Welcome everyone to the all new weekly segment, the BUTCH JONES CHAMPIONSHIP OF LIFE HOT SEAT!!! I know you are all very excited but before we dive in let me break down the format. We are going to have 3 tiers of hot seats. All 3 tiers will be named based on infamous Butch Jones quotes. As we go from tier to tier the seats will get decreasingly hot. So without further ado, let’s get it.
We are going to start off with the hottest tier. Welcome to the “Championship of Life” tier. As I said, people on this tier need to go put their asses in a freezer until the end of the year. I mean, if these people have seats at the end of the year, then the people who oversee them all need to be fired along with them.
This video needs no introduction, just watch it.
Let’s start with the king of hot seats, the man for whom this segment was named, Butch Jones. I’m 99% sure that all Tennessee fans, and probably most of the players, want Butch Jones gone. I mean, they are so overdue that literally everyone knows it’s going to happen. They are just delaying the inevitable. He’s getting paid 4.6 million to never win double digit games and to get absolutely shit on by SEC competition. This year seems to be the tipping point as the Vols sit at 3-3 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
The game against Florida was one of the most horrific displays of “football” I have ever seen. On top of that, they got shutout by Georgia, who is a good team. But 41-0??? C’mon, that’s just a lack of effort. Last game they only scored 9 points in a loss to a pretty average South Carolina team coming off a bye week. This week is not going to be fun. I’m asking all readers to please pray for the Tennessee football team as they travel to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama on national tv. I would guess this is the last week of the Butch Jones era. I would say relish the last week, but I’d probably be more happy than sad if I was a Tennessee fan. Bring back Lane Kiffin.
Next on the Championship of Life tier is Mike Riley: the infamous head of the Nebraska program. Nebraska is a historically great program, one of the best ever, and Mike Riley is spitting on that great tradition. Riley is 18-15 in 3 years at Nebraska. That’s a terrible record for any team, but for a team in the Big Ten West, one of the worst divisions in college football, it’s even worse. With the AD at Nebraska now out, I’m sure the new meat at AD will get rid of Riley quickly. The game against Ohio State in primetime did nothing but hurt Riley. This is one person I will actually feel bad for because he is a good guy. But, he also is just a terrible coach. Also, Cornhuskers, do your best to get Scott Frost.
Time to move onto the next tier, with slightly cooler seats. This is simply like putting a blowtorch right under the seat and starting it. It’s scorched, but it could get worse. This is the “score touchdowns” tier, based on the new quote from Butch saying “we did all it takes to play winning football except… scoring touchdowns.”
We are going to start this one with a guy who could arguably be on the Championship of Life tier. Bret Bielema. He was tremendous at Wisconsin, but since moving to the SEC he has been lackluster at best. This is his fifth year and he has yet to win more than 8 games and has only hit 8 one time. He is 27-30 overall and 10-25 in conference in his time in Arkansas. His buyout could be worse and honestly, at 2-4 this year with 0-3 in conference, I’m thinking it’s time to cut some strings. I think Bert’s time at Arkansas will be done very very soon. I did recently write an article where I showed that Bert is better than Jim Harbaugh, so maybe Jim should be fired along with Bert. Let’s hope he doesn’t lose both his job and his way-out-of-his-league wife.
Second up on the “score touchdowns” tier is UCLA coach Jim Mora. Jim has the best overall record of anyone on this list. In his time at UCLA he is 44-27, which is pretty good despite being in one of the worst power 5 conferences. But for the last couple years, he’s been trending hard downward. His UCLA team went 4-8 last year and they are currently looking down the barrel of a 3-3 year.
Mora has one of the most fertile recruiting patches in the country in his backyard, as well as one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Josh Rosen. With Rosen and Southern California to recruit from, UCLA should be doing better than 4-8 and 3-3, they should be in the hunt for the PAC 12 championship every year. If UCLA doesn’t make a bowl this year, or even if they do but finish 6-6 or 7-5, look for UCLA to bring in a new head coach to work for a new start in the post-Rosen era at UCLA.
Welcome to the last tier of coaches. These seats are warm, but have awhile to go before they need to be replaced. They’re just now being put on radar for heat checks. They need to get more, as Butch would say, “leadership reps.” So we will have to call this tier, for that reason, the “leadership reps” tier.
Let’s start with a guy who is in his first head coaching gig: Barry Odom of Missouri. Now it’s no secret that the Tigers aren’t exactly the most talented team in the country. Still, their quarterback is pretty good, and they are certainly better than how they are playing right now. They went 4-8 last year and right now, despite a prediction for them to be ranked by fellow contributor Cody Goggin, they are just 1-5. They don’t have a lot of tough games left, in fact they still have games against fellow hot seat coaches Butch Jones and Bret Bielema. If they continue this slide and finish terribly, look for Mizzou to begin their search for a new coach.
The second coach on our last tier is very similar to Barry Odom. He is a first time head coach, in his second year, at a program that isn’t exactly known for having elite level talent to play with. Chris Ash is our last hot seat guy. He is a tremendous guy and a great defensive coordinator, but maybe it’s time to start talking as if maybe he isn’t the greatest head coach.
In his first year, Rutgers went 2-10, which might have been expected, but there also needs to be some improvement in year two. They are 2-4 right now, with terrible losses to Eastern Michigan, and fellow hot seat coach Mike Riley. With games still remaining against Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State, it is nearly impossible for the Scarlet Knights to make a bowl or to even come close. The Rutgers higher-ups need to start making some changes, whether it’s Ash himself or other coaches first, changes need to be made soon.
Check back in next week to see if any of these heated seats have been replaced.