Coaching carousel 2025-26

[countrytider]

Nope. Maybe three years ago, but now I'm not sure.

OM is in the CFP this year, LSU isn't. OM has the cash to stay where they are, LSU might, we just don't know.

The reality is in the modern game, LSU isn't necessarily a better gig than OM, and he has OM where they need to be, but he's not only leaving, he's leaving the team high and dry. Just like a player who decides to quit on his team mid-season, Kiffin has shown he cares only about the money, the players can pound sand.

Maybe Kiffin is the norm in CFB - he likely is - but that doesn't mean I don't hate the lack of character.

LSU is the better job. Orgeron and Les Miles won NC’s there. Orgeron got fired at Ole Miss.

Yeah, LSU hasn’t been great lately but that doesn’t mean they aren’t the better program by a long shot even in this NIL area.

Would you leave LSU to go to Ole Miss?

It’s why Saban advised him to take the LSU job.

It really is no comparison but you’re entitled to your opinion.

 

[bvandegraff]

Not a Scarbinsky fan but this does give Barn people (particularly my son) some concern. His first words were “Hope we didn’t back up the Brinks truck to get him”. $7.5 million base that could bring $9 million or more per year based on incentives.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1995172876647878666

but hey, he played Bama close once.

 

[81usaf92]

With current setup, I don’t see how waiting until the end of the playoffs would be an option.

Again, even if you don’t think the way Saban handled leaving Miami is comparable, how do you explain Saban recommending Kiffin take the LSU job?

Then turn around and bash Kiffin for doing it, but without a solution for HOW it should have been done.

It’s just Kiffin hate, plain and simple. It was a no win situation for Kiffin and that’s why nobody can answer my question of how it should have been handled, nor explain how Saban would advise Kiffin to make the move, but just two years ago Saban was one of the MAJOR reasons Bama didn’t hire him.

It makes no sense. So instead of face-palming my posts, tell me how it should have been handled with the current setup…

1) What does Saban recommending Kiffin to LSU have to do with anything? That is what we call a straw man to the argument you are trying to address which is “Kiffin didn’t mishandle this”. Kiffin’s mishandling with this and Saban recommending him taking the job have nothing to do with each other with the exception of him taking the job.

2) I agree with the idea that Kiffin had to make a decision fast because LSU is a premium job and the early signing day makes it paramount for him to start immediately. LSU would likely rescind their offer and moved towards Sumrall had Kiffin not given an answer by Saturday night.

However, the second he took the job is the second he should have been out of Oxford. There really is not a rational argument for him staying and coaching out the playoffs while being the HC of a direct rival team

3) Your Kiffin obsession is preventing you from reading the countless responses of how this should have been handled. I don’t know how many times it has to be said that he should have never made it about him and either took the job or stayed instead of making LeBron’s “the decision” look like a more appropriate way of handling a professional decision. The fact that Marty Smith was held hostage for over 75 hours is enough to tell you that it wasn’t a good way to handle it.

 

[bamajas]

Man spending all that money to jump in an already picked over coaching pool is just…..bananas. It probably is past time to make this move but there’s just no way you’re getting a better coach. If a literal move is gonna cost you that much….must don’t do it. Maybe they’ll snag some nfl coach that got fired. Heck even mora took a new job already. There’s just the James Madison guy left and he’s rumored to Penn st. They are gonna have to have 50 something mill ready to go immediately. Buyouts plus new coaches first year salaries…..just wow

Will Stein from Oregon could be in play. Grew up in KY

 

[crimsonaudio]

LSU is the better job. Orgeron and Les Miles won NC’s there. Orgeron got fired at Ole Miss.

Yeah, LSU hasn’t been great lately but that doesn’t mean they aren’t the better program by a long shot even in this NIL area.

Would you leave LSU to go to Ole Miss?

It’s why Saban advised him to take the LSU job.

It really is no comparison but you’re entitled to your opinion.

Your entire viewpoint is ignoring NIL.

In 2026, LSU isn't a better job than OM. Especially if OM wins a NC in 2025.

But keep holding on to historic norms. CFB has been ruined by the money, and that means things have changed.

 

[CB4]

Man spending all that money to jump in an already picked over coaching pool is just…..bananas. It probably is past time to make this move but there’s just no way you’re getting a better coach. If a literal move is gonna cost you that much….must don’t do it. Maybe they’ll snag some nfl coach that got fired. Heck even mora took a new job already. There’s just the James Madison guy left and he’s rumored to Penn st. They are gonna have to have 50 something mill ready to go immediately. Buyouts plus new coaches first year salaries…..just wow

It was a discussion I had with my Kentucky friend just two weeks ago. The buyout was the only thing keeping him in the job. Kentucky people will drop millions to get rid of/go get the guy they want in basketball. Those that care about football there don’t carry that kind of clout, especially after the PTB spent a huge junk in basketball for NIL.

Stoops probably had another year….until they lost the last two games by a combined score of 86-17.

I agree it’s a terrible time to jump into the coaching search pool, particularly for a program that doesn’t have a bunch historically in football to “hang their hat on”.
But the PTB at UK had to do something, or else the perception is that they simply don’t care about football.

 

[81usaf92]

LSU is the better job. Orgeron and Les Miles won NC’s there. Orgeron got fired at Ole Miss.

Yeah, LSU hasn’t been great lately but that doesn’t mean they aren’t the better program by a long shot even in this NIL area.

Would you leave LSU to go to Ole Miss?

It’s why Saban advised him to take the LSU job.

It really is no comparison but you’re entitled to your opinion.

Good god, no one is arguing that LSU isn’t a better historic job than Ole Miss. His ultimate decision wasn’t irrational or wrong. How he did it was totally Tennessee 2009 all over again just on a bigger and dumber scale. But leave it to lane to remind everyone who he truly is. He is basically Rush Propst in reinventing himself to a more “mature and humble” man only to reveal it’s just a ruse to get the spotlight on him.

 

[Rocky Mtn Bob]

My buddy up in Lexington is saying Stoops is out at Kentucky.

Edit: Nothing on SM at this point, but he’s pretty well connected to folks in athletic department there..

Geez! CB is one *connected* dude!

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

Here’s hoping that LSU continues it’s decent towards the mediocrity from where it was before Saban.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Good god, no one is arguing that LSU isn’t a better historic job than Ole Miss. His ultimate decision wasn’t irrational or wrong. How he did it was totally Tennessee 2009 all over again just on a bigger and dumber scale. But leave it to lane to remind everyone who he truly is. He is basically Rush Propst in reinventing himself to a more “mature and humble” man only to reveal it’s just a ruse to get the spotlight on him.

I'd argue that in 2025-2026 LSU might not be the better job it obviously was just a few years ago.

Time will well, but LSU isn't exactly riddled with cash...

 

[AlexanderFan]

All you guys bashing Kiffin for leaving, all agree LSU is the better job, right? So we can’t fault him for that.

We also know that Saban, along with Pete Carroll, advised Kiffin to take the LSU job.

Let’s not pretend Saban handled leaving the Dolphins the right way.

Kiffin clearly wanted to stay with his players and be allowed to coach the playoffs, and the players wanted him to stay.

So if you recognize LSU as the better job, (and it is), but you’re bashing him for how he handled a no-win situation

I get it, the easiest thing in the world to do is bash Lane Kiffin, but the Ole Miss AD forced him into a corner with an ultimatum.

It’s the system, not Kiffin.

How would you guys have handled it?

Edit to add: I find it strange Saban recommend he go to LSU, but was clearly against him being hired at Bama for all of his unforgivable sins.

He took the job and validated every criticism that has ever been levied against him. Yes, Kiffin is absolutely to blame.

You have a team in the playoffs and you want to leave for that corn dog dumpster fire? There’s no way LSU is the better job right now, especially with the governor involved.

There’s nothing Kiffin can do at LSU that hasn’t already been done, other than not win a national championship at a school that the ogre did.

He has Ole Miss in uncharted waters and would be their Bear Bryant at his current trajectory.

 

[CB4]

Geez! CB is one *connected* dude!

Not really. My friend played football in the 1980’s in the ACC. Then spent a bunch of years on administrative staff at several different SEC/ACC schools.

He knows people. And he doesn’t “rumor monger”. He doesn’t say anything unless he’s pretty certain.

 

[countrytider]

However, the second he took the job is the second he should have been out of Oxford. There really is not a rational argument for him staying and coaching out the playoffs while being the HC of a direct rival team

3) Your Kiffin obsession is preventing you from reading the countless responses of how this should have been handled.

Ironically, your point about him needing to get out of there after accepting the LSU job, is the reason he is being bashed leaving his team "high and dry" on the cusp of the playoffs. Again - no win.

I have no obsession with Kiffin. Like I mentioned earlier, I could easily say the same thing about the vast majority of the Kiffin haters - it's keeping them from looking at it objectively, and all that's being said is he has done Ole Miss so wrong, and it could have been handled so much better, but again, no details as to how.

My point about Saban is, why would he steer Kiffin to LSU, for a career move, but everyone under the sun knows had Kiffin had the support of Saban a few years ago, he would have been Bama's coach instead of Deboer.

 

[Joefus]

Will Stein from Oregon could be in play. Grew up in

Will Stein from Oregon could be in play. Grew up in KY

Anything that weakens Oregon is ok with me!

 

[Joefus]

I'd argue that in 2025-2026 LSU might not be the better job it obviously was just a few years ago.

Time will well, but LSU isn't exactly riddled with cash...

This is what I want to know. Where are these schools getting all this money??? Kentucky ponying up 50-60 mill upfront, lsu paying kiffin what 14 mill a year plus giant asst coach contracts and 20 mill in nil all while paying off ogeron and kelly…...are we the poors here? Do we have that money? If so why aren’t we dumping insane money into our nil?

 

[countrytider]

He took the job and validated every criticism that has ever been levied against him. Yes, Kiffin is absolutely to blame.

You have a team in the playoffs and you want to leave for that corn dog dumpster fire? There’s no way LSU is the better job right now, especially with the governor involved.

There’s nothing Kiffin can do at LSU that hasn’t already been done, other than not win a national championship at a school that the ogre did.

He has Ole Miss in uncharted waters and would be their Bear Bryant at his current trajectory.

Haha, you guys really can't answer my question how he could have handled things differently...

so now you're all joining together to somehow pretend the Ole Miss job is better than the LSU job.

No, it's not. I guess just wow.

Ole Miss is where they are BECAUSE of Kiffin. Not because it's a great job. It's impressive what he accomplished at Ole Miss.

Orge was fired from Ole Miss but won a title at LSU. Let that sink in.

Les Miles won a title, and played for another while winning a couple of SEC titles in 11 seasons.

He never could have done that at Ole Miss.

You can say a lot of things, but if you think Ole Miss is the better job overall than Ole Miss, it really invalidates any other point made.

 

[Rocky Mtn Bob]

... LSU isn't exactly riddled with cash...

And lots of the cash they have access to is obligated elsewhere. (Crazy times.)

 

[crimsonaudio]

This is what I want to know. Where are these schools getting all this money??? Kentucky ponying up 50-60 mill upfront, lsu paying kiffin what 14 mill a year plus giant asst coach contracts and 20 mill in nil all while paying off ogeron and kelly…...are we the poors here? Do we have that money? If so why aren’t we dumping insane money into our nil?

Power and Payroll: Which SEC Teams Spent the Most Ahead of the 2025 Season?

August 5, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, AL - As the Southeastern Conference (SEC) enters the 2025 season with a new 16-team format, the financial arms race among its member schools has reached unprecedented levels. With Texas and Oklahoma now fully integrated into the league, the competition isn't just on...

www.alabamagazette.com

 

[AlexanderFan]

Haha, you guys really can't answer my question how he could have handled things differently...

so now you're all joining together to somehow pretend the Ole Miss job is better than the LSU job.

No, it's not. I guess just wow.

Ole Miss is where they are BECAUSE of Kiffin. Not because it's a great job. It's impressive what he accomplished at Ole Miss.

Orge was fired from Ole Miss but won a title at LSU. Let that sink in.

Les Miles won a title, and played for another while winning a couple of SEC titles in 11 seasons.

He never could have done that at Ole Miss.

You can say a lot of things, but if you think Ole Miss is the better job overall than Ole Miss, it really invalidates any other point made.

He could’ve declined the job. If LSU wanted him so bad they could’ve waited to hire him.

 

[bamamc1]

Geez! CB is one *connected* dude!

At least he’s not saying: “From what I’m hearing”.