College football coaches on hot seat: Bill Belichick, Mike Norvell and others facing make-or-break 2026

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We are just three weeks away from the college football season getting underway, which means that it's time to start discussing which coaches are fighting for their jobs in 2026.

In case you weren’t paying attention to the chaos that transpired during the 2025 season, schools are no longer hesitating when it comes to pulling the trigger on what could be a very expensive decision to restart their football programs with a new coach.

Right now, the stakes couldn’t get any higher from a financial standpoint. The insane amount of money being spent on rosters through revenue-sharing, NIL payouts and these third-party deals with athletes are at an all-time high.

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So, that obviously means athletic departments across the country are looking for a return on investment not only for their financial future, but also staying relevant in the ever changing world of college athletics.

There are teams spending upwards of $50 million on their rosters this season, while others are hovering around the $30 million area depending on the buy-in from each athletic department. No, not every school can afford a roster like LSU, Texas Tech, Ohio State or Oregon, but that's no longer an excuse that can be used by those programs that are outside the spectrum.

Since we are living in a different era, this has become a further cut-throat sport where athletic departments can no longer give coaches four to five years to rebuild a program.

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