It Is Officially Flight Tracking Season In College Football

If you are a fan of a perennially underperforming college football program, you are painfully aware that once the season kicks off, you'll probably be needing other things to occupy your attention when it becomes obvious your team isn't going anywhere.

While it isn't obvious to both casual observers and fans of real powerhouse programs alike, there are several "seasons within the season" during any given year of college football.

On Sunday, a couple of firings signified that we are entering one of my personal favorite parts of the college football calendar: flight tracking season.

Oh boy! Fire up those FlightAware accounts and head to your college town's municipal airport, boys and girls, because it's so on!

Thanks to Virginia Tech and UCLA axing their head coaches, the first few dominoes of the coaching carousel have fallen, and if some of the zany results from these first three weeks of the season are any indicator, this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

There is nothing quite like the excitement that comes with following X accounts to see where your school's athletic director has traveled in the weeks that follow a head coach's firing.

It almost breathes new life into a once dead season.

UCLA and Virginia Tech are relatively high-profile jobs, but there could be some pretty big-name openings on the horizon if things continue to play out like they have been so far this season.

The first, and most immediate one, is Florida.

It's the program I have the most intimate knowledge of, obviously, and from everything I have heard, the next loss for Billy Napier might be his last in Gainesville.

Another pair of job openings people might want to keep an eye on are in the SEC.

South Carolina came into the season with heightened expectations thanks to talented returning starters like LaNorris Sellers, Nyck Harbor, and Dylan Stewart, among others.

After squeaking out a win against an obviously hapless Virginia Tech squad and getting obliterated by perennial SEC doormat Vanderbilt, the heat may start to rise ever so slightly on coach Shane Beamer's seat.

I don't think they will pull the plug on him this year, especially with Sellers suffering a significant injury on Saturday, but I've seen crazier things happen.

There's also a chance he could leave South Carolina on his own volition for the Virginia Tech job, with the familial ties being too strong to ignore.

Arkansas is another Southeastern school to watch for in the coming weeks.

The Razorbacks had Ole Miss right where they wanted them until choking away a potential game-winning possession late in the fourth quarter.

Sam Pittman rescued himself from the depths of despair once before, but patience seems to be wearing thin in Fayettville. 

Finally, and this one may be a stretch considering all he's done for the program, but I think the new age version of college football has passed Clemson coach Dabo Swinney by.

The Tigers came into 2025 as one of the favorites to win a National Championship, but after dropping a close game to upset-minded Georgia Tech to fall to 1-2 on the season, those title aspirations seem all but buried.

I'm not sure what the future holds for Swinney or Clemson, but there is a chance the school and their two-time championship-winning head coach decide to mutually part ways at the end of the season, leaving one of the most coveted jobs in America served up on a silver platter for whoever wants it.

It remains to be seen what happens with all these schools, not to mention the countless other jobs that could spring up seemingly out of nowhere in the coming weeks, but one thing is for sure: flight tracking season is officially upon us.

So keep refreshing X, memorize those airplane tail numbers, and revel in the hope of an unconfirmed trip to South Bend by your school's athletic director.

For most of us, that hope is all we have left as fans to get us through another long season.