Revisiting The Fire-O-Meter

About halfway through the college football regular season, we printed The Commonwealth Times Fire-O-Meter. The Fire-O-Meter (soon to receive a patent!) rated a number of college coaches on where they stood in terms of job security with their current employer. Some of our outlooks proved to be spot on while others were dead wrong. We also forgot to add a coach who might have the hottest seat of all. Let’s take a look back at each coach and where they now stand.

The coach: Tom O’Brien, N.C. State

Previous ranking: Loosening the tie. O’Brien’s first season in Raleigh (5-7) wasn’t great, and a slow start through the first half of this season (2-4) didn’t help either-especially given the improvement of rivals North Carolina and Duke.

Current status: Off the hot seat. With freshman Russell Wilson leading the charge at quarterback, the finally healthy Wolfpack won four of their final six games, including matchups against the Tar Heels, Blue Devils and Wake Forest. N.C. State is bowl eligible for the first time since 2005.

The coach: Greg Schiano, Rutgers

Previous ranking: Loosening the tie. The Rutgers head coach has taken the team to an unprecedented level of success, but production has dropped off.

Current status: Off the hot seat. The Scarlet Knights started the season 1-5 with its only win coming against FCS opponent Morgan State, but have since won five in a row. It obviously took a while to get used to life without former standout Ray Rice, and now things appear to be on the up-and-up. However, Schiano will find himself right back on the list if the team starts slow again next season without quarterback Mike Teel.

The coach: Bill Stewart, West Virginia

Previous ranking: Loosening the tie. Early losses to East Carolina and Colorado made people wonder if Stewart was the right choice.

Current status: Off the hot seat. Stewart and the Mountaineers bounced back from those early losses to win five straight games. The only games the Mountaineers have lost since the losses to East Carolina and Colorado were to eventual conference champion Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. West Virginia lost those games by a combined seven points. The Mountaineers are currently 7-4 and can get their eighth win with a victory over South Florida. Stewart and his staff can’t get complacent though. They need to find a replacement for senior quarterback Pat White.

The coach: Ralph Friedgen, Maryland

Previous ranking: Loosening the tie. Friedgen needs to get the Terrapins to be more consistent.

Current status: Same. Once again Maryland had an inconsistent season. The Terrapins looked great in demolishing Wake Forest 26-0. They beat North Carolina this season. But the Terps also had losses to Middle Tennessee State and were blown out by Virginia 31-0. It is obvious Friedgen has talent at Maryland, but he needs them to play every week. The ACC is down and has no powerhouse team. It would not be a surprise to see Friedgen lead the Terrapins to another ACC title-in the future.

The coach: Jeff Tedford, California

Previous ranking: Standing next to the heater. Tedford has been good, not great at California.

Current status: Loosening the tie. Tedford had a decent year this season. The Golden Bears are currently 7-4 and should get win No. 8 this Saturday against winless Washington. Tedford lost good players such as DeSean Jackson to the NFL. His team didn’t suffer any embarrassing losses, and had a good win to open the season against Michigan State. The Golden Bears were also able to hang with USC, holding the Trojans to just 17 points.

The coach: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina

Previous ranking: Standing next to the heater. Spurrier has never reached the success that he had at Florida and his teams have never reached the top tier of the SEC.

Current status: Same. There are some rumors that Spurrier could be retiring soon, so the South Carolina administration can probably wait out a coaching change, but if he chooses to continue, the heat will be on to contend with the success of Alabama and Florida.

The coach: Mike Stoops, Arizona

Previous ranking: Standing next to the heater. Stoops hasn’t led the Wildcats to any bowl appearances since being named coach in 2003.

Current status: Same. Stoops is having one of his better seasons. The Wildcats are currently 6-5 and can pick up their seventh win if they can defeat Arizona State on Saturday. The Wildcats are bowl eligible, but a win over the Sun Devils would improve their bowl standings since a couple of those wins are against Idaho and Toledo. Stoops needs to get to a bowl this season to make sure he remains the coach for next season. There hasn’t been many rumblings of his firing, but you have to wonder how much time he has left if the Wildcats aren’t invited to a bowl.

The coach: Al Groh, Virginia

Previous ranking: Boiling. Groh’s teams have been disappointing and have lacked discipline. Blowout losses to Duke, Southern Cal and Connecticut didn’t help either.

Current status: Same. A change in offensive strategy seemed to turn the Cavaliers’ season around, leading to four straight wins-three over ACC opponents-and the keys to the Coastal Division title. However, Virginia then dropped its final four games, including a 17-14 heartbreaker to Virginia Tech. The team showed improvement during the season and had to deal with a lot of adversity at the quarterback position. Groh may have bought himself another year using that excuse, but his leash will now be shorter than before.

The coach: Philip Fulmer, Tennessee

Previous ranking: Boiling. Tennessee has gone from national title contender to a mess in a very short time.

Current status: Fired, or resigned under pressure, take your pick. It was time for Fulmer to go. Even though he had played for Tennessee and had coached there for years, a change needed to be made. Tennessee has not been a national or SEC contender for several years now. The Volunteers went 5-7 this season. To be fair to Fulmer, the SEC is tough but there is no excuse to lose to Wyoming on homecoming weekend as the Volunteers did this season. It is also hard for the administration to be patient when conference foes like Georgia, Florida and Alabama are having success and Tennessee is not. Tennessee wasn’t even the best team in the state of Tennessee this year as that honor went to Vanderbilt. When that happens, it’s time to go.

The coach: Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State

Previous ranking: Boiling. Croom wasn’t putting together a consistent winner in Starkville. Houston Nutt’s revamping of Mississippi’s program didn’t help either.

Current status: Resigned. Croom stepped down as Bulldogs’ head coach after a 45-0 loss to rival Mississippi in the “Egg Bowl.” Croom’s team finished the season with a 4-8 record, including a 34-3 loss to hapless Tennessee.

The coach: Greg Robinson, Syracuse

Previous ranking: Boiling. Eight wins since 2005 says it all.

Current status: Fired. The Orange went 3-9 this season. The fact that the 3-9 campaign this year was Robinson’s second best season says it all. Syracuse was not improving but they showed a lot of heart in a win at Notre Dame after Robinson’s firing was announced. The administration at the school and alumni such as Jim Brown said things had to change. When the administration and alumni start talking about change, they are usually talking about the head coach and Robinson got the ax.

The coach: Tyrone Willingham, Washington

Previous ranking: Boiling. You can’t argue with 11 wins in four seasons.

Current status: Fired, but will finish out season. Washington is 0-11 this season and will probably lose to California on Saturday to finish the season winless. Willingham had sympathy when he was let go by Notre Dame but he did not have the same sympathy when Washington decided to fire him. Willingham wanted to stay on as coach, but the administration had other ideas. After his stint at Washington, you have to wonder if and when another school will give him a chance.

The coach: Tommy Bowden, Clemson

Previous ranking: Standing next to the heater. Bowden’s past teams were notorious under-performers, and the 2008 version was shaping up to be no different.

Current Status: Resigned/fired. Some questions remain if Bowden decided to step away from the program or the university administration forced his hand, but even Bowden’s players said he couldn’t motivate them anymore after a 12-7 loss to Wake Forest that dropped the Tigers to 3-3. Interim head coach Dabo Swinney was able to hold the team together, leading the team to four wins over the final six games-including a win over heated rival South Carolina.

The one we missed

The coach: Charlie Weiss

Status before the season: If anything, Weiss may have been loosening his tie a little bit, but not much. The former New England Patriots assistant has put together a good string of recruiting classes and was given a hefty raise and contract extension to match his stomach, but with few exceptions, on-field results weren’t much better than either of the previous coaching staff’s.

Current status: Boiling, and deservedly so. Notre Dame has caught heat all year for the extension Weiss got after his teams performances weren’t significantly better than those of Tyrone Willingham’s and Bob Davie’s. While it first appeared that Weiss would have support of the school, it now seems that his buyout is not a problem and the school isn’t completely averse to making a move. After ending the season with an embarrassing loss to Syracuse and a blowout at the hands of Southern Cal, something will more than likely be done more so sooner than later.