Firing a college football head coach is easier said than done. Not only would programs, in many cases, be on the hook for covering hefty buyouts, but there's always the risk of a fired head coach latching on elsewhere and making another school look good. At a certain point, though, enough has to be enough. There is a point where the losses begin to mount, and it's impossible not to entertain the idea of giving another head coach a shot.
With that in mind, it feels like both Sonny Dykes and Dave Aranda have coached their final games at their respective programs following embarrassing Week 8 losses, and they aren't the only ones, either. Let's dive in.
Sonny Dykes, TCU
It's easy to forget this, but Sonny Dykes led the TCU Horned Frogs to the National Championship Game in 2022. Since falling short in that game, though, TCU hasn't been back to the CFP, and after dropping a home game to West Virginia, they're now 3-4 and have all but ensured they won't earn a playoff spot.
Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 felt like a sign that the conference would run through TCU, but that just hasn't been the case. At a certain point, the shine of a National Championship appearance wears off. It's now gotten to the point where it's tough to justify TCU doing anything but moving on from Dykes and starting over.
Dave Aranda, Baylor
Much like Dykes' run to the National Championship Game, Dave Aranda leading the Baylor Bears to a Big 12 title feels like an eternity ago. That's because it was, with that occurring in 2021; that's six years ago! Baylor had gotten off to a 4-2 start to this season and looked poised to improve on that record at Kansas given their two-score lead in the fourth quarter, but being outscored 15-3 in the final frame ended those hopes.
I legitimately do not know what Baylor is waiting for at this point. 2021 was great, but that's one of just two winning seasons he's had at Baylor, and he's in year No. 7 with the Bears. It's clear that the Big 12 title was nothing more than a one-year wonder and that it's worth covering whatever Aranda's buyout is to get a fresh start.
Tosh Lupoi, California
It's pretty rare to see a first-year head coach even on a hot seat list, let alone actually get fired. I don't know whether the California Golden Bears would actually fire him less than one full year into a five-year deal, but it feels like things have gone so badly that they'd have to consider taking such action. Lupoi has already made a change at offensive coordinator, and that clearly hasn't done much.
They lost 41-7 last week at home against Wake Forest, and despite leading 20-17 at the end of the first half at SMU on Saturday, they were outscored 42-0 (not a typo) in the second half. Cal is now 3-5 on the year, with a few truly embarrassing losses. It might only be Lupoi's first year with Cal, but this fit just doesn't feel like the right one. In many cases, it's better to move on too early than too late.
Greg Schiano, Rutgers
Whatever momentum Greg Schiano and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights gained from their first win of the season against an FBS program last week quickly vanished when they lost 42-14 at Northwestern on Saturday. Yes, Northwestern is ranked, so this was never a game Rutgers was expected to win, but the Scarlet Knights trailed 21-3 at the end of the first quarter and 28-6 at the end of the first half. This was never a game.
Embarrassing losses have become a theme for Rutgers in Schiano's second tour of duty with the program, as they notably dropped a 37-21 home game to UMass in their season opener, and they've gone 33-45 since he took over in 2020 with few, if any, truly impressive victories. The standard simply has to be higher in New Brunswick. It's frankly shocking that Schiano has lasted this long.
Kyle Whittingham, Michigan
It's strange enough to have one first-year head coach on this list, but I'm going to add a second. Is everything that's gone wrong on Kyle Whittingham? Of course not. Virtually everyone deserves blame for this Michigan Wolverines team and their offense, in particular, being this bad. Michigan has scored more than 21 points just once in seven games, and that came in their victory over UTEP. Michigan managed just six points in an overtime loss on Saturday to Indiana, falling to 4-3 on the year.
Vibes are horrendous at Ann Arbor, and it feels like a major change must be made. Firing offensive coordinator Jason Beck would be the easiest solution, but would that really be enough? Whittingham felt like a stopgap hire anyway, given his age (66) and the circumstances in which he was hired to begin with, so with this string of uninspiring football continuing, it wouldn't be shocking to see Michigan decide it's had enough and move on.
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