A few college football coaches have shot into the rankings this week meaning a few also fell out. With the shake up, even Dabo Swinney is a bit safer than last week.
While the top coach has not changed, he is the only one who is still in the same position as last time.
5. Dabo Swinney, Clemson Tigers
While still making the list, Swinney has moved down to the final selection. Just narrowly beating out Bill Belichick for the honor.
Swinney and the Tigers were able to win their game at Cal with just one offensive touchdown. But — against a Bears team which is being led by first-year coach Tosh Lopoi — this is all they needed.
Cal does not have a great coaching staff and Lopoi is running the offense like the typical defensive coordinator. This means running all the time, even when a pass is better, and not allowing quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to do anything creative. This is extremely destructive for Cal, but it works well for Clemson who pulled off the 24-10 win on Friday.
With a game this week against Darian Mensa, Malachi Toney and the Hurricanes, Swinney is going to move back up these rankings next week. Especially if one of the coaches listed ahead of him are gone by then.
4. Shane Beamer, South Carolina Gamecocks
Beamer has been able to get highly ranked recruits like Dylan Stewart and Nyck Harbor to come to Columbia for college. But he has been unable to develop them into more or put a team on the field that can compete despite the raw talent.
In his past 13 games against power conference schools, Beamer has a record of 2-11. He has been at the head of the program for five seasons and he still only has one 9-3 record to show for it.
If blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter against Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State last week was not bad enough, they went to Alabama in Week 4 and lost 49-18 to a team they have been able to keep on the ropes the past two contests. Recruiting is not enough anymore. With NIL, it is even easier than it ever has been. Now, he needs to start proving himself on the field.
This tenure is going south quickly and there are rumors that he might be out of work before Halloween.
3. Mike Locksley, Maryland Terrapins
Another new addition to the list, Locksley, came into this season with quarterback Malik Washington projected to be a breakout star. So far, the only thing to break out is the opposing offenses against Maryland.
In the most recent game, a 54-3 loss to UCLA on Saturday, the Terrapins defense allowed the Bruins to finish with 266 rushing yards while Maryland finished with 39. In the passing game, Niko Iamaleava had 209 yards and 2 touchdowns while Washington finished with 142 yards and 4 interceptions.
It has gotten ugly for Locksley. He has always been a great recruiter — another protege of Nick Saban — but his on-field coaching has never been a strength.Â
Every year, including after this game, he has a statement about needing to do better and fixing what is wrong. He has been saying this since he was hired in 2018 and it is too little, too late. It is time for Maryland and Locksley to go their separate ways. Locksley would make a good Group of Six coach, or offensive coordinator. As for the coach of a Big Ten school, his time has passed.Â
The only reason he is higher than Beamer on this list is due to calls for him to go this week.
2. Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas beat Tulsa 34-6 on Saturday. The same Tulsa team beat Oklahoma State in Week 1 before Oklahoma State beat Oregon.
This is exactly why the transitive property is not valid. There is no worled in which Arkansas is better than either of those teams and Silverfield, who surprisingly still has his job after administrative meetings last week, is still in way over his head in the SEC.
With Athletic Director Jeff Long on his way out the door, it is just a matter of time until Silverfield follows him.
Even with Texas A&M coming off two straight wins, Saturday’s game at AT&T Stadium looks like a loss for Arkansas. One which will almost certainly be followed up by losses to Tennessee and Missouri.Â
In between the Tennessee and Missouri games, Arkansas will take on Vanderbilt and have their bye week. If you want to get the interim coach some run before allowing him to put in his own game plan, before Vanderbilt would be a good spot to dismiss Silverfield. If they want to wait until the bye week, the Razorbacks administration can do that also.
Whoever the next coach is at Arkansas, they need to verify, confirm, and re-verify that everything being said is on the up and up and will get done. Otherwise, the team will be right back here in two seasons.Â
1. Mike Norvell, Florida State Seminoles
Even with the Seminoles 34-7 win over Central Arkansas, Norvell is not safe. If this is the type of win that saves his job, there are bigger problems in Florida State than anyone realizes.
If Florida State can win their home game Saturday against a solid Virginia team — who is just coming off their best season in school history — Norvell might find himself off the top of this list next week. If he loses the game badly enough, he might be off the list for a different reason.
Norvell is a zombie at this point. He is already gone; we just don’t know when.
Add us as a preferred source on Google