Five hottest CFB seats: Why two power conference coaches might soon join Mack Brown

Mack Brown became the highest-profile head coach to be fired this season when North Carolina announced on Tuesday that the 2005 national champion at Texas won’t return for the 2025 season.

More coaches will likely follow Brown in the coming weeks as the regular season ends.

Here are five with the hottest seats entering Week 14.

UAB head coach Trent Dilfer

The Blazers have taken a massive step back under the former Ravens quarterback.

UAB is 3-8 this year and 7-16 since Dilfer was hired in November 2022 after going 50-26 from 2017-22 with no losing seasons.

Having previously coached at the Tennessee high-school juggernaut Lipscomb Academy, Dilfer hasn’t been able to translate his success there to the next level.

Earlier this season, Dilfer stirred controversy when, during a sparsely attended news conference, he allowed his grandson on stage with him, saying, “It’s not like this is freaking Alabama.”

Yeah, no kidding. But Dilfer hasn’t failed because UAB is worlds apart from Alabama. He’s failed because the Blazers barely resemble a college team. It’s time for Dilfer to head back to grade school.

Purdue head coach Ryan Walters 

Walters has turned Purdue into the country’s worst power conference team in only two seasons.

Purdue went 17-10 in its last two seasons under former head coach Jeff Brohm, who took over at Louisville in 2023 following former head coach Scott Satterfield’s move to Cincinnati, which only had an opening because Purdue Big Ten foe Wisconsin hired Luke Fickell as its head coach.

Walters has gone 5-18 in two seasons.

The Boilermakers (1-10, 0-8 Big Ten) have underperformed low expectations entering 2024. 

Per ESPN, Purdue’s over/under win total before the season was set at 4.5 games, and it ranked last in odds to win the Big Ten (+30000).

Purdue ranks 129th (out of 134 FBS programs) in scoring offense (17.2 points per game) and 130th in scoring defense (37.5 points per game allowed). Its only win came in August against FCS Indiana State.

Per 247 Sports, the Boilermakers rank last in the Big Ten in 2025 high-school recruiting rankings with a conference-low 12 commits, a sign that Walters likely won’t right the ship anytime soon.

Kent State head coach Kenni Burns

Since Burns took over as head coach, the Golden Flashes have been the worst team in the country, going 1-22 since the start of the 2023 season.

Burns inherited a program that had gone 22-21 in four seasons under former head coach Sean Lewis (2019-22), which was nothing short of a miracle for a program that had two winning seasons from 1988-2018 and four bowl appearances since 1962.

Burns has pushed Kent State into familiar territory after it appeared to have moved past its woeful history. Burns broke the program; he has no business being the one to try to fix it. 

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown

The Mountaineers might be over Brown’s idea of a good time. In May, he took a pay deduction and lowered his buyout to remain with the program

Earlier this season, Brown downplayed concerns from disgruntled fans following a home loss to Iowa State, suggesting the atmosphere at Milan Puskar Stadium was good enough to keep fans satisfied.

“I get that they want to win … But what I would say is, did they have a good time,” said Brown.

“I’m assuming they probably had a good time tailgating,” he added.

The Mountaineers have hit their ceiling under Brown, who has lost at least four games each year in his six seasons in Morgantown.

Imagine how much more fun fans would have if their team were any good.

Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie

The Bulldogs are 10-25 since Cumbie was hired as head coach in November 2021, including 4-7 this season.

The former TCU and Texas Tech offensive coordinator has overseen a Louisiana Tech offense that has regressed under his watch.

In 2022, Louisiana Tech ranked 61st in scoring offense (29 points per game), followed by a 78th-place finish (25.9 points per game) in 2023.

This season, Tech ranks 114th (21.2 points per game), squandering an improved defense that ranks 44th in points allowed per game (22.4).