The college football coaching carousel is in full swing. Virginia Tech has hired James Franklin as its new head coach. Multiple other high-profile jobs are still open, including the one at LSU. Regardless, college football insider Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, speaking on The McShay Show, removed multiple names from the list of potential LSU coaching candidates.
“I’ve always heard LSU money people would not hire a Tulane or a group of five guy. Jon Sumrall is a terrific coach. He’s at Tulane. He played in the SEC, coached in the SEC. I’ve never met anybody who’s been involved in football who was not impressed by him,” Feldman told McShay during the segment. “I would not be surprised if he’s the Auburn head coach. I don’t know if LSU would do it because again, LSU does some nutty stuff and unless they’re backed into a corner, I don’t think they are going to do the thing that may make the most sense. They’re going to do the thing that sounds the coolest at the press conference.”
LSU has a history of making bigger-name hires than a Group of Five head coach. Sumrall is currently the coach at Tulane and does not have power conference head coaching experience. The last time LSU hired a sitting coach from a lower-level program was in 1990, when the Tigers hired Curley Hallman from Southern Miss. Since then, they hired Gerry DiNardo from Vanderbilt, Nick Saban from Michigan State, Les Miles from Oklahoma State, and Brian Kelly from Notre Dame. Ed Orgeron was also the coach after Miles, as he was promoted from within, but had head coaching experience at Ole Miss. Feldman also removed former offensive coordinator Joe Brady from the list.
“I don’t think Joe Brady wants to be. Like he’s not far from getting a head coaching job in the NFL. And just everything I know about Joe is he does not want to work in college,” the insider said.
Feldman also touched on the notion of Lane Kiffin taking the job, but also noted that Kiffin may not want to deal with the dysfunction of the LSU program, given the meddlesome nature of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry with the team.
LSU will attempt to make a splash hire, but will also look to finish the season strong. The Tigers are 6-4 this year, and will face Western Kentucky this week before visiting Oklahoma to end the year.
