College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat: Examining CFB Coaches in Trouble After Week 1

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What college football coaches will be fired in 2026? The first week of the season is in the books and while a single game won’t result in any drastic decisions, it did drive a few more nails into the proverbial coffins of several head coaches.

Let’s dive into the College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat after Week 1. For this exercise, we’re focused on the more high-profile names and marquee programs.

1. Dave Aranda, Baylor Bears

College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat, Baylor Bears, Dave Aranda — Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Dave Aranda somehow managed to stick around as the Baylor Bears head coach in 2026 coming off a 5-7 season, the third time in the last four years that his program had a sub-.500 record. The reason for optimism this fall was the arrival of quarterback DJ Lagway, who put up 333 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in Week 1 against Auburn but also threw an interception, completed only 50 percent of his passes and lost a fumble in a 17-16 loss. With matchups against Colorado, Arizona State, UCF, Iowa State, BYU, Texas Tech and Houston still ahead on the Baylor schedule, it’s unfathomable that Aranda makes it to December.

2. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin Badgers

College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat, Wisconsin Badgers, Luke Fickell — Ohio State Buckeyes Head Coach Luke Fickell leads the team into the stadium before the 1st quarter of their NCAA College football game against the Akron Zips at Ohio Stadium, September 3, 2011.

For a half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, it looked like the Wisconsin Badgers were finally becoming the program everyone expected when head coach Luke Fickell is brought in. Then fans at Lambeau Field saw a Fickell-led team they have been a lot more familiar with, getting outscored 28-3. Fickell’s first season in Wisconsin resulted in the same win total (seven) as the team had before his hiring and it’s been downhill since then, as evidenced by a 9-16 record with an atrocious 5-13 mark in the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers have invested more than $30 million into this roster and coaching staff for the 2026 season and it seems clear they will be getting the same results. It’s not a matter of if Fickell is fired, but when.

3. Mike Norvell, Florida State Seminoles

College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat, Florida State Seminoles, Mike Norvell — Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell watches the replay. The Florida State Seminoles defeated the New Mexico State Aggies 34-17 at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026.

The only reason the Florida State Seminoles haven’t fired head coach Mike Norvell is because of his buyout. Cutting ties with him during the season would cost $50 million and that’s not even accounting for the money to conduct a coaching search and bring in a new staff. With that said, the expectations in Tallahassee are pretty clear. It would take a stunning year-to-year turnaround at Florida State for Norvell to keep his job and based on how the Seminoles look in 2026, they won’t get near the win total he needs. Realistically, the Seminoles will fire Norvell in late November.

4. Greg Schiano, Rutgers Scarlet Knights

College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat — Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

It’s rarely a good idea for a college football team to try to recreate magic from a bygone era. Greg Schiano went 49-28 in his final six seasons with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from 2006 to 2011, winning five bowl games. So, with the program having fallen on hard times, it brought Schiano back in 2020. The peak of the Schiano Era 2.0 was 2023, when the program went 7-3 and won the Pinstripe Bowl, carried by running back Kyle Monangai. Rutgers slid back to a losing record last season (5-7) and is now coming off a humiliating loss in the season opener to UMass, 37-21, in a game where the Scarlet Knights entered as double-digit favorites. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Rutgers allows Schiano to finish out the season, out of respect to his past accomplishments, but it seems unfathomable that he’d be kept around next year.

5. Bill Belichick, North Carolina Tar Heels

College Football Coaches on the Hot Seat, Bill Belichick, North Carolina Tar Heels — Mandatory Credit: Laszlo Geczo-Imagn Images

Well, at least things were good for the North Carolina Tar Heels program for a few days. The team celebrated a 15-10 victory over TCU, a performance that hinted the team would be more competitive this season. However, just a few days later, general manager Michael Lombardi stepped down as general manager amid an investigation into the entire football program regarding allegations of drug use, inappropriate relationships between a player and a staffer and inappropriate relationships between assistant coaches and recruiting staff. It’s another black eye for a storied university whose football program was defined by scandal and TMZ headlines rather than wins in 2025. The most likely outcome is that the Tar Heels and Belichick mutually agree to part ways in December.

6. Dabo Swinney, Clemson Tigers

Dabo Swinney is the Clemson Tigers football team. One of the best college football coaches in the modern era, Swinney has delivered two national titles and nine ACC titles for a school where that level of success seemed unimaginable. Unfortunately for Swinney, college sports has evolved and the 56-year-old head coach has refused to adapt. That’s how you get a team that is coming off a 7-6 season and just looked like it didn’t belong on the same field as the LSU Tigers.

Here’s the problem. Swinney has a $57 million buyout and that’s simply not a cost that Clemson can justify paying. Even if it could, firing the best head coach in team history is rarely the path a school takes with someone who will eventually have a statue outside of Clemson Memorial Stadium. The only option would seemingly be retirement, but his deal doesn’t expire until after the 2031 season.