We are at that point where predictions are coming out, fan bases are going back and forth, and freshmen are crying to their parents about how hard camp is. It is college football season ladies and gentlemen, which means some coaches are coaching harder than ever to keep those six to seven figures in the bank account. Today will be focused on which coaches are on the cusp of being fired and potentially going to Nick Saban’s rehab center for coaches. These coaches are on a prove-it-year leash and have 12 games to keep their jobs.

Jimbo Fisher — Texas A&M

It is getting really spooky in College Station, and there can be a lot of excuses thrown around as to why Jimbo Fisher hasn’t been able to capitalize in his tenure as head coach. After going 5-7 last year, people are questioning if Jimbo is worth the mega contract he signed in 2017 after leaving Florida State. Under Fisher, the Aggies have been pretty solid, routinely winning eight or nine games per year and going to bowl games, but missing out on a bowl game last year is unacceptable. When the board of directors agreed to the contract, they expected to compete for national titles. They haven’t come close to that due to ancient offensive philosophies and average quarterback play.

On paper, the Aggies have the talent to match up with anyone in the country, capturing top 10 classes in each of the past three years, including the number one overall class in 2022. If Jimbo can’t let Bobby Petrino take over the offense in total, they might be looking toward getting rid of Jimbo. He does have a saving grace, which is his massive buyout which comes at a cost of $77 million if fired at the end of the season. Will the boosters swallow their pride and continue to let Jimbo coach, or will they bite the bullet and pay out the massive buyout? Either way, Jimbo Fisher wins because he gets paid no matter what. (I wish it was me not him)

Jeff Hafley — Boston College

(Photo: Jacob Kupferman / Contributor, Getty)

Now this has a bit of a stretch due to the expectations of Boston College, but going 3-9 is not tolerated at the small school in the northeast. Going .500 for the first two years, the projection of the Eagles was to be a steady program getting bowl bids and getting an upset win here and there. That wasn’t the case last season, as they were abysmal against upper-echelon ACC programs and competing with subpar programs, even dropping a game to UConn. It was a struggle to get things going due to injuries and a terrible run game.

A losing season is bound to happen when you have one of the worst recruiting classes in all of Power Five football. Hafley has to find a way to get back on track to get it respectable and win those winnable games. We will see how great of a developer Hafley and his coaching staff are in trying to get the best out of his players this season.

Dino Babers — Syracuse

Dino Babers has had a long leash in upper New York. In 2018, he turned Syracuse to a 10-win team, the first 10-win season since 2001. The sky was the limit for the program up until it had to play the following season. From bad recruiting to swinging and missing on quarterbacks, it has been an uneventful tenure for Babers. It is hard to pinpoint where the downfall started from the 2018 season, but last year was grace for Dino. After starting last season 6-0, the Orangemen lost six of their last seven, including a bowl loss to Minnesota. Usually, if a coach has a season like that they are fired, especially after going 11-24 the previous three seasons. Somehow by the graces of the college football Gods, he is still collecting checks and coaching the Orangemen.

One of the things to notice throughout the last few years is that they haven’t been able to capitalize on and off the field. They have been losing recruiting battles to surrounding schools like Rutgers, they constantly have one of the worst recruiting classes in Power Five football on top of lacking development, and they are not capitalizing on the transfer portal. These are recipes for disaster, but Dino is still standing tall.

Neal Brown — West Virginia

For Neal Brown, the country road experience has been a rocky one. Brown arrived to Morgantown building a powerhouse at the Group of Five at Troy, having tremendous success including three straight double-digit win seasons, bowl wins, and an upset win over a ranked LSU team. Neal was one of the hottest coaching commodities in the industry at that time. West Virginia thought it struck gold when it hired Neal Brown, but it hasn’t matriculated into anything in 2023. After taking over for Dana Holgorsen, it was believed that Brown could build on the success after the Mountaineers went 8-4 in 2018 .

Throughout his tenure, the Mountaineers have had much success defensively (for Big 12 standards) in the first part of Brown’s career. In recent years it has been shaky at best. In the 2022 season, the defense gave up 395 yards on defense and 32 points a game. Meanwhile, the offense has been nothing but inconsistent all around. The Mountaineers haven’t been able to keep a good and consistent quarterback since the days of Will Grier. The offensive philosophy doesn’t seem to fit Brown’s style since he is a defensive guy and keeps the Air Raid going.

Having back-to-back losing seasons doesn’t help your case, and it really doesn’t help your circumstance having a brand new athletic director. Speculation suggests that if Neal has a slow start to the season he could be gone after the TCU game.

Danny Gonzales — New Mexico

AP Photo/Matthew Hinton

For the hometown kid, Danny Gonzales hasn’t been able to put together a competitive football team since he took over in 2020. Lucky for him, the expectations are not crazy in Albuquerque, and the university has been patient with him. However, going 7-24 in three seasons doesn’t necessarily buy you more time to fix the issue. Last season, the Lobos had one of the more putrid offenses in the country, only averaging 13 points per game and only scoring 17 touchdowns throughout the year. This is a head coach who cares about his program, but moral victories don’t get you an extension in this business. If Gonzales can win five games, he buys himself another year to get guys out of the portal and try to revamp this program to being at least consistently average, and that will cool his seat down.