Just when you think you’ve finally gotten a quiet week on the coaching market, LSU comes down from the top rope.
Brian Kelly is no more for LSU, as the head coach has been dismissed by athletic director Scott Woodward in what was one of the messiest firings to date in this crazy carousel cycle. That brings the total number of available jobs to 12. It’s October, by the way.
As with every job that opens, welcome to the LSU Coaching Shortlist. You can find our others here. Here, you’ll get two things: an overview of the job, such as expectations, circumstances, and things to understand; as well as the top five candidates that make sense to me. When looking at those candidates, take them as speculation unless otherwise noted. I do have some sources, so I’ll let you know when I’m hearing things.
But, you’re not here to hear about that. Let’s dissect what led us here and what’s next for LSU.
The Job
Next to Penn State, LSU is a strong contender for the best job on the market. It’s as blue a blood as they come, with a voracious fan base, recently invigorated boosters, championship-ready roster and top-notch brand. Chances are, even if you don’t know college football, you know LSU.
But those can be a double-edged sword, as Kelly learned in his three-plus years in Baton Rouge. Kelly wasn’t bad, he engineered a 34-14 record with the Tigers and developed stars like Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, NFL standouts Malik Nabers, Will Campbell, and Brian Thomas Jr., as well as star college football players like Whit Weeks, Garrett Nussmeier and Harold Perkins Jr.
Even with that, Kelly came up short. He never had a season with less than three losses. Despite having Daniels, Nabers and Thomas on the same offense, his Tigers never made the playoff or made much noise in the SEC race. At a program like LSU, where their past three head coaches each won national championships in their first four seasons, that was damning.
Well, that and Kelly’s general vibes. You see, he’s not the most likeable character. It’s been reported he doesn’t treat his players the nicest and often criticizes them instead of taking the blame for losses. He’s not the best with the media. You may be reading these and say you yourself, that’s just what college coaches do. And that’s sometimes true, as long as you’re winning. Kelly’s Tigers weren’t doing that at the rate they expected.
It’s not just Kelly’s demeanor that spoiled his LSU tenure, though. That’s just a drop in the bucket from what happened this weekend following the loss to Texas A&M. Kelly and LSU administration simply couldn’t coexist anymore.
We have to go back a bit in time to 2022, when Kelly took over the LSU job. Like you see many places, Kelly decided to clean house, sending most of the staff from the Ed Orgeron days out the door. And that included longtime strength coach Tony Moffitt, who had been with LSU for 21 seasons and each of their past three national championship. And, you know, is regarded as one of the best strength coaches out there.
No matter, Kelly sent him packing. Moffitt landed at Texas A&M under Mike Elko for the past two seasons. Both of which included the Aggies dominating Kelly’s LSU in the trenches and in conditioning. Maybe that’s due to Moffitt taping a picture of Kelly’s face to tackling dummies ahead of this year’s contest to get the Texas A&M team ready to decimate his hated colleague. Who’s to say?
We can say that move ruffled the feathers of LSU administration - particularly athletic director Scott Woodward. Woodward is a strong fan of Moffitt’s, and had other staffing suggestions for Kelly. Namely, letting go of offensive coordinator Joe Sloan due to the stagnation of the offense. According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Ralph D. Russo, Kelly refused. More than that, he fired back with other staffing moves that further ruffled the feathers of Woodward. Feldman and Russo reported that the conversation got worse, with Kelly repeatedly pushing back against the athletic director. Louisiana governor Jeff Landry was mobilized to meet with donors, looking for the buyout money.
He got it and Woodward sent Kelly packing.
According to FootballScoop’s John Brice, it wasn’t just Woodward that was over Kelly. The building had lost confidence in their leader. Brice received a text from a “top-level college assistant” on Sunday ahead of Kelly’s firing, stating “It seems over for poor ole B.K., man. He was texting me and saying he wished I could have helped him fix it.”
This is a tough job, one that may have been too tough for Kelly. Not because of the position itself - LSU is a place you can definitely win at. More because of the expectations. This is a place that only looks at National Championships. If you don’t win one, that’s it. And, with how prickly Kelly could be, he didn’t earn himself any grace.
Woodward will oversee the hiring process. He has a muddy resume on the gridiron, bringing Kelly to LSU and handing Jimbo Fisher his ill-fated Texas A&M contract at his last stop. But he’s worked wonders in other sports, hiring Jay Johnson for the Tiger baseball program and Kim Mulkey in women’s basketball. Both have won national championships.
Still, there is variability here. The university is without a president. Since they are a public school, Gov. Landry is acting in that role, hence his involvement in the process here. And Woodward’s job is hinging on this hire, no matter how successful Johnson and Mulkey have been.
The Candidates
So far, Woodward’s shown a propensity for going for big-name coaches. Both Fisher and Kelly were well-established coaches prior to their hires by Woodward. Mulkey already won a National Championship at Baylor, including a 40-0 season, prior to her time in Baton Rouge. Johnson already had two College World Series appearances from Arizona on his resume.
It’s fair to assume that Woodward, whether it’s for the best or not, is swinging big again.
With that in mind, here’s my top five candidates. As usual, all of this is speculation unless otherwise noted.
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss HC: The Lane Train is going to get paid. We covered Kiffin in depth for the Florida job, but I expect him to also get a hard, long look here. No matter where he ends up - even if that’s staying at Ole Miss - Kiffin is going to break the bank. That price keeps going up with each Ole Miss win and each high-profile firing.
Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri HC: We also talked about Drinkwitz with Florida. Personally, from what I’ve gotten from sources in the building, I don’t know if Drinkwitz is considering a leave, but a big bag and the potential for another middling season with the quarterback position decimated by injury makes this more of a possibility.
Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills OC: Brady has been with LSU before, piloting the 2019 LSU offense that may be considered the best of all time in college football. He doesn’t have any head coaching experience, and his interest in the college game is unknown. But he has a big name. He’s getting NFL head coaching buzz for his work with Josh Allen in addition to his time at LSU, so Woodward will have to work fast to nail this down.
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt HC: Lea has done nothing short of working a miracle, turning one of the nation’s perennial cellar dwellers into bona fide playoff contenders for the first time ever. Much of that can be attributed to the presence of Diego Pavia, one of the most program transcendent players of all time, but also to the culture Lea’s built up. He’s starting to flex some recruiting muscles, hosting five-star quarterback Jared Curtis as a possible flip from Georgia. And he’s built this team through the trenches, bringing them to a sustainable top team in the SEC. It’s not the biggest name, but Lea will get a look. He’s also at his alma mater, which makes the move a little tougher.
Dan Lanning, Oregon HC: This would really shake up the carousel, wouldn’t it? Lanning is an SEC guy, coming up under Kirby Smart at Georgia. He’s taken Oregon to the next level, with another Playoff appearance likely coming. His teams are well-balanced and tough at all levels and, unlike Kelly, Lanning seems to have a good, strong relationship with his players. Still, he seems to feel good staying in Eugene long-term, now with the Ducks at the top of the other Big Two conference and Phil Knight bankrolling whatever he wants. Even if that’s an extension after taking some calls from SEC schools.
Bonus name: Nick Saban. He’s not taking the job, but you bet Woodward is giving the GOAT a call. Saban’s been shooting down rumors of him returning to the sideline, but the way he structured his statement interested me some. For someone who’s wife supposedly wanted him to retire, hearing she can be swayed by a big paycheck might leave the door open. It’s incredibly unlikely, but the call has likely already been placed.
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I know Clark Lea is going to be a hot name this off season, but as a Spartan, it seems risky to hire a coach like this. Turns out, Mel Tucker was less of a great coach and more just got lucky pulling Kenneth Walker out of the portal. One guy can make your career. Also, I'm looking forward to your write up on MSU when we finally get around to firing Smith.