Being an SEC Football coach is great until it's not for some 2024 coaches
To an extent, once a honeymoon is over, almost all SEC football head coaches can suddenly be in hot seat status. Check out the hottest seats for the 2024 season.
By Ronald Evans
- No. 33 Hugh Freeze - Auburn - Freeze is on no hot seat in Auburn. That could change during the 2024 season if the Tigers don't show marked improvement. Given Auburn's past big buyout repercussions, beginning with the 2025 season, Freeze could get two to three more hot-seat seasons in Auburn if he can keep the Tigers above .500.
- No. 32 - Mike Elko - Texas A&M - Elko has an Aggies honeymoon that could easily last two or three seasons in College Station. Getting Duke to 9-4 in 2022 proved he can coach. It also earned him ACC Coach of the Year. Then again, the ACC and the SEC are in no way similar. If for no other reason than the Jimbo Fisher experience, Elko will be given plenty of time to prove himself in the SEC.
Josh Heupel and Brian Kelly are ranked somewhere in the top 25 of Power Four coaches. The seats are cool in Knoxville and Baton Rouge. With no need for hot seat warnings, caution is still advised. For Kelly and Heupel, 2024 can lead to 'put up or shut up' time. Kelly is going into his third LSU season; Heupel will be in his fourth in Knoxville. As far as championships, neither man has won anything for their current programs. Failing to make the first 12-team CFB Playoff field could move them to hot-seat status in 2025.