Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester headlines a group of 10 college football coaches who have turned hot seats into hot streaks, according to a Sports Illustrated feature published Sunday by columnist Pat Forde. The list celebrates coaches who survived lean years, firings and public doubt to produce winning football in 2026.
Lester stands out for Iowa fans. Fired as head coach at Western Michigan in 2022 despite a winning record of 37-32, he spent a season as an analyst with the Green Bay Packers before Iowa brought him in to revive a long-struggling offense. Forde wrote that Lester has succeeded immediately, and the Hawkeyes can now throw the ball capably with either Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown at quarterback.
Tim Lester's Turnaround of the Iowa Offense
The numbers back up the praise. Lester made the unit better the moment he arrived in 2024, according to Sports Illustrated, and the product has gradually improved since. For a program long known for defense and punting, a functional passing game is a genuine change in Iowa City.
Forde noted that Lester's firing at Western Michigan, despite the winning record, probably should not have happened in the hand-to-mouth world of MAC football. That rough ending set up his redemption arc with the Hawkeyes.
Who Else Made the Sports Illustrated List?
The feature, part of Forde's weekly Forde-Yard Dash column, opens with a reminder that even legends stumbled early. Nick Saban lost to Louisiana-Monroe in his first year at Alabama. Bear Bryant went 1-9 in his first season at Texas A&M. The point: bad seasons do not define a coach, and patience often pays.
BYU's Kalani Sitake tops the list at 90-45 overall. After a 4-9 season in 2017 and a 5-7 debut Big 12 campaign, Sitake is 29-4 over the last two and a half seasons, and the Cougars sit at No. 2, their highest ranking since the 1984 national championship.
Other names include Houston's Willie Fritz, 17-4 over the last year and a half after a 4-8 debut; former Florida coach Billy Napier, now 7-0 at James Madison and 49-12 combined at Louisiana and JMU; UTSA's Jeff Traylor, whose Roadrunners are 6-1 and atop the American; and Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who cut points allowed from 28.8 to 14.7 after the Penn State collapse.
Second Chances Paying Off Across the Country
Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly made the list too, befuddling Big Ten defenses with the 5-1 Wildcats, who are averaging 6.7 yards per play against a school record of 6.2 set in 2005. Wake Forest's Dan Enos has the Demon Deacons at 6-1 and averaging 37.4 points per game, with quarterback Gio Lopez throwing 17 touchdowns against one interception.
Bobby Petrino is coaxing production out of North Carolina, and Arizona's staff earned a collective nod: head coach Brent Brennan is 14-5 since a 4-8 debut, and defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales has cut the Wildcats' scoring defense from 31.8 points allowed per game in 2024 to 19 this year.
The theme extends beyond the SI list. Saturday Blitz recently identified Wisconsin's Luke Fickell, Baylor's Dave Aranda and North Carolina's Bill Belichick as coaches who cooled their hot seats in 2026,