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Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
We’re officially a week into the 2024 college football season across Virginia sportsbooks, with some teams launching their CFP dreams while others faceplanted on the field.
While certain CFB teams like the Georgia Bulldogs (+280), Ohio State Buckeyes (+400), Oregon Ducks and Texas Longhorns (+750 each) and Alabama Crimson Tide (+1200) all grew their championship potential according to the team at DraftKings Sportsbook, others weren’t quite as lucky.
Between flops like the Florida Gators, who are staring down the barrel of a $26.7 million buyout if they move on from third-year head coach Billy Napier after Saturday’s 41-17 home debacle against Miami, and teams like the Arkansas Razorbacks, Baylor Bears and California Golden Bears, there’s no shortage of head coaching candidates to get the ax first in 2024.
With that in mind, BetVirginia.com broke down some hypothetical odds on which CFB head coach will be the first one fired this fall, with frontrunners like Napier and Sam Pittman out of Arkansas leading the way after Week 1.
See our Virginia college football betting guide for more info.
Coach | Team | Odds | Percent Chance |
Billy Napier | Florida | +300 | 25.0% |
Sam Pittman | Arkansas | +600 | 14.3% |
Dave Aranda | Baylor | +600 | 14.3% |
Justin Wilcox | California | +1000 | 9.1% |
Scott Satterfield | Cincinnati | +1250 | 7.4% |
Brent Pry | Virginia Tech | +1250 | 7.4% |
Mike Norvell | Florida State | +1500 | 6.3% |
The Field | - | +600 | 14.3% |
*Only includes the Power 4 conferences.
Odds provided by BetVirginia.com and not available at Virginia betting apps.
Right now, it’s hard to see how Napier comes back from the Gators’ 24-point faceplant in the Swamp against the Hurricanes, regardless of how large his buyout is at the moment, which is why we list him as our top pick to get fired first, at +300. The Gators are winless since last October, when they beat the South Carolina Gamecocks on Oct. 14, 2023, illustrating how far the program has fallen from its 21st century heyday under Urban Meyer, who led UF to two national titles in three years between 2006 and 2008.
Other CFB frontrunners to get that golden parachute include Pittman and Baylor’s Dave Aranda, who are co-listed at +600, with both coaches likely due whopping buyout totals of their own right should the Razorbacks and Bears’ leadership teams choose to pull the plug on their respective runs in Fayetteville and Waco this fall.
Longshots include Justin Wilcox of Cal at +1000, though UC-Berkeley leadership has never been known for speedy resolutions when it comes to hiring and firing decisions, which could buy the veteran head coach time in the East Bay, while Scott Satterfield of Cincinnati and Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry (+1250 each) and FSU’s Mike Norvell (+1500) round out the list of head coaches most likely to get fired after Week 1.
For now, our nation turns its lonely eyes towards Gainesville to see if UF throws up the white flag and opts to move on from the school’s embattled head football coach, as Florida leads the nation in terms of schools most likely to fire their football leaders in 2024.
Check out the best Virginia sportsbook promo codes during the football season.
USA Today by Matt Pendleton.
Author
Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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