http://www.postherald.com/sp072004.shtml
At least five coaches on the hot seat
By STEPHEN SMITH
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
When it comes to college football, July brings on both the heat of summer and the heat of expectation.
Maybe that's where we get the phrase "on the hot seat" from — coaches in the seat of leadership exposed to the expectations of fans, alumni, the media, their own players and themselves.
If the program has tasted success in the past, everyone is hungry for a return. Although just about every coach in NCAA Division I feels the pressure from time to time, here are five places where the heat may be at its hottest:
# Texas: You'd think that three straight 10-win seasons wouldn't leave a fan base dissatisfied — that is, until you look behind the numbers.
Hidden within a combined 30-6 regular season record over that time span are three straight (four straight, actually) losses to Oklahoma by a combined score of 114-40, two trips to the Holiday Bowl, no Big 12 titles and no Bowl Championship Series bowl bids.
With a favorable schedule and 14 returning starters, it looks as if another 10-win campaign is in the cards for the Longhorns. But if Texas coach Mack Brown can't reassert control over Bob Stoops and the always-loaded Sooners, last season's rumors about Steve Spurrier taking over in Austin could become a reality.
# Tennessee: Coach Phil Fulmer's 1998 national championship, coupled with a dramatic home win over the hated Florida Gators that year, might have spoiled Rocky Top denizens just a little bit.
So much so that 15 straight bowl appearances and a 59-16 record over the past nine years in the rugged Southeastern Conference just aren't getting it done for them.
A new nemesis, the Georgia Bulldogs, has beaten the Volunteers four straight times and now have a stranglehold on the SEC East title and the path back to the BCS.
Thirty-two straight wins over Vanderbilt and Kentucky are nice, but restless people in positions of power sometimes make foolish decisions that only constant national championship contention can avoid.
# Florida: Some believe that when the old ball coach took his ball and went up to Washington a few years ago, he may have taken the Gators' mojo with him.
Of course, this isn't fair to Florida coach Ron Zook, the man who had to step into Spurrier's rather sizeable shoes in Gainesville. To his credit, he has kept the Gators competitive and even beat eventual national champion LSU in Baton Rouge last season.
But Zook's record at Florida after two seasons is a very unGator-like ordinary 16-10, and Swamp-dwellers don't like anything that makes them look ordinary — especially in the Swamp, where the Gators lost a surprising three times last season.
Trips to Tennessee and Florida State and back-to-back home games against Arkansas and LSU could hurt Zook's prospects for a fourth season with the Gators.
# Penn State: Three losing seasons in the past four years at Happy Valley is incredible when you consider that before 2000, head coach Joe Paterno had a grand total of one in his career with the Nittany Lions.
But Penn State is better than its 3-9 mark from last season. Besides a 31-point blowout loss in the season finale against Michigan State, PSU had three losses by a touchdown or less and three more by less than 15 points.
Paterno's 339 career wins at PSU give him the right to choose his own time to step down, but another losing campaign may embolden the school to make the decision for him.
# Notre Dame: Ty Willingham's second season in South Bend went the way a lot of people expected his first to go — badly. But 2002's success left the green-shirted Fighting Irish faithful unprepared for five wins last season.
Naturally, Willingham can expect no patience from them as he begins to get the players he needs to run his West Coast offense.
Even though the Irish play the consistently toughest schedule in the country, the fans want to win right now, and worst of all, they think they always should.
Fortunately, Notre Dame has 14 starters back from last season's 5-7 squad that should be chomping at the bit to make amends because expectations for this team are low — as unusual as that is to say about the Irish.
ROLL TIDE!! Rick
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