In this year’s sporting season, colleges and professional sports franchises have both been defined by underperformance. In the college scene, many schools have already started trying to turn this around by changing up leadership on the field. Brent Pry was fired as the Head Coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies after going 0-3 to start the season. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, who was once a very consistent coach, was fired after 21 seasons because of a decline in the Win Percentage (WP) over the years. Similarly, in the professional scene, the Tennessee Titans let go of their Head Coach (HC) Brian Callahan because of their 1-5 start this season, making him the first fired HC of the 2025-2026 NFL Season. As time moves, coaches in all levels of football are now facing a very small margin for error to keep their current positions.
At the collegiate level, a wave of failed team rebuilds has led to a season of unmet expectations. Virginia Tech wants to re-establish its previous competitiveness from the early 2000s by letting go of Pry. In the same way, Deshaun Foster’s position at UCLA ended abruptly after the 0-3 start to the season even though he had a record of 108-43. However, even with one of the highest rated transfers from the Tennessee Vols, Nico Lamaleava, Foster’s record didn’t save his job. ”I think UCLA has a lot of problems,” Senior Jake Pratt said. “Their Quarterback is selfish and their HC is weak; I don’t see anything happening soon for the future of this team.” Gundy’s firing from Oklahoma State brought an end to over two decades of service to the team. These coaching upsets point to the real problem: consistency. Today, the cost of keeping underperforming coaching positions is exceeding the cost to make a change. This is an unfortunate problem in the world of sports as a whole.
One could infer that these dismissals mean something bigger: is it that changing leadership is becoming a norm, or is it that football as a sport is facing an age of downfall and underperformance? In both college and the NFL, what definitely is true is that contracts don’t last anymore. For example, quarterback Casey Thompson has played at Texas, Nebraska, Florida, and Oklahoma over the past couple years, showing that staying with the same team for multiple years may be a thing of the past. In the NFL, Callahan was only one of many who analysts expect to be let go this season as franchises try to recalibrate what it means to be a team and to be part of their organization. New York Jets HC, Aaron Glenn, is expected to lose his role after starting the season 1-7. “I don’t know how Glenn hasn’t been fired yet,” Senior Harrison Martin said. “I believe this team is underplaying what is really happening and I think big problems will start to come up very soon.” In the NCAA, CBS Sports Tracker says that a number of Power Four coaches are predicted to be let go by the end of the year. These moves by organizations say that not only are owners very short-fused to losing records, but the lack of tolerance for loss has now changed into something that fans haven’t really come to understand yet.
