***2025-26 CFB Coaching Carousel***

[Clonehomer]

I strongly disagree with a lot of this but mainly the part of the GM doing the recruiting. The coaches will still be front and center of that and leading the way. You’re not playing for the GM you are playing for the poaching staff.

The GM will handle NIL totally agree but the actual recruiting is still being done by coaches the vast majority of the time

I think the Stanford model will become the norm very soon. Luck builds the team, Reich coaches the team.

Also, NIL is the recruiting for many of the top athletes. I think the coach certainly will have the say in who they go after. But the legwork will not be done by the coach nearly as much as in the past.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I think the Stanford model will become the norm very soon. Luck builds the team, Reich coaches the team.

Also, NIL is the recruiting for many of the top athletes. I think the coach certainly will have the say in who they go after. But the legwork will not be done by the coach nearly as much as in the past.

Agree to disagree and holding up Stanford as the model is kinda a wild take but I like the thought process.

NIL is part of the recruiting but again only those top 5 stars are getting the huge NIL deals and they are still going to traditional powers unless they take a bag from TT for a year. Players also want to play and move to the NFL so the bag only goes so far for so long even for top talent.

 

[Marcelason78]

But to whom though? For as many jobs that are open, the talent pool of names ready to make that jump isn’t that big. Can you lure a retired coach back, probably. But with the way CFB has changed that’s one hell of a risk.

I can see them paying Kiffin that amount of money. But who else would deserve that? You gonna pull someone from the NFL with that amount?

His list was Meyer, Saban, (admitted both unlikely), Lanning (skeptical he leaves Oregon) and ended with Kiffin.
I’m a little surprised that Jon Gruden doesn’t make many of these lists.

 

[JP4CY]

Guys that have gone to the NFL aren't coming back to the cesspool that is college football. They're staying where they don't have to recruit, can just do football and everyone has to play by the same rules.

I wonder if Gruden could/would coach at somewhere like Florida.

 

[JP4CY]

Going to be tough for Vandy to retain their coach.

 

[Kinch]

Joel Klatt’s latest pod has him predicting LSU will offer $15 million/yr for their next guy. Wow.

And they paid $11 million for Kelly. I hope LSU becomes like Mississippi State.

 

[DGC]

I wonder what qualified as an "attempt" to get a new job?

Interviewer: "So why do you want this job?"

Coach: "I'm just required to be here but don't really want the job."

LOL

Knew somebody that got laid off when the factory he worked at closed. He was paid unemployment plus paid for him to go to school to learn a new skill. He was required to apply for so many jobs per month. He applied for jobs that he was grossly underqualified for so that he would not get hired so he could finish school.

 

[gipper2001]

If we're talking strictly about onfield success over the last two decades, agreed. However, I'm not 100% certain that equates to a "better job". I keep getting reminded that Alabama and LSU don't have the money that most people think they have. Meanwhile, it's hard to imagine that Florida doesn't have an insane amount of money. If they can ever get their **** together it's not hard to imagine them being a better job than Alabama or LSU - especially in this age where money means so much more.

I agree that Florida is a great job but they have challenges that Alabama and LSU don't really face. LSU is king of their state, no other college program comes close. Alabama competes with Auburn, but that's it. Rarely does Bama lose recruits to Auburn. Florida has to compete with Florida State and Miami with South Florida and Central Florida picking up the scraps. After firing Kelly, no analyst thinks Florida is a better job than LSU and if Bama somehow opened up the same would be true for that comparison.

Florida is a great recruiting state, second to only Texas and maybe to Georgia. But nowadays every top school can recruit every state, Ohio State and other non-SEC schools regularly poach from Florida and Texas. With NIL money, location and proximity to campus seem secondary to recruits over money and NFL pedigree and that's where Alabama and LSU dominate over Florida in the last 20 years. Florida last won a conference championship in 2008, the same year of their last national championship. Urban Meyer left in 2010 and its been tough sledding since..

 

[Kinch]

Joel Klatt’s latest pod has him predicting LSU will offer $15 million/yr for their next guy. Wow.

Can you imagine the buyout on a 10 year guaranteed contract? Would be north of Jimbos.

 

[Kinch]

I agree that Florida is a great job but they have challenges that Alabama and LSU don't really face. LSU is king of their state, no other college program comes close. Alabama competes with Auburn, but that's it. Rarely does Bama lose recruits to Auburn. Florida has to compete with Florida State and Miami with South Florida and Central Florida picking up the scraps. After firing Kelly, no analyst thinks Florida is a better job than LSU and if Bama somehow opened up the same would be true for that comparison.

Florida is a great recruiting state, second to only Texas and maybe to Georgia. But nowadays every top school can recruit every state, Ohio State and other non-SEC schools regularly poach from Florida and Texas. With NIL money, location and proximity to campus seem secondary to recruits over money and NFL pedigree and that's where Alabama and LSU dominate over Florida in the last 20 years. Florida last won a conference championship in 2008, the same year of their last national championship. Urban Meyer left in 2010 and its been tough sledding since..

The big drawback with LSU is you basically answer to the governor and during an election year imagine the pressure he or she can bring to the table.

 

[Clonehomer]

His list was Meyer, Saban, (admitted both unlikely), Lanning (skeptical he leaves Oregon) and ended with Kiffin.
I’m a little surprised that Jon Gruden doesn’t make many of these lists.

I guess that’s my line of thinking too. The retired coaches like Saban or Meyer are too far removed to be successful in today’s CFB. So even if they take the job, is it going to end like UNC?

I’m also thinking Lanning stays at Oregon. It’s a nice spot with money, lower expectations, and a cake walk schedule.

So if Kiffin goes to Florida (or stays at Miss), where does LSU go next? There’s not many other names that would excite the fan base IMO. Is Jon Sumrall a big enough name in Louisiana to make the fan base happy?

I could see Diaz jumping at the chance to get back to that level, but he’s not a $10-15m coach.

Leipold and Campbell don’t have the shine they once had.

Rhule has lost himself a chance this year.

Maybe Satterfield gets a look? (PSU?)

 

[deadeyededric]

UCLA has a lot of problems, the Rose Bowl is quite a ways from campus, they are broke and their facilities are good but not great. You are the 2nd fiddle to USC in town, and schools like Oregon have made a huge headway in recruiting in the LA basin the last 10 years. Name will only get you so far, Nebraska has been experiencing that for the past decade.

Even if you had to recruit Oregon and SC's leftovers you'd think there would still be some talent there. There's 20 million people in greater LA alone.

 

[cyclones122]

I take at least some sick pleasure watching all of these firings. With all of these coaching changes, I think a lot of programs are starting to confront the reality that there can only be so many "good" teams in our wonderful new college football system. Through realignment and destruction of the traditional bowl system things are going to start restructuring in terms of pecking order in conferences. There are a lot of programs who got to big fish in small ponds when there were 5 somewhat balanced power conferences. Those same programs seem to struggle with performance now that everything is more difficult and that seasons are "meaningless" once playoff hopes die off. The unfortunate reality is that there are only 12 (16) playoff slots available each year, and too many programs that feel entitled to those slots each year. Its looking like things are rough with those programs now that they're finding out reality may not be as good as envisioned when we blew up the old system.

Completely agree. With these big conferences, someone has to lose. All these entitled top tier programs in each conference think they should be in the playoff every year. Problem is there are going to be numerous teams each year that aren't going to make it - simply because someone has to lose. And I think it is hilarious. They all deserve it.

 

[cytor]

Joel Klatt’s latest pod has him predicting LSU will offer $15 million/yr for their next guy. Wow.

I'll throw my hat in the ring.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Completely agree. With these big conferences, someone has to lose. All these entitled top tier programs in each conference think they should be in the playoff every year. Problem is there are going to be numerous teams each year that aren't going to make it - simply because someone has to lose. And I think it is hilarious. They all deserve it.

I think for a program like LSU this is very sound logic. With some other programs like FSU/PSU their situations are a bit different as they aren’t just not competing for playoffs this year but losing to massively inferior teams. If Franklin didn’t bomb out at UCLA and the team had just done its usual dance of losing to top 5/10 teams then he probably would still be the coach

 

[Clonehomer]

Completely agree. With these big conferences, someone has to lose. All these entitled top tier programs in each conference think they should be in the playoff every year. Problem is there are going to be numerous teams each year that aren't going to make it - simply because someone has to lose. And I think it is hilarious. They all deserve it.

Having the Vanderbilts and Indianas of the world rising up has only accelerated this reality. And the doomsday scrolling of message boards will be epic.

 

[JP4CY]

LSU seems like the type of job that could intrigue Urban, right?
I feel like ND definitely would but after that, there isnt much left out there for him.

 

[Clark]

LSU seems like the type of job that could intrigue Urban, right?
I feel like ND definitely would but after that, there isnt much left out there for him.

Does he still want to coach? He'd have to drastically change his coaching approach if he came back. The bootcamp approach works really well when the players can't realistically go elsewhere. Not sure how well it plays when players can leave whenever they want.

 

[Kinch]

Completely agree. With these big conferences, someone has to lose. All these entitled top tier programs in each conference think they should be in the playoff every year. Problem is there are going to be numerous teams each year that aren't going to make it - simply because someone has to lose. And I think it is hilarious. They all deserve it.

I agree 100 percent. I think the Big 12 playing hardball on the playoffs will force the Big 10 Ads to compromise a little. We are already seeing that in their counter proposal.

 

[Saul_T]

LSU seems like the type of job that could intrigue Urban, right?
I feel like ND definitely would but after that, there isnt much left out there for him.

ND is going to do everything to lock down Freeman. IMO, the only other job he would leave for is OSU. If Freeman does leave, the cultural shift he created will not be followed up with an old head like Urban.