All of the sudden, the SEC has become the most interesting football conference in the country. And the reason has almost nothing to do with the fact that Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss are in the College Football Playoff hunt.
Instead, it has everything to do with coaches that won’t be in place until the 2026 season and intrigue surrounding one current SEC coach whose name is being tied to two vacant jobs at other SEC schools.
That’s Lane Kiffin, who currently has Ole Miss at 7-1. In ordinary times, fans wouldn’t be speculating about Kiffin jumping ship. But these aren’t ordinary times because jobs at schools with legendary football histories don’t come open very often. Fans already were throwing Kiffin’s name for the Florida job after Billy Napier was fired on Oct. 19. Now, Kiffin’s name is being connected by fans to another job after LSU coach Brian Kelly was fired Wednesday.
Here’s a look at the fan favorites to take over at LSU:
LANE KIFFIN
His recent success has Kiffin in great standing at LSU. So, why does Kiffin’s name keep getting mentioned for other jobs? He has lots of SEC experience in his background and has a long history of a willingness to jump jobs.
Kiffin is a known social climber who has parlayed being the son of legendary NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin into a long coaching career with many stops along the way. LSU and Florida might be down right now, but, historically, they’re two of the most storied programs in the SEC and the nation and both schools have plenty of financial support. Kiffin could view either job as a challenge where he could restore prominence to a once-great program and potentially land a big paycheck.
If Kiffin, who has been head coach at Tennessee and offensive coordinator at Alabama, really would consider leaving Ole Miss, the LSU job might have jumped ahead of the Florida job the second it came open. In Louisiana, LSU is the biggest show in the state and the Tigers won a national title as recently as 2019. It could be easier to get LSU back to the national forefront than it would be to pull off the same trick at Florida, where any football coach would run the risk of being overshadowed by the basketball program and other football programs within the state, who share the same recruiting territory.
JON SUMRALL
LSU also could be very tempted to make a run at Sumrall, who is located in the backyard at Tulane. Sumrall has had success at Tulane and is familiar to fans in Louisiana. It’s safe to assume the people making that ultimately will make the decision on who LSU hires also are very aware of Sumrall and what he’s done at Tulane. Sumrall has some SEC experience as a former Ole Miss and, as the former head coach at Troy, he knows some of LSU’s prime recruiting territory very well.
JOE BRADY
He’s in the NFL as offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, but Brady is a very logical candidate for the LSU job. Fans in Baton Rouge still fondly remember his highly-successful time as LSU’s offensive coordinator. In that role in the 2019 season, Brady helped guide Joe Burrow to the Heisman Trophy and the Tigers to their last national championship.
ELIAH DRINKWITZ
Like Kiffin, the current Missouri coach is an SEC coach that might consider jumping ship. Drinkwitz has done a fantastic job, but he might already be maxing out the potential of a Missouri program that’s never been viewed among the nation’s elite. Drinkwitz could see LSU, and its vast resources and rich recruiting territory, as a challenge and a step up.
MARCUS FREEMAN
After Kiffin, Sumrall, Brady and Drinkwitz, everyone else is a long shot for the LSU job. But Freeman, the current Notre Dame coach, has had his name tossed around by the media. A move to LSU is not totally out of the realm of possibility.
But does LSU really want to replace Kelly with the guy who took his place at Notre Dame? Perhaps more importantly, would Freeman really want to leave a one-time national power that’s well on its way to returning to glory? Also, Freeman has never coached in the SEC or anywhere in the South.
BRENT KEY
The current Georgia Tech coach has spent much of his coaching career — and life — in the Deep South. He went to school at Georgia Tech and was the offensive line coach at Alabama for three seasons. He also spent more than a decade at Central Florida and LSU considers the Sunshine State as part of its recruiting territory.
NICK SABAN
Okay, Saban is the longest of long shots and seems very happy in retirement. But Saban is one of the best coaches in college football history and he once made magic in Baton Rogue as LSU’s head coach from 2000 through 2004. Don’t LSU officials owe it to fans and to themselves to at least call Saban and give him the opportunity to say no?
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