It's win or be fired for these five coaches

Perennial programs such as Michigan, Miami, Nebraska, Texas and USC have been forced to make coaching changes in the past few seasons. Just this past year, power five schools Baylor, Cal, Indiana, LSU, Minnesota, Oregon, Purdue and Texas decided that a change of control was best for their program.

USC decided two years ago that it was time to move on from the short Steve Sarkisian experiment. The Trojans decided to replace him with an Interim Head Coach Clay Helton. Helton took over and appeared to be on the hot seat after a sluggish 1-3 start, the Trojans then rattled off nine straight wins and a Rose Bowl victory and our seen as championship contenders going into this upcoming season.

So which major programs will be forced to make a change this offseason? I have some ideas. Here are five coaches that must win if they want to be at their respective program in 2018

Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech

Record:24-26

Many pundits applauded the Red Raiders when they hired Kingsbury in 2013, the former Texas Tech gunslinger called the shots for a Texas A&M offense that was led by Heisman winner Johnny Manziel. Kingsbury showed promise during his first year in Lubbock, starting the season 7-0. The Red Raiders were ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll before dropping five of their last six games to close out the year. It's been rough sailing for Kingsbury since then going 17-26 since that amazing start. While he has produced an electrifying offense, and a first round draft pick Quarterback (Patrick Mahomes) Kingsbury's defenses has done very little. His defenses have given up just over 2,000 points in 50 games. 

What Should Keep His Job: 7-5, the defense looking like it exists

                                              

Jim Mora, UCLA

Record: 41-24

Last year, many people thought UCLA at the very least contend for the Pac 12 South title and maybe even be a sleeper to make the college football playoff. Boy were they wrong, the Bruins went 2-7 in conference play only managing to pick up wins against lowly Arizona and Oregon State. The Bruins also got a really disappointing season from quarterback Josh Rosen, who came into the season off of a strong 2015 campaign and was a pre-season dark-horse to win the Heisman Trophy. Rosen suffered a shoulder injury just five games into the season. Derailing the Bruins. UCLA returns 15 total starters from last year including nine offensive starters. So there's no reason to believe they can't bounce back, but with USC looking like a championship contender and Colorado coming off an impressive season nothing will be guaranteed for the Bruins. Another season like last year might cause the boosters to grow thin with Mora.

What Should Keep His Job-Making a bowl game

                                                       
                                                         Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
                                           Record: 36-29
Remember when Arizona surprised everybody by going 10-4 in 2014? The Wildcats actually finished the regular season 10-2 before dropping the Pac 12 Championship game to Oregon and losing the Fiesta Bowl to Boise State. The Wildcats started the 2015 season off 3-0, but have since gone 7-15 including a dismal 3-9 season last year that included an eight game losing streak, the Wildcats lost seven of those games by 10 or more points including a 69-7 thrashing at the hands of Washington State. This is Rodriguez' sixth year in Tucson and while he had made a bowl game in his first four seasons he has also been a dismal 1-7 against division rivals USC and UCLA, he certainly needs to have a bounce back year, otherwise he could end up suffering the same fate he did at Michigan.

What Should Keep His Job: 6-6, win over UCLA, USC or Washington

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M

Record: 44-21

You wouldn't expect Sumlin to end up on this list considering that he's produced a Heisman trophy winner, a number one draft pick, has made a bowl game every year and has twice as many wins as losses, but it sounds like patience is wearing thin for Sumlin in College Station. Since Manziel, Sumlin has been blessed with highly touted QB's Kenny Hill and Kyler Murray, both wound up transferring. Sumlin has had lots of NFL talent including Mike Evans, Miles Garrett and Cedric Ogbuehi, but he hasn't had quite the results Aggie supporters would like. His teams have started out 5-0 or better each of the last three seasons, but still ended the year with five losses. Sumlin has failed to beat LSU in his five tries and has lost four in a row to Alabama. He might have one of the best wide-outs in the 2018 draft class (Christian Kirk) but Sumlin has to at least make a step forward if he wants to stay in College Station.

What Should Keep His Job: 10 wins, 9 if he beats Alabama or LSU.

Brian Kelly, Notre Dame

Record: 59-31

To be fair, Kelly does have one of the toughest jobs in college football. The environment and academic prowess of Notre Dame puts him in a situation that takes a certain type of coach to handle. Kelly doesn't need to win 10 games like Sumlin probably does or even make a major bowl game. He just can't afford to go 4-8 again. Notre Dame has some tough opponents on their schedule this year (as always) taking on Georgia, USC and Miami, but they also have some winnable games-Temple (who has a new coach), Boston College, North Carolina (new QB). The Fighting Irish return 15 starters (8 offensive, 7 defensive) and have a first round talent offensive lineman in Mike McGlinchey, but they will more than likely be handing the reigns over to sophomore quarterback Brandon Wimbush who has only thrown seven passes in his career so far. How quick Wimbush learns and how much he can win may decide if the Fighting Irish have a new coach in 2018.

What Should Keep His Job: 8-4