We are only one week into the college football season, but the temperature is already rising around several programs.
That may sound unfair, but major college football quit being a patient business a long time ago. When schools spend millions on coaching salaries, facilities, recruiting and NIL, they expect results.
Here are the five coaches feeling the most pressure right now.
- MIKE NORVELL — FLORIDA STATE
Nobody in college football is sitting on a hotter seat than Mike Norvell.
Florida State’s 27-24 home loss to SMU was its 14th ACC defeat since the beginning of the 2024 season. That is almost impossible to comprehend for a program with Florida State’s history, resources and access to talent.
Kevin Jennings shredded the Seminoles for 430 yards and three touchdowns. This was not Florida State losing a close game to Georgia, Alabama or Ohio State. This was another conference loss at home in a game Norvell desperately needed to win.
The boos inside Doak Campbell Stadium told the story.
Norvell’s massive buyout makes firing him complicated, but money only protects a coach for so long. Florida State can keep him through the season and save millions, fire him now and appoint Tony White as the interim coach, or begin quietly building a list of permanent replacements.
None of those options is particularly attractive in early September.
Norvell is no longer trying to convince people that Florida State is improving. He is trying to convince the administration that keeping him is less painful than paying him to leave.
- DABO SWINNEY — CLEMSON
Dabo Swinney has won two national championships at Clemson, built the greatest era in program history and earned the right to be treated differently from most coaches.
But that does not make him untouchable forever.
Clemson did not merely lose to LSU. The Tigers got their asses kicked 51-10.
The problem is not one loss. It is what the loss appeared to confirm. Clemson’s roster no longer looks like the championship rosters Dabo assembled before NIL and the transfer portal changed college football.
The sport changed, but Dabo continues trying to operate as if it did not.
His loyalty to upperclassmen, reluctance to use the portal aggressively and belief that Clemson can keep winning under the old model are becoming liabilities. Starting an older quarterback simply because he waited his turn is not a virtue if a younger, more talented player gives the team a better chance to win.
Dabo probably is not getting fired tomorrow. His history and contract provide protection.
But the pressure is real because Clemson fans are beginning to question whether the coach who built the program is capable of rebuilding it in this version of college football.
- DAVE ARANDA — BAYLOR
Dave Aranda has been living on the hot seat for what feels like several years.
Baylor’s 17-16 loss to Auburn only added more heat.
There is no shame in losing a close game to an SEC opponent, but Aranda no longer has the luxury of collecting respectable losses. He entered his seventh season with an overall record barely below .500 at Baylor and four losing seasons already attached to his résumé.
At some point, the conversation cannot remain about how close Baylor is to turning the corner.
The Bears played well enough defensively to win against Auburn. They simply did not finish the job. That has become the defining problem around the program—competitive enough to give people hope, but too inconsistent to build anything lasting.
Aranda needs victories now. Another mediocre season will make it extremely difficult for Baylor to justify bringing him back.
- GREG SCHIANO — RUTGERS
There are bad losses, and then there is losing 37-21 at home to UMass as a 29½-point favorite.
UMass entered the game riding a 16-game losing streak and had not won a football game since 2024. Rutgers trailed 24-7 at halftime and never recovered.
That is an unacceptable performance for a Big Ten program.
Greg Schiano deserves credit for what he accomplished during his first stint at Rutgers and for returning to attempt another rebuild. But past accomplishments cannot excuse a loss like this.
Rutgers was supposed to be an established, physical and disciplined team. Instead, it was embarrassed by an opponent almost everyone expected it to dominate.
Schiano may not be fired because of one game, but he just surrendered whatever patience remained. Rutgers must respond immediately because another season headed in the wrong direction could force the administration to decide whether nostalgia has run its course.
- DAVE DOEREN — NC STATE
Dave Doeren is in his 14th season at NC State, which is an eternity in modern college football.
He has won plenty of games and built a stable program, but stability eventually has to become something more.
NC State opened the season with a 34-8 loss to Virginia. The Wolfpack were not merely beaten—they were dominated by a conference opponent that entered the season facing questions of its own.
After more than a decade under the same coach, NC State should not look that unprepared in an opener.
The question surrounding Doeren is no longer whether he can produce a respectable football team. We know he can. The question is whether NC State has reached its ceiling under him.
Fourteen years without an ACC championship creates pressure, especially when the program starts another season by getting whipped inside the conference.
Doeren needs to get this team turned around quickly. If NC State falls into another forgettable season, the administration may finally decide that comfortable and competitive are no longer enough.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Mike Norvell is fighting for his job. Dave Aranda and Greg Schiano cannot afford many more losses. Dave Doeren must prove NC State has not grown stale.
Dabo Swinney’s situation is different. His championships give him more protection than anybody else on this list, but they cannot protect him from the reality staring Clemson in the face.
College football has changed.
The coaches who change with it will survive. The ones who continue insisting their old way still works are going to get left behind—and eventually get fired.
