4 Surprise College Football Head Coaches That Could Be Fired in the 2019 Season

With the way things have gone for some of college football's biggest programs in recent years, it seems like unless your name is Nick Saban or Dabo Swinney, no head coaching job is truly safe. And sometimes it only takes a run of two down seasons to build a résumé that shows some programs all they need to see before giving a head coach the boot.

Here are four head coaches that find themselves on a serious hot seat heading during the 2019 college football season.

4. Gus Malzahn

Gus Malzahn's job security at the helm of the Auburn Tigers is seemingly one of the most volatile narratives in all of college football. Malzahn led Auburn to a 12-2 record and a spot in the 2013 BCS title game in his first year at the helm. However, the Tigers have floundered in mediocrity in the backseat to in-state rival Alabama and Nick Saban's dynasty ever since. Malzahn's Tigers have recorded just one other 10-win season and a 2-3 bowl record in the five years following their 2013 title game appearance. Making it to the College Football Playoff would go a long way for Malzahn, but anything less than a 9-win season could see him out the door.

3. Kirby Smart, Georgia

Reading Kirby Smart's name on this list might come across as a stretch at first glance, but let's not forget why Georgia decided to replace Mark Richt's head coaching position with Smart in the first place. The answer lies in the Bulldogs' inability to win its biggest games. However, one key comparison between the two could make Bulldogs' fans a little more uneasy. In his first 40 games with Georgia, Richt led the Bulldogs to a 32-8 record, one SEC Championship, two SEC East titles, one AP Top-5 finish and two AP Top-10 finishes. In Smart's first 42 games with Georgia, he led the Bulldogs to the exact same list of achievements, yet with a worse 32-10 record and one brutal National Championship blunder against Alabama.

2. Willie Taggart, Florida State Seminoles

When Willie Taggart left his comfortable job as the head coach of Oregon to return home to Florida, expectations were through the roof for him and his new staff. Known as an All-Star recruiter, Taggart hasn't exactly had the same luck he did in Eugene. With countless Florida State fans and alumni hoping he'd bring a quick fix to the declining success of the program, Taggart's first year as the head coach of the the Seminoles was an absolute circus. The Seminoles posted an abysmal 5-7 record, finished 3-5 in ACC action and snapped the program's streak of 36 straight bowl games to miss their first postseason appearance since 1982.

1. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Wolverines

There's no debating that Jim Harbaugh has elevated Michigan's football program to drastically more competitive heights than his recent predecessors, but he still hasn't led the Wolverines to the CFP or national title- contention level. While former Ohio State Buckeyes' head coach and Big Ten Boogieman Urban Meyer is no longer in the picture, the pressure should actually be on Harbaugh more than it has ever been. If Harbaugh leads his Wolverines' team to a fifth straight loss against Ohio State (seventh straight loss overall), he'd almost certainly be fresh out of excuses in Ann Arbor.

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David Hayes is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David Hayes also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username DavidWHayes. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.