Former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer.

In 17 seasons, Phillip Fulmer led the Tennessee football team to a 152-42 record, including a BCS Championship trophy in 1998.

Tommy Tuberville, in 10 seasons at Auburn, led the Tigers to an 85-40 record, including an undefeated season in 2004.

As of today, both men are no longer college football coaches.

The pressure to win is shooting through the roofs of athletic departments throughout the country. And it’s not just winning with a neatly wrapped three-year plan attached to it anymore.

Win instantly or get canned.

Here are the top three most tenured coaches among the major BCS conferences: Joe Paterno (43 years at Penn State), Bobby Bowden (33 years at Florida State) and Frank Beamer (22 years at Virginia Tech). Unless you’re one of these guys, don’t expect many second chances.

Just ask Tuberville, after his first losing season (5-7) at Auburn in 10 years. Or Fulmer, who took the Volunteers to a bowl game in 15 of his 17 years in Knoxville, Tenn. Like Auburn, Tennessee finished this past season 5-7 and missed a bowl.

For both coaches, survey says? Adios.

This great deal of pressure for coaches to win is most prominently seen in the SEC and Big 12, commonly known as the best two conferences in college football. The SEC and Big 12 have combined to win four of the last five BCS Championships. After the Jan. 8 BCS Championship between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida, they’ll have combined to win five of the last six championships.

But the two conferences have also seen the highest rate of coaching turnover lately. In the past two seasons, SEC and Big 12 teams have made five coaching changes apiece, far and away the most among major BCS conferences. The two conferences have seen 41.7 percent of their coaches get fired, resign or accept other positions in the past two seasons.

Here’s the Big 12 breakdown:

The conference introduced three head coaches this past season: Bo Pelini of Nebraska, Art Briles of Baylor and Mike Sherman of Texas A&M.

With three games remaining in the 2008 season, Ron Prince announced he wouldn’t return as Kansas State coach. Bill Snyder, who coached the Wildcats from 1989 to 2005, will take over in 2009. It didn’t matter that Prince had a better record (17-20) in his first three seasons than Snyder (13-20) in his first three seasons. It’s a different time, with instant results being the driving force behind many coaching changes.

Finally, news broke on Dec. 14 that Gene Chizik was leaving his position as coach of Iowa State and would take over Tuberville’s position as coach of Auburn. Paul Rhoads represented the fifth coach to be introduced by the Big 12 in the last two years and will take over the Cyclones in 2009.

So how long until another Big 12 coach is fired or resigns? Tough to say.

The most tenured coaches in the Big 12: Texas’ Mack Brown (11 years), Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops (10 years), Texas Tech’s Mike Leach (nine years), Missouri’s Gary Pinkel (eight years) and Kansas’ Mark Mangino (seven years).

All five of those coaches, it would seem, have the utmost security at their job posts. But what if one of the following coaches suffers a 5-7 setback in the near future? If Tuberville and Fulmer’s situations in the SEC have proven anything in this new era of instant gratification, don’t count out the wackiest of scenarios.