National analyst says 2 SEC head coaches are on the hot seat entering the 2023 season
A couple of SEC head coaches are on the hot seat entering the 2023 season according to Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney. Gorney detailed five coaches this week that he believes will be on the "hottest seats" this fall. Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, West Virginia's Troy Brown, and Indiana's Tom Allen are the non-SEC coaches […]
A couple of SEC head coaches are on the hot seat entering the 2023 season according to Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney.
Gorney detailed five coaches this week that he believes will be on the "hottest seats" this fall.
Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, West Virginia's Troy Brown, and Indiana's Tom Allen are the non-SEC coaches that Gorney listed.
The SEC coaches were Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher and Missouri's Eliah Drinkwitz.
From Rivals.com on Drinkwitz: In his lone head coaching season at Appalachian State, Drinkwitz went 12-1 but since arriving at Missouri, he’s 17-19 with back-to-back 6-7 seasons. The good news is that the Tigers have some veteran skill players now and some transfer additions that should help, plus they start the season with what should be cupcake blowouts over South Dakota and Middle Tennessee. The fear is that after visiting Vanderbilt to close out September, the schedule gets monumentally tougher and things fall off the rails.
From Rivals.com on Fisher: At Florida State, Fisher coached 106 games and lost 23 times. So far at Texas A&M, he’s coached 60 games and lost 21 already. It has not gone well for Fisher in College Station and last season was embarrassing at times as the Aggies went 5-7. There are no more excuses as the elite 2022 recruiting class is more veteran now, there are some top transfers coming in and Bobby Petrino is there to run the offense. Will Fisher get fired? Probably not. But A&M isn’t paying Fisher $100 million to lose to an embarrassingly bad Auburn team.
Both coaches certainly have a lot to prove in 2023 and it won't be easy for either of them. Missouri has to play what could be a tough non-conference game against Kansas State early in the season. Then they host LSU before eventually heading to Athens to play the Georgia Bulldogs. Games against Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina could all be losses for Mizzou.
As for the Aggies, they have to travel to Tennessee and to LSU. They also play on the road against Ole Miss and Miami. And let's not forget that home game against Alabama. A 7-5 record would be progress for Texas A&M, but they're paying Fisher for playoff appearances, not low-level bowl game appearances.
It's certainly easy to see how the 2023 season could be the end of both coaches' time in the SEC. But college football has surprised us before. I'd bet on one of these coaches saving their job this fall.
