What 3 ACC football head coaches are tempting fate? In a normal cycle the speculation about who’s on the hot seat would at least wait until a season has begun. The men whose names reside herein have been sitting on an open pit grill since last year. There may not be enough salve in the world to heal what the iron over a red hot bed of charcoal has left it’s mark on.
Two of the three it can be argued have certainly not lived up to expectations and have been given significant latitude to turn things around. The third may not have been given enough time at this juncture. That could all change this fall.
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Hot Seat
Dino Babers – Syracuse
With just one winning season in six Babers leads the group of ACC head coaches who are on the hot seat. Syracuse has been sitting at or near the bottom of the conference for most of his tenure. This isn’t the type of performance that endears a coach to the fan base.
The Orange delivered 10 wins in 2018 and before that some 8 and 10 game wins in the Big East. Certainly, a more consistent decade for the team was the 90’s but a lack of consistency through the years hasn’t earned a contemporary label as that of a football school. As an Independent, Cuse has gone to the Gator, Sugar, Orange and in 1959 under head coach Ben Schwartzwalder behind the running of Ernie Davis, the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner (1961), the Orange won 11 games and won the Cotton Bowl.
With an ever-growing emphasis on football in the ACC Syracuse will need to make a dramatic shift toward rebuilding the program if it wants to abandon the cellar dweller label. Is Babers the answer? Can he survive the hot seat? We’ll find out whether Athletic Director John Wildhack is up to the job or was better suited to be an executive at ESPN.
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Geoff Collins – Georgia Tech
It’s not as if the Yellow Jackets haven’t had their share of success in ACC football. For that matter, as an Independent, in the SEC and Southern conferences as well. Georgia Tech has played in myriad bowl games and came away with wins in the Orange, Gator, Sugar and Rose over the years. There was plenty of success under Paul Johnson but the inconsistency drove fans to distraction. And after awhile, the triple option lost it’s luster.
Simply said and put, Geoff Collins has not delivered. As the head coach he’s got a .265 average when it comes to wins and losses. That places him squarely on the hot seat. Realistically, no one expected the shift from Johnson to Collins in the first year to be painless. There were some glimpses of hope and always, ‘there’s next year’. Next year came and went and along with it more head scratching losses. Collins is in his make it or break it year after a flat third season.
Collins has plenty of connections on the recruiting trail. He’s got some bon fides as a college football coach. So, what’s gone wrong? An observer on the outside has to look at the program and feel as if the wheels are turning but someone snuck grease under the tires preventing forward progress.
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Mike Norvell – Florida State
Patience isn’t a trait that is frequently found among fanbases. The same can be said for the folks who write checks in support of programs. That’s especially true when your football team goes from a well-known contender to floundering and mired in mud in short order. It can be argued that the two previous coaching regimes produced a FUBAR situation for the Seminoles. Turning broken crystal into a chandelier is time consuming. The question is, does Norvell have it and will he be afforded it?
Moving from 3-6 to 5-7 under the circumstances shows progress. A loss to Jacksonville State, well that’s an entirely different story. Norvell’s offensive credentials will be put to the test this season. He’s either got it or he doesn’t. Adding to the struggle is the sketchy success in recruiting.
Will Norvell be given more than one extra season to find the groove that Noles’ fans so desperately seek? Chances are that if he can keep Florida State above .500 and get into a bowl it will be enough to add one more year. Out of the three coaches on the hot seat, Norvell is more of a medium than a high but that can turn quickly if disappointment returns to Tallahassee. Nonetheless, count him on the ACC hot seat.
