Welcome back to Three Downs and Punt, where we are proud to announce that we have not received any letters from the NCAA accusing us of a failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance. As you may have heard, one Big Orange school certainly did and the football portion of that letter is the inspiration for the first play of this week's stalled drive.
First Down -- Return to the hot seat
On Oct. 4, I wrote in this very space about the five head coaches I thought were sitting on the warmest seats in the land. Of those five, only the Minnesota Golden Gophers' Tim Brewster was eventually fired. Butch Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels and Mark Richt of the Georgia Bulldogs rallied their teams to bowl appearances and brought in surprisingly impressive recruiting hauls, erasing some hefty early season embarrassment.
Meanwhile, New Mexico's Mike Locksley and Washington State's Paul Wulff are still employed, but they're also back on the hot seat list. Both are in need of turnaround years in 2011.
How could I have left Rich Rodriguez or Randy Shannon off last fall's list? When I wrote the story, the Michigan Wolverines were 5-0 and Denard Robinson Mania was in full effect, and the Miami Hurricanes were 3-1 and ranked 13th. The wheels came off both buses the following weekend.
Now, nearly five months later and with spring practice on deck, it's time to hit the refresh button and see who is on the seats of heat (salaries listed are base pay for 2010, not including bonuses.):
To read Ryan McGee's list of hot seat coaches, which includes a trio of Pac-10 bosses, become an ESPN Insider today.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Ryan McGee
Ryan McGee is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. While you may know him for his extensive and very popular NASCAR coverage on this site and television, he's also been a constant in the Mag's coverage of college football. Why? Well, to wit:
• He started working in college athletic departments at 16 (Furman, Tennessee). Got his first sideline pass (UNC @ Virginia) when he was 12 and was totally run over by Tar Heels LB Micah Moon.
• His father was a college football official for 36 years (FBS 1981-2009), working 20 bowl games and two national championships.
• Ryan's a member of the FWAA (Football Writers Association of America).
• He's covered college football for ESPN The Magazine for the last five years.
• He's all over college sports -- Ryan authored "The Road To Omaha: Hits, Hopes and History at the College World Series."
Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ESPNMcGee
