7 college football coaches who have firmly gotten themselves off the hot seat for now

For as much fun as it is to think about how the coaching carousel can impact college football next season and even further down the line, we do need to do a better job of respecting coaches thriving in their redemption act. It is quite easy to get on the hot seat, but it can be challenging to get off it. These college football coaches seem to have been doing just that through the first eight weeks.

Admittedly, just because a head coach is off the hot seat now does not guarantee that he will not get back on it. Wins and losses in conference play are always magnified. Expectations are different at every school, so also keep that in mind. For now, with what I have seen out of the first six or seven games of the season, I would have a hard time moving on from any of these head coaches this year.

Since I am looking forward to being terribly wrong here in a couple of weeks, I just wanted to give a shoutout of sorts to head coaches I may have previously put on the hot seat and feel a bit bad for doing so. I have a job to do, and so to they. That is the nature of the best, both coaching in college football, as well as covering it from a national sense. If I were an athletic director, all seven would stay.

Let's start with an elite recruiter who is starting to get the most out of his talent on the football field.

7. Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire

Losing at home to Baylor was tough, but Dave Aranda is desperate, man. Given that Joey McGuire used to work for Aranda in Waco, I can see how important of game it was for the Bears. Did Texas Tech overlook their Big 12 in-state rival? Potentially, but the Red Raiders are in a good spot to play in an interesting bowl game this holiday season at 5-2. Their only other loss this season was to Wazzu.

While none of their remaining games are easy, there seems to be enough talent in Lubbock right now for McGuire to lead a Red Raiders team to something like an 8-4 record. This team could be as good as 9-2, but probably no worse than 7-5. Should Texas Tech go 6-6 and lose its bowl game, then I think we may need to have a serious discussion about moving on from their current head coach in January.

For now, I think a strong September and early October did a world of good for McGuire's job security.

6. Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier

At 4-3, Florida is markedly better than what you and I probably expected. I had the Gators going 4-8 this season because of their brutal 2024 slate. It gets so much more challenging the rest of the way. However, they are one possession away from being 5-2, as they took the rival Tennessee Volunteers to overtime in Knoxville two weeks ago. They backed that up with a blowout win over rival Kentucky.

Even if the Gators don't beat Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss, I think as long as they beat Florida State in Tallahassee that Napier will get another season. While I don't see how Florida beats Georgia or Texas this year, LSU and Ole Miss can get got. If Napier steals a game there and beats Florida State, the Gators will be going bowling. For Napier to do that, he might honestly even need a raise!

Unless Florida loses its final five games, I cannot see how Scott Stricklin would move on from Napier.

5. South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer

There is a good chance that Shane Beamer ends up coaching the best 5-7 team in the country at the end of the season. South Carolina has a brutal final five game stretch. While the Gamecocks should get to five wins with a home date vs. Wofford, are they going to take one more with Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Clemson left? The Battle of Columbia at home vs. Missouri is your best bet.

Like Florida, I had South Carolina going 4-8 this season because of its impossible schedule. Even in defeat, the Gamecocks looked impressive vs. LSU and Alabama. The same does not apply to the Ole Miss game. What I am getting at is this team has a strong identity of playing great defense and running the football. It would be a shame to pivot off a head coach who his team is playing so hard for.

It might take a raise to keep Beamer in Columbia, as I think he would be a great fit over at Oklahoma...

4. Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield

I may have to eat a lot of crow on this one. With how things ended for Scott Satterfield at Louisville, as well as how optically terrible it looked to leave for regional rival Cincinnati ahead of their bowl game against each other, maybe he was right? This has nothing to do with U of L, as the Cardinals are doing just fine under their new head coach who actually wants to be there in Louisville legend Jeff Brohm.

As for Satterfield, he has Cincinnati at 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Big 12 play. He has his team playing hard, fresh off an impressive win over a feisty Arizona State team. Leaving the ACC for a Big 12 with a power void at the top of it was the right call for Satterfield professionally. He may be a bit of an opportunist, but I have no choice but to take him off the hot seat. His team has impressed me so far.

Cincinnati might be the worst team still technically alive for the playoff that could have a shot at it.

3. Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman

Yessir! Sam Pittman is right on track to get another year at his dream job. What you have to remember is that once he is relieved of his duties as Arkansas' head coach, he is going to be done with coaching, probably going into TV and definitely into BBQ. Regardless, he made a bold decision to hire Fayetteville persona non grata in Bobby Petrino to run his offense. It has helped Arkansas get to 4-3.

If the Hogs beat Mississippi State in the Southwestern Egg Roll Bowl to get to 5-3, you would only need a home win vs. LA Tech during cupcake week to go bowling. While I don't think they are going to beat arch rival Texas, Arkansas plays a physical brand of football that could beat Ole Miss, and definitely beat Missouri in Battle Line. There is a chance that this team could win up to eight games.

Pittman is good for the SEC, for Arkansas and for college football, so let's keep the man employed.

2. Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders

For as much as nobody wants to root for him anymore, Deion Sanders has his Colorado Buffaloes rolling. They are 5-2 on the season with losses to traditional rival Nebraska and Big 12 foe Kansas State. This is a team that went 4-8 last season with only one win in Pac-12 play. The Buffs are one win away from achieving bowl eligibility. This is a program that rarely goes bowling. They are so close.

Taking over a program that won one game the year prior and getting it to four in year one is something I think we collectively swept under the rug regarding Coach Prime. His brash and cocky attitude may rub some people the wrong way. Conversely, it instills a level of confidence in his players and coaching staff to play hard for each other. Colorado is finally back in the league where it belongs.

Sanders not only has job security heading into 2025, he could have options beyond just Boulder now.

1. Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi

Pat Narduzzi is the one head coach I have been the most wrong about. I felt that his combative nature was so incredibly off-putting that it would prevent a quality quarterback from coming aboard at Pitt. Instead, Eli Holstein has been a revelation for the Panthers' offense. The best part about this is he has more years of eligibility to use. He is not going to be a one-year wonder like Kenny Pickett largely was.

At 6-0 and ranked inside the top 25, Pitt is the one undefeated Power Four team nobody outside of Western Pennsylvania believes in. Narduzzi can use this to his advantage to crash the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte. If he were to somehow take this team to the playoff, he is getting a raise or maybe even getting poached by a bigger and more high-profile job. Narduzzi is in his bag!

He went from firing Curt Cignetti's brother to leading an undefeated Power Four team just like Indiana.