A look back at my early 2006 hot seat
Back in April, right after spring practices wrapped up, I penned a column on four Atlantic Coast Conference football coaches that I thought would be on the hot seat in 2006.
My top two were, one, Larry Coker, who was fired last week after his Miami squad put the finishing touches on a 6-6 regular season, and two, John Bunting, who was fired from his job at North Carolina several weeks ago before finishing out a 3-9 season on Saturday with a win over 0-12 Duke.
I have to say that I didn't foresee Chuck Amato being bounced out at North Carolina State - in part because I didn't foresee the Wolfpack dropping their last seven to go 3-9, but more because the talk in Raleigh before the '06 campaign was that the school was strongly considering offering Amato an extension on his contract, for what I don't know, but that was what was being said.
I might be wrong on this, but my read is that with all of this in mind even a five-win season would have kept Chuckie Red Shoes at his alma mater for another year.
Numbers three and four on my post-spring practice hot-seat list were Al Groh at Virginia and Bobby Bowden at Florida State. I think I deserve partial credit on these - if only because the pressure was on Groh after a 2-5 start that had a group of well-heeled alums publicly exploring options for buying out Groh's contract, and also because Bowden felt similar pressure at FSU in the midst of what became a 6-6 season that saw his son, Jeff Bowden, resign from his offensive-coordinator job earlier this month.
I will leave both on my list for 2007 - noting the pressure that Groh has put on himself after telling reporters repeatedly this fall that he was playing the 2006 season with his 2007 team, and the pressure that Bowden will continue to feel from boosters to return the Seminoles to what they feel is their rightful place in the college-football pecking order.
One other possible addition - Duke's Ted Roof, who is clearly fighting an uphill battle, given Duke's small size and lackluster facilities, but would seem to have a tougher time using that as a crutch in light of the success that Jim Grobe is having this year at similarly undersized and facilities-deprived Wake Forest.
- Chris Graham