SEC football coaches who are on the hot seat in 2024

The college football landscape is undergoing a massive transformation, and two factors could make SEC football programs even more desperate to put a competitive product on the field.

First, the league is getting bigger and more competitive. Texas is on the rise and could be the first-year frontrunner, and Oklahoma, while not a real contender to win the conference, will knock some teams off the totem pole.

Second, the college football playoffs will be expanded. With 12 spots up for grabs and the sport being consolidated into four major conferences, many spots will go to SEC teams. Beyond a chance at the national championship, a playoff appearance will bring revenue and exposure, so we could see even more turnover in the coaching carousel after 2024.

At Kentucky, Mark Stoops has some job security as long as other SEC programs don't try to lure him away from Lexington like Texas A&M did this offseason. However, these conference head coaches are already on the hot seat heading into the year.

If you can create a winning team at Vanderbilt, you will become one of the hottest names in the market. That's what happened to James Franklin after he won nine games in back-to-back seasons before transferring to Penn State. Clark Lea, on the other hand, has won a total of nine games in his three years at the helm of the Commodores.

There's a good chance Vandy won't hire a head coach, but another 2-10 record last season is still considered inadequate. With Vanderbilt's resources and academic demands, it's hard to win in the SEC, but two conference wins in three years is unacceptable even to this tortured fan base.

If Lea has another disastrous season, Vandy will have to move on.

Sam Pittman is fortunate to currently still have his job in Arkansas. Last year, he struggled from winning seasons in 2021 and 2022, posting a record of 4-8, and that was when KJ Jefferson was still at quarterback.

Pittman is simply unable to attract enough talent to Fayetteville, and given the basketball program's aggressiveness this offseason and the signing of John Calipari from Kentucky, it wouldn't be a surprise for the administration to release Pittman in the middle of the season and go big game hunting to go with the support of powerful boosters.

Billy Napier is not a coach who aggressively attacks the transfer portal. He prefers to build organically and that takes time. He has assembled successive strong high school recruiting classes, but the results of a 6-7 record in 2022 and a 5-7 record in 2023 are below Florida's standards even for a rebuild.

Napier's strong high school recruiting potential will have to pay off in the third year of his tenure, as many Florida fans are already desperate to cut bait.