Six college football coaches on the hottest seats entering 2026

Welcome once again to the annual CBS Sports Hot Seat Rankings, where the most pressured coaches in the sport take center stage. Last season was a bloodbath with major names like Brian Kelly, James Franklin and Mike Gundy shown the door. However, there seems to be a calm after the storm. 

In fact, 95 coaches have a hot-seat score under 2.0. Forty-seven of them are under 1.0, a massive increase compared to 28 last season. A number of first-year coaches received zeros from the group, but mainstays like Kirby Smart, Curt Cignetti and Dan Lanning finished near the top of the list. 

With the new era of college football, firing decisions have become a little more complicated. Multiple hot-seat coaches were brought back for 2026 and promised more support and resources. Others were returned to help develop a star player. And then of course, there are cases of schools simply being too broke to pull the trigger… looking at you, Tallahassee. 

Last year, only one coach earned a “perfect” 5.0. Louisiana Tech’s Sonny Cumbie went on to beat the odds and posted an impressive 8-5 campaign. Oklahoma’s Brent Venables went from the country’s second-hottest seat to the College Football Playoff, while Arizona’s Brent Brennan cemented his place with a nine-win season. A bad grade is by no means a death sentence in a sport where everything can change in an instant. 

The rest of the coaches to receive higher than 4.0s were less lucky. All five were ultimately fired. Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and UAB’s Trent Dilfer were let go unceremoniously midseason during miserable campaigns. The hot seat giveth and taketh away. 

2026 College Football Hot Seat Rankings: Evaluating job security of all 138 FBS coaches

CBS Sports Staff

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