Mark Knudson

As the song says, there’s a thin line between love and hate. No one knows that better than football coaches.

Win your first five games, crack the national rankings and get the fan base fired up about your postseason possibilities, and everybody loves you. Have your best player get hurt and lose your next four games, and they want to run you out of town.

A month ago, Colorado football coach Mark MacIntyre’s Buffaloes looked like the region’s lone football bright spot and lone postseason team.

Vance Joseph's Denver Broncos certainly aren’t playoff bound, and Joseph’s been on his hot seat since last season. He may not make it through the current season.

Mike Bobo’s CSU Rams inexplicably dropped their opener at home to Hawaii and, save for an upset win over Arkansas, appear to be a program in regression. There’s a groundswell of support building for his removal after what many expect to end up as a 3-9 campaign.

Even Craig Bohl at Wyoming, seen by many as a perfect fit in Laramie, saw his team struggle out of the gate and has endured some rumblings.

CU's four straight losses, with three challenging games left, means the Buffs need one more to win to become bowl-eligible. Odds are that they’ll get at least one win and make a low-level bowl game. Will that take the heat off Coach Mac? Probably not.

Buffs fans are either all in — as they were in 2016 when MacIntyre coached Colorado to a stunning Pac 12 South Division title and was named National Coach of the Year — or they abandon ship, as many are doing right now.

Buffs fans should see how crippling the loss of standout playmaker Laviska Shenault has been and how the list of other injuries has bogged them down on both sides of the ball. Shenault was having an award-winning kind of season before suffering a painful turf-toe injury against USC.

This was not a deep roster to begin with, so injuries have been a season-killer. Going in, those who follow the team closely expected a better season than last year, when many thought the five-win Buffs underachieved. Improvement was expected, but nothing like another Pac 12 South title was predicted. Most said Colorado would be a seven-win bowl team. That could still happen.

Unlike Joseph, MacIntyre didn’t enter the season under scrutiny about whether or not he was fit for the gig. Unlike Bobo, he didn’t enter the season viewed as having not met expectations. He’s the only coach in the region to win much of anything recently.

Still, Buffs fans are already putting together a list of potential replacements. Offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini, in his first season calling plays at the Power Five level, is seen as an up-and-comer future head coach who most feel isn’t quite ready for that job just yet.

Old school Buffs fans are quick to throw out the name Dave Logan, a former Buff and NFL player, local media personality and head coach at Cherry Creek High School. But Logan’s lack of college coaching experience is seen as a deal-breaker by most.

CU fans will always aim high, so former CU assistant/LSU head coach Les Miles' name is sure to surface in speculation.

Current Colorado athletic director Rick George did not hire MacIntyre, and it’s pretty common for an AD to bring in his own hand-picked head football coach. It was George who was most responsible for bringing Jim Leavitt in as Buffs defensive coordinator prior to the 2016 season.

Leavitt, the former successful head coach at South Florida and longtime assistant in college and the NFL, oversaw a defensive transformation at CU before leaving to become the DC at Oregon at the end of that magical 2016 season. It’s no secret Leavitt wants to be a head coach again. And he loves Boulder.

It’s an unforgiving business, this football coaching stuff. Not much — if any — long-term job security. That’s why coaches' resumes often need an extra page or two to list all their stops along the way. It’s a strong bet that our region sees at least one, if not more, coaching change after this season, whether it’s smart, fair or not.

Listen to Mark Knudson at 11:30 Monday mornings with Brady Hull on “The Hull Show” on AM 1310 KFKA Greeley.