The first two weeks of the college football season have been as exciting as you could ask for. There have been some major upsets and as a result, several players and coaches are already on the hot seat. It’s no surprise Florida coach Billy Napier and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer have received most of the criticism after each suffered losses to unranked teams in the first two weeks.
Arch Manning also could avoid the wrong side of the spotlight after a less than impressive Week 1 showing in Columbus against Ohio State. They aren’t the only players and coaches who might be on the hot seat though. Here’s a look at some of the other players and coaches on the hot seat as Week 3 of the college football season kicks off this weekend.
College football coaches on the hot seat
Billy Napier, Florida Gators
Napier isn’t just on the hot seat because of the bad loss to South Florida, but because the next four weeks are going to make or break Florida’s season and there’s no faith he’s going to get any wins against the next four, ranked opponents. Over the next month, Florida plays LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Texas with the Longhorns as the lone home game during that stretch.
He can’t afford any hiccups and when you face three top 10 ranked teams over the next five weeks, it makes it hard to think he can survive the season without at least three wins but possibly going undefeated during that stretch. Anything more than one loss and Gators fans will start rounding up Napier’s buyout themselves.
Brent Pry, Virginia Tech
I’m not saying Virginia Tech should be undefeated, but they certainly shouldn’t still be searching for their first win of the season after playing South Carolina and then Vanderbilt. Taking nothing away from the Commodores, the Hokies losing by 24 points to a team they’re probably better than on paper means this team isn’t as good as we thought they would be.
With that, Pry better start stringing some wins together real quick or he won’t make it to the end of the season. Pry needs to win the next two games and it’s non-negotiable. The Hokies have Old Dominion and Wofford over the next two games before starting conference play. The pressure has never been higher on Pry to start winning.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is still hungover from last year’s horrible season, which ended with a nine-game losing streak and more questions than answers. After Oregon hung 69 on the Cowboys and left them with just three points, Gundy’s job security is back into question. Oklahoma State opens their conference slate against Baylor, who’s fresh off an upset win at SMU.
Oklahoma State needs a big win like that to instill confidence in a coach that can’t afford too many more losses and embarrassing ones at that. Another winless conference record will all but seal Gundy’s fate as Oklahoma State’s coach.
DeShaun Foster, UCLA Bruins
DeShaun Foster went to the transfer portal and landed Joey Aguilar from Appalachian State and before Aguilar had a locker, Foster replaced him with Nico Iamaleavea. Well, Tennessee is 2-0, where Aguilar is now the starter, and the Bruins are winless through the first two games. If he doesn’t turn things around immediately, he’s going to be out of a job.
He fixed a problem that wasn’t broken and now the team is in a worse position than it was before the spring transfer portal opened. The losses can’t keep piling up or Iamaleava won’t be the only one looking for a new team.
College football players who are on the hot seat
Nico Iamaleava, UCLA Bruins
This shouldn’t be a surprise because if Foster is on the hot seat, he’s only there because of Iamaleava’s miserable quarterback play this year. He has less than 400 passing yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions. The Bruins are winless, losing to Utah and UNLV to start the 2025 season.
Iamaleava left Tennessee, chasing a bigger NIL deal and instead, he’s proving Tennessee overpaid for him. He wasn’t elite last year and has somehow regressed after having all the pressure to be good. I don’t know if Foster will bench him, but if his job is tied to Iamaleava, he could very well force him into the portal if things don’t turn around.
DJ Lagway, Florida Gators
DJ Lagway came into this season as a dark horse Heisman candidate and has not looked good at all. The Long Island game doesn’t really count as an FCS opponent and if we’re talking about the South Florida game, well Napier deserves a lot of responsibility, but Lagway can’t avoid criticism either.
While the play calling and game management have been poor, Lagway is good enough to make this offense better and create plays. So Napier is guilty, but Lagway isn’t absolved. He has to prove he’s truly one of the best college quarterbacks this season or he’ll never reach that tier in his collegiate career.
Cade Klubnik, Clemson Tigers
The quarterback play hasn’t been great from some of the top quarterbacks in college football and Cade Klubnik is another quarterback severely underperforming. He didn’t look great against LSU and then looked worse against Troy last week. Clemson pulled off the nine-point win, but it wasn’t a great showing. Klubnik could be one of the first quarterbacks taken in the 2026 NFL Draft, but if he doesn’t turn things around, he might have a path closer to Quinn Ewers or Carson Beck.