One the best things about the football season is the speculation that surrounds the poor saps who may get canned at the end of it. While The Crew doesn’t usually get a great amount of joy in some dude losing their job, each one of these guys is a millionaire -- or at least should be if they managed their finances even remotely responsibly – so it’s kinda hard to lose sleep over it.
Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – The Sun Devils may have been the best 6-6 team in the country last season, losing to Wisconsin, Oregon and Stanford, all three of which went to BCS games, by a combined 17 points (they outgained Oregon by over 200 yards but had seven turnovers). But as Bill Parcells said, ‘You are what your record is.’
The expectations are somewhat high this season, with many expecting the Sun Devils to win the Pac-12 South and play in the conference championship game. Erickson, who is a pedestrian 25-24 at ASU, probably won’t have to do quite that much to keep his job, especially considering Arizona’s morbid economy makes a buy out painful. He will, however, need to at least go to a bowl – and it wouldn’t hurt to beat archrival UofA for a second consecutive year.
The good news is that the schedule sets up well. Four of the first games are in Tempe, they avoid Stanford and one of their road games is Washington St, winners of five games in the last three years.
Mark Richt, Georgia – It’s really hard to believe the boyish looking Richt is 51 years old. It’s also really hard to believe that he belongs on this list. Not after a 96-34 overall record, two SEC titles and three BCS bowl appearances. But the realities of football in the SEC, where the fans are crazy and more delusional than hell, dictate that he is indeed coaching for his job this season.
Despite losing wideout AJ Green, who left early to the NFL, the Bulldogs have a chance to do some things on offense. Sophmore QB Aaron Murray threw for over 3000 yards and 24 TDs last season, far better numbers than Matthew Stafford put up in his freshman season.
Things could get sticky for Richt very early, though, as Georgia opens up the season against Boise on a ‘neutral field’ in Atlanta. Lose that game and the pressure will become intense. Whatever the case, Georgia would be nuts to get rid of this guy regardless of what he does this season. The problem for Richt is that they are closer to nuts than not. The good news is that it’d take him about four minutes to find a job somewhere else.
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – If you type ‘Rick Neuheisel’ into Google, ‘hot seat’ is the first auto-fill option. That’s not made up. Try it. The Crew has never really had problem with Neuheisel despite his somewhat unsavory reputation. He does, however, kinda seem like the guy who tells people he’s a four handicap, but thinks everything inside of seven feet is a gimme, meaning he’s more like a 12.
I imagine UCLA fans – or administration – could care less what kind of dude Neuheisel is if he’d actually win some games. He’s 15-22 with the Bruins, including a 4-8 last season, when he made a puzzling move, jettisoning the offense with which Norm Chow won three national titles and replacing it with the something called the pistol. It’s a dumb offense, almost a gimmick designed for teams such as Nevada who are located in Reno and have a hard time getting elite athletes, not one in the heart of one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country and with a campus crawling with more hot girls than Showtime latenight.
Neuheisel’s contract calls for him to make $1.25M/season and runs through 2012. Still, without a bowl, he’s most likely done in LA.
Gene Chizik, Auburn – Yes, dude won the national title last year, we know. But SEC fans, like we said, are nuts and he’s 13-24 with teams not quarterbacked by Cam Newton, who’s now with the Carolina Panthers. He won't get fired after this season, no matter what. But with Auburn's schedule -- road games against Arkansas, Clemson, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina -- and the defections they suffered, we'd be willing to make a wager that he's under or, at best, right at .500 by the end of the year. A couple seasons like that, national championship last season or not, and he'll be done. Again, he probably doesn't belong on this list. The Playhouse, however, would be surprised if he's still the Auburn head coach by 2014.
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