Big Names, Big Pressure: Coaches to Watch in 2025

College football has been seeing a power change over the last few years with the new addition of NIL contracts forcing a spread of the talent among other teams. The SEC used to be known as the most powerful conference but that has somewhat started to change over the last couple of years. Coaches have more opportunities to grow their team and land bigger talent.

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In 2025, some coaches are under a lot of pressure to deliver this season. Yahoo Sports put together a list of the coaches under the most pressure entering the season. The results may surprise you.

Bill Belichick, North Carolina

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Former New England Patriots coach, this is his first time as a college football coach. North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC football title since 1980 and are aiming to improve a 6-6 season from last year.

Luke Fickell, Wisconsin

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The former Cincinnati coach has not seen much success since coming over to Wisconsin. After a 7-6 finish in Fickell’s first season and a 5-7 finish in 2024, this year the program is looking to get better. They added a new offensive coordinator in former Kansas assistant Jeff Grimes and a new quarterback in Maryland transfer Billy Edwards. With the 2025 schedule including Alabama, Michigan, and Ohio State, there’s not much margin for error.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn

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Former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze has now had more losing seasons in his first two years at Auburn than he had in five seasons at Ole Miss before he was fired. After a 6-6 finish in 2023, and a 5-7 finish in 2024, the program is looking to finish in better standings in 2025. He stated at media day that he expected his team to be in playoff contention.

Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

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After a highly successful 17 seasons with former head coach Nick Saban, Deboer was hired with very high expectations. The Tide ended 9-4 in 2024 which is a great season for most programs, but it was the first time Alabama didn’t win 10 or more games since 2007. In Tuscaloosa, being in contention for the playoffs just isn’t good enough. Averaging over 13 penalties a game last year cutting those down will be one of the priorities for this upcoming season.