We saw several coaching changes throughout this past college football season, including a few coaches that were fired during the season. That being said, there could have been several more. These five coaches survived being on the hot seat in 2015, but will be coaching for their jobs in 2016:
Charlie Strong, Texas Longhorns
Strong saved his job this year with big wins over Oklahoma and Baylor, but a 5-7 season is totally unacceptable by Texas standards. Given, Strong inherited a mess of a situation, but he has the worst losing percentage of any coach in Longhorns history. Now that he's had a chance to bring in a number of his recruits, Texas should be better. A third straight losing season will almost certainly end with Strong being fired.
Mike Riley, Nebraska Cornhuskers
Riley's first year in Lincoln was a disaster as the Huskers posted a measly 5-7 record, but were the only team that has beaten Michigan State so far this season and five of those losses came in the last minute of the game. Nebraska still made a bowl game (Foster Farms Bowl vs. UCLA) despite not reaching six wins, calming some of the pressure around Riley. However, another losing season would almost guarantee that Riley would be let go after the year.
Les Miles, LSU Tigers
There were numerous reports that Miles was going to be fired following LSU's regular-season finale against Texas A&M, but the administration decided to keep him on at halftime of that win. Boosters are fed up with their five-game losing streak to Alabama and inconsistency on offense despite the Tigers consistently winning nine or 10 games a season. Miles needs to either beat Alabama or finish among the top teams in the country next year if he wants to keep his job.
Gus Malzahn, Auburn Tigers
This is the second straight year of undeniable underachievement for Auburn under Malzahn, raising questions as to just how safe his job really is. The offense has been spotty, and the complete failure of the defense has been perplexing. How does a team this talented go from legit national title contender to middle-level SEC team in such drastic fashion? It may not be all Malzahn's fault, but he's the one that has to be held most accountable. If Auburn finishes next season at the bottom of the SEC West, he is likely to find himself out of a job.
Butch Jones, Tennessee Volunteers
Jones has been killing it on the recruiting trail over the past few years for Tennessee, and many thought the Vols would be the breakout team in college football because of all that talent. While Tennessee improved and posted an 8-4 record, it was in a lackluster SEC East and failed to get any real marquee victories. Fans are expecting the wins to come in bunches next year anf or the Vols to compete for the SEC title, putting a lot of pressure on Jones to deliver.
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