The college football head coaching carousel is starting to pick up speed and it's only Week 8. Penn State let James Franklin go after a nightmare start to the year and Alabama-Birmingham told Trent Dilfer to hit the road after a three-game winless streak to begin conference play.
So, who will be the next victims as fan bases continue to be restless and call for heads to roll at their respective schools? There are some pretty obvious candidates with the coaching reaper breathing down their neck and another that should probably just leave to put his respective program out of its misery.
Predicting the next 4 college football head coach firings
Billy Napier - Florida
The Gators are already feeling immense pressure from donors to give Napier the boot after a 2-4 start and despite a massive win over Texas. Patience is running thin across the sport but nowhere does it seem thinnest than in Gainesville.
The team's 8-5 finish to the 2024-25 season wasn't enough to quell the fans' desire to see heads roll. Napier's 11-14 record the previous two seasons were disappointing to say the least and he's not done enough in 2025 to prove last season wasn't a fluke. The team's Week 8 matchup with Mississippi State is a must-win contest as there are reports floating that Napier could be fired as soon time expires if the desired result isn't achieved.
Florida hasn't been to the SEC Championship Game since 2020 and many may be feeling regret for moving on from previous coach Dan Mullen so soon. Mullen had a 35-16 record and only one losing season in four years at the helm. Napier hasn't come close to touching that in nearly the same amount of time. He may have to run the table in the SEC this year to save his job.
Luke Fickell - Wisconsin
Fickell is honestly one of those head coaches you forget is even still in the sport, that's how irrelevant Wisconsin has become under his leadership. It's so bad, it's sometimes tough to remember he led Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff in 2021 and was a product of the Jim Tressel regime at Ohio State.
The Badgers are 2-4 this year and winless in the Big Ten after three weeks of conference play. Under Fickell, the program is 14-17 with very little chance for the number on the left to go up much more the rest of the way this season. An impending embarrassment to his beloved Buckeyes could seal his fate in Week 8.
It's not to say Fickell is a bad coach, he has the hardware and resume that says otherwise but sometimes things just don't work out. His Wisconsin tenure is just the latest example of an experiment gone wrong and hopefully he'll rebound somewhere else.
Mike Norvell - Florida State
Norvell has been a sort of magician in keeping his job, especially after the train wreck that was the 2024-25 season. Typically going 2-10 after entering a season as a top-10 program would see the boss get the boot, but Norvell's 31-17 record up to that point seemingly was enough to convince folks it was just a really bad fluke.
Well, people in college football always ask "What have you done for me lately?" And Norvell's answer right now is, "Not much." The Seminoles are 3-3 and out of the Top 25 again after entering the year with championship expectations. They have yet to win an ACC game and Norvell's seat is starting to smoke. Five years and change with no hardware to show for it isn't a lucrative formula to buy time in Tallahassee.
Fans were eager to show Jimbo Fisher the door after eight seasons, even with a national championship and a College Football Playoff appearance under his belt. Norvell's got neither (the latter being not necessarily his fault) and it just feels like a matter of time until he hits the unemployment line.
Bill Belichick - North Carolina
Sure, we all know it's just his first season and North Carolina released a statement backing Belichick but something just reeks in Chapel Hill. There are too many distractions with Belichick's behavior and those surrounding him (ahem, Jordon Hudson). The NFL's greatest coach may have gotten cocky and though college ball would be a cake walk.
After just five games, the Tar Heels are 2-3 and have given up a grand total of 129 points while scoring just 94 themselves (61 of them were against Richmond and Charlotte). Such an embarrassing start after the amount of hype that went into his hiring and the offseason will have a detrimental effect on recruiting and the future of the program under Belichick's leadership.
The Guardian's Ollie Connolly reported on Oct. 8 that a decision on Belichick's future with the program could be announced as soon as two weeks from the time the rosy statements were released. Don't be surprised if the eight-time Super Bowl champion doesn't survive the year, expensive buyout or not.