Checking the Coaches Hot Seat after one game - Kentucky's Stoops sits at #18

The coaches hot seat website is a little on the goofy side, but there's a lot of information to be had. Just to set things straight, here's the top twenty (the comments are mine):

1. Will Muschamp - a lot of people are saying that he better win eight games this year. He's already lost one opportunity due to rain and lightning. He did hire Kurt Roper away from Duke, but will he interfere with Roper's offense. His record at Florida is already worse than Ron Zook's. In his four years, Muschamp has gone 22-16 and was 4-8 last year.

2. Dana Holgerson - West Virginia lost to Alabama. Most teams do, so I'm not sure what anyone expected. The Mountaineers found out last year that the Big 12 is a different brand of football compared to the Big East. They didn't do well. Like Muschamp, Holgerson is entering his fourth season and has a 21-18 record, and, like Florida, West Virginia had a  4-8 season and now a 0-1 entering the second week.

3. Ron Turner - Again, I don't know what everyone expects. It's Florida International, not Florida State. FIU went 1-11 last year and lost its first game this year.  His 11 year career record is 43-73. FIU pays the guy only $600,000. What did they expect?

4. Charlie Weis - Like Kentucky, the people in Kansas prefer basketball over football and there's no evidence that the The University of Kansas fans feel any different. I think as long as there are fannies in the seats, Charlie's probably safe even if he's a lousy head coach. He may have been a good OC, but in the eight years he's been a head coach, he's amassed a 39-47 record, 4-20 in his three years at Kansas.

5. Bret Bielema - Someone had to clean up the sleaze left behind by what's his name at Louisville. Hog fans need to realize that it will take a little time. Sure, they lost to Auburn at Auburn. Bielema's idea of bringing Big 10 football to the SEC will probably fall by the wayside. He's got a stable of running backs and he'll use them this year. His job should be safe for another year. Bielema had success before arriving at Hog country, but last year Arkansas went 3-9 and he lost his first game of the season. Arkansas needs to show some patience, his nine year career record stands at 71-34.

6. Mike London - The Cavaliers are not going to be an ACC powerhouse anytime soon. Maybe his hot seat is legit. In his seven years as a head coach his record stands at 42-37. He's been at Virginia for 5 years and he's gone 18-32, including last week's loss. His team had a 2-10 record last year.

7. Norm Chow - What does he care? He's 68 years old and lives in Hawaii. If he gets fired, he'll wind up back at USC as the OC, if he doesn't retire. Hawaii is his first head coaching job and in three years his record is an unimpressive 4-21. Last year, Hawaii had a 1-11 record and they stand at 0-1 after the first week.

8. Skip Holtz - Louisiana Tech is supposed to compete with the big boys? He's on the list because he's Granny Holtz's son. Holtz has a 15 year career record of 92-80. As he enters his second year at Tech, he has a 4-9 record, including 0-1 to start this season.

9. Todd Monken - So who thinks Southern Miss should compete with Ole Miss and Mississippi State? The Bulldogs just handed Southern Miss their hats and showed them the door, as it should be. After going 1-11 last year, he's started off his second year with that loss to the Bulldogs.

10. Paul Rhoads - North Dakota State, an FCS school, just beat the crap out of Iowa State, so Rhoads probably does need to be shown the door. He went 27-36 the last five years and has that embarrassing loss last week to add to the loss column. It looks like things are getting worse instead of better at Iowa State.

11. Darrell Hazell - Have you seen Purdue play? Enough said. Hazell owns a 18-20 record entering this season and now has a 18-21 record as he enters his second season at Purdue. The Boiler Makers went  1-11 last year in his first season.

12. Sonny Dykes - If it means anything, his and Tony Franklin's California team went near the Windy City and beat Northwestern. I think he's safe for another year. He went 1-11 last year in his first season at Cal, but this year the Golden Bears stand at 1-0. Building a program is not an overnight thing in football.

13. Tim Beckman - Illinois plays in the Big 10, so who wants to play there and get hammered every year by the Buckeyes, Wolverines and Spartans? Beckham enters his sixth year as a head coach and his third at Illinois. Coming off a 4-8 season, Beckham won his first game this year bring his overall record to 7-18 at Champagne.

14. Nick Saban - The ONLY reason Saban is on the list at all is because he hired Lane Kiffin. That may not last long. They hardly spoke at all during last week's game. Saban's job is safe, even after going through a horrible 11-2 season last year. The guy has an 84.2% win-loss percentage and his recruiting matches that of Calipari in terms of # 1 classes.

15. Paul Petrino - The potato boys expect any better? Who lives in Idaho other than Preppers,buffaloes and potatoes? If he leaves, he can always go to work for his brother. Petrino and the potato heads were supposed to play the Gators in The Swamp. They won't be playing at all this year. Petrino had a record of 1-11 in his first year.

16. Paul Johnson - Does Georgia Tech still run the Wishbone? I guess so and it has been fairly successful for Johnson. Johnson has won 68.6% of his games as he enters his 18^th year as a head coach. His team went 7-6 last year and he's 1-0 this year. He just can't beat Georgia.

17. Bo Pelini - Again...A Big 10 team who looks more and more like a Big 10 team. The days of playing Big 12 football are gone. He was a great DC, but his days may be numbered as a HC. If you'll recall, Pelini built some pretty awesome defenses at LSU which is why he was hired at Nebraska. I'm not sure why he's on this list unless expectations placed on him are too high. He's won 79.1% of his games. He's 1-0 this year and was 9-4 last year. Nebraska is a geographic no-man's land, but Pelini manages to recruit well.  Kentucky owes him a debt of gratitude for not playing Braylon Heard.

18. Mark Stoops - CHS added him because they're not sure anyone can get it done at Kentucky. They, of course, are entitled to their opinion. They'll probably have Stoops on the list until he has a winning season and maybe until he has maybe three winning seasons. Here's what CHS says about last Saturday's game:

"Mark Stoops and Kentucky beat UT Martin in Week 1 in impressive fashion which is like saying Kentucky beat the Coaches Hot Seat flag-football team in impressive fashion which means beating UT Martin by any score at all means....

NOTHING!

Up next for Mark Stoops and Kentucky is a MUST WIN game against Ohio at home before a trip to play in the Florida Gators in Gainesville in Week 3.

You want to get off the Hot Seat Mark Stoops?

BEAT Ohio!"

19. Doug Martin - He coaches somewhere called New Mexico State. No one knows where that is. Maybe he'll find the Lost Dutchman's Mine and retire. They beat Cal Poly on Saturday. Like Kentucky, NMS had a 2-10 season in Martin's first year.

20. Kevin Wilson - Wilson's Hoosiers actually had a decent offense last year. At least the football program doesn't have the basketball coach as the head football coach. Wilson entered his fourth season with a victory last Saturday, bringing his record at Indiana to 11-26. Last year's team had a 5-7 record. The few times I've been to Bloomington for a football game, there were almost as many UK fans in the stands as IU fans.

Actually, that was last year's last ranking for the season. After the first week of football, the rankings remain the same. Here's their reasoning.

I have a couple of candidates for them and # 1 is Al Golden at Miami. Here's why: Golden became head coach at Miami and his recruiting has been excellent in terms of quality players. There is a problem that hasn't been noted until recently. The Miami staff has done a poor job of vetting their recruits. 18 of his first three classes either quit, transferred or were booted for criminal activity. Here's an excellent article from the Miami Herald about Miami's failure to meet expectations and the reasons why. Golden may be ranked a little higher than Mark Stoops, but it is clear that Stoops does a much better job of vetting his recruits both for character and academics.

Another candidate has to be Vanderbilt's new head coach, Derek Mason. They looked just plain gawd-awful in their 37-7 loss to Temple, there was a hopelessness felt throughout the Nashville area as fans streamed out of the stadium during the game. Seven turnovers didn't help, but again, that's coaching and the coaching and play-calling was atrocious. Everyone loses a quarterback to graduation or injury and the replacements  have to be ready to play. When they aren't, as Kentucky fans well know from the last three years, the stuff hits the fan. It hit the fan in Nashville. Welcome back to Vandy to being Vandy and I nominate Mason to the top ten on the coaches hot seat. This is just another example of hiring a Coordinator who hasn't been prepared to be a head coach.