Gene Chizik, Frank Spaziani and Danny Hope got the pink slips many expected were coming after disappointing seasons.

North Carolina State getting rid of Tom O’Brien took more than a few people off guard. So did Colorado letting Jon Embree go after only two seasons.

Sunday was a tumultuous one around college football, with five coaches losing their jobs to bring the total openings in FBS to 12 — including four in the Southeastern Conference.

Chizik was fired by Auburn after one of the most stunning and dramatic falls in college football history. The Tigers won the second national championship in program history behind Cam Newton in 2010. This season, Auburn finished 3-9 and did not win an SEC game. The Tigers lost the Iron Bowl 49-0 to rival Alabama.

Auburn endured the worst slide within two years of winning a national championship of any team since The Associated Press poll started in 1936 and hadn’t lost this many games since going 0-10 in 1950. The decision came 17 months after Auburn gave Chizik a contract worth some $3.5 million annually through 2015 with a hefty buyout of $7.5 million.