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15 college basketball coaches who are on the hot seat
Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

15 college basketball coaches who are on the hot seat

With college basketball tipping off, there are a lot of coaches out there champing at the bit to get their teams off to good starts. Some hope for championships or tournament appearances. Others hope their teams improve enough that their jobs are safe.

These are strange times in the college hoops coaching profession. With news of the FBI's investigation into bribery and other elicit activities in college basketball, there is a lot of stress to pass around all over the nation. The investigation has already claimed one of the biggest names in the profession, Rick Pitino. With big programs like Arizona, Oklahoma State and Miami tied to this investigation, there is a lot of unknown out there that could show itself at any moment.

We will not focus on that here. It's too early to speculate what if anything else comes out of this. Barring some evidence that would directly implicate a coach, we aren't putting somone on this season's hot seat list, unless he's already been struggling to field a winning team.

That being said, let's look at 15 college hoops coaches who need a big season to fend off all the rumors. 

 
1 of 15

Brad Brownell, Clemson

Brad Brownell, Clemson
Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

Despite Clemson being a true football school in a hoops league, the university has put a ton of money into Littlejohn Coliseum and the basketball facilities. Brownell took the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament in 2011, his first season, but hasn't been back since. The best talent in the state has chosen to go elsewhere, so finding some way to convince highly regarded recruit Zion Williamson to stay home and choose Clemson would be a coup. Even then, Brownell may need a tournament appearance to keep his job.

 
2 of 15

Pat Chambers, Penn State

Pat Chambers, Penn State
Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Northwestern finally made the NCAA Tournament. Why mention that here? Well, if the Wildcats could do it then why can't Penn State? The Nittany Lions haven't sniffed the NCAA Tournament in the six years Chambers has been in Happy Valley (their only postseason appearance was one CBI quarterfinal). They've been hugging the .500 mark for the last four seasons but took a step back last year. They've finished 10th or worse in all six of Chambers' seasons, and the school could look at making a change. 

 
3 of 15

Jim Christian, Boston College

Jim Christian, Boston College
Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

This is a classic case of underperformance and new leadership at Boston College. Christian has won just six of 54 ACC games since taking over the Eagles. With a new AD in Chestnut Hill, Christian will have to get BC moving in the right direction, or a change could be coming. In the tough ACC, that may be tough to do. 

 
4 of 15

Mark Fox, Georgia

Mark Fox, Georgia
Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

Despite his peers having his back, Fox is squarely on the hot seat. His Bulldogs have missed the NCAA Tournament in six of his eight seasons in Athens. The last four seasons, the Bulldgos finished with 19-21 wins, and that's the dilemma. Fox has brought respectability and class to Georgia, but the program now seems to be stuck in neutral. Is he the guy to lift the Bulldogs above this, or do they need to look elsewhere to make that happen? If they do move on from Fox, will they struggle to find someone who can even make that happen.

 
5 of 15

Jeff Lebo, East Carolina

Jeff Lebo, East Carolina
Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

Not many coaches get the kind of leash that Lebo tends to get. In his 19 years as a Division I head coach, he's never taken his teams to an NCAA Tournament. In seven seasons at East Carolina, he's had just two winning seasons and none in the three years as a member of the American Athletic Association. With the move from Conference USA to the AAC, more is expected as Lebo finds himself needing to show he can have the Pirates competing in the bigger league.

 
6 of 15

Dave Leitao, DePaul

Dave Leitao, DePaul
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Leitao's second stint at DePaul isn't going as well as his first one. In two seasons since his return, the Blue Demons have gone just 18-45 overall and just 5-31 in the Big East. Recruiting has gotten better, but there's a lot of work to do. Granted, the program was essentially bare when he took it over after Oliver Purnell resigned, but another year like the first two could cause the school to start looking elsewhere. 

 
7 of 15

Mike Maker, Marist

Mike Maker, Marist
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Normally, a Marist coach wouldn't make a list like this, but the Red Foxes have been exceptionally bad. Since Maker took over in 2014, the program has gone 7-25, 7-23 and 8-24 in respective seasons. Sure, Marist is seemingly always bad (its last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1987 and last winning season was in 2008), but to win just 22 games in your first three seasons is dreadful. Maker was extremely successful at Division III Williams College where he went to three Final Fours won a national championship. If Marist is willing to have a long rebuild, then Maker is still the guy. But results aren't happening. 

 
8 of 15

Tim Miles, Nebraska

Tim Miles, Nebraska
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Miles is on thin ice in Lincoln. After a nice run to a Round of 32 appearance in the 2014 NCAA Tournament during his second season, Miles's Cornhuskers have been sitting around 12th place in the Big Ten for three straight years. The Huskers are a young bunch, but with a new athletic director in place, the coach's job is in peril, and he will need his young team to not only make a leap in the standings, but also show that he's got it going in the right direction.

 
9 of 15

Chris Mullin, St. John's

Chris Mullin, St. John's
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Mullin may be a legend at St. John's, but he needs to turn this thing around quickly if he is to stay on as head coach. After going 1-17 in Big East play during his first season, the Red Storm went 7-11 last year. Improvement, yes, but can the program take the next leap? This summer had a lot of recruiting drama for Mullin — one prized recruit was arrested for robbery while another decommitted due to "personal reasons." In a highly competitive Big East, Mullin can't afford to stay so far behind the class of the league.

 
10 of 15

Kevin Ollie, UConn

Kevin Ollie, UConn
Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

OK, it may take an absolutely horrible season for UConn to fire Ollie this year, but hear me out. Ollie did win a national championship in his second year running the Huskies and was a popular candidate for all kinds of NBA coaching gigs, but look past that a bit: UConn hasn't been the UConn Jim Calhoun ran. In the three years after Ollie won that title (as a No. 7 seed, mind you), he's been to just one NCAA Tournament and won just one tournament game. In fact, UConn needed a run in the conference tournament just to get into the dance. The Huskies missed the tournament just five times in Calhoun's final 23 seasons. Ollie has missed three in five years — though one was due to ineligibility.

 
11 of 15

David Padgett, Louisville

David Padgett, Louisville
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

When you are the interim coach, maybe "hot seat" isn't the correct choice of words, but Padgett has a lot on his plate. He's essentially rose the ladder quickly to helm one of the best hoops programs in America. With the scandal rocking Louisville that has already caused for the removal of the AD and legendary head coach Rick Pitino, Padgett's main job is to run a clean program that will also compete at a high level (well, isn't that everyone's job?). A month ago, the Cardinals were expected to make a Final Four run, and those expectations haven't really dimmed. Good luck, David.

 
12 of 15

Bruce Pearl, Auburn

Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

At the end of last season, Pearl was asked if he felt Auburn needed to make the 2018 NCAA Tournament in order to feel his job was safe. Pearl's response: "If you want to put my [butt] on the hot seat, it's not." That was before the FBI started snooping around the Auburn hoops program, though it should be noted that Pearl was not implicated in the bribery scandal but assistant coach Chuck Person was. There is a lot of drama at a program that hasn't made the tournament since 2003.

 
13 of 15

Dave Pilipovich, Air Force

Dave Pilipovich, Air Force
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Look, running a basketball program at one of the military academies is always tough — David Robinson doesn't come around very often — but you would still like to win a little bit. Pilipovich hasn't done that in his five-plus seasons at the Air Force. His only winning season was back in 2013, when the Falcons made the College Invitational Tournament. His Falcons haven't finished better than sixth in the Mountain West since he's been there and finished 10th in three of the last four seasons.

 
14 of 15

Kevin Stallings, Pittsburgh

Kevin Stallings, Pittsburgh
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Stallings's job was in trouble at Vanderbilt when he suddenly bolted for Pitt after Jamie Dixon left the Panthers for TCU. His one year at Pitt didn't really go much better. Former Pitt players weren't thrilled with Stallings's hiring, and current ones weren't in love with it either. He had several players transfer out of the program this summer with the highest profile being graduate transfer Cameron Johnson, who was stuck in a feud with Stallings over his immediate eligibility if he attended North Carolina. This year's Pitt team is predicted to finish dead last in the ACC.

 
15 of 15

Bruce Weber, Kansas State

Bruce Weber, Kansas State
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Weber lives on the hot seat. Though he got Illinois to the 2005 National Championship Game, many felt he did so with Bill Self's players. People point to his time at Illinois and Kansas State as him bringing down programs that were lifted up by someone else (Self at Illinois, Frank Martin at K-State). He had a nice bounce-back season in 2016-2017 after two seasons hovering around .500. However, he hasn't won a tournament game with the Wildcats while he's watched an unusual amount of players transfer out of his program. His contract probably saves him, but fans aren't rallying behind him.

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