Helton as the coach.