My Current Coaching Carousel Predictions

[djw004]

I've long documented my love for the Coaching Carousel - it's the number 2 reason I love College Football so much. With that, and 0 inside information on any of the jobs, and some unlikely but fun scenarios, here are my predictions for those I have predictions on based almost entirely on story lines alone:

1. One of the last to the party, but one of the first to announce: Dabo Swinney to Auburn

• What?! Dabo to Auburn?! Yes. Dabo to Auburn. His book at Clemson has been written. It's done. Move on. He needs to go to a place that loves a southern boy, will spend like lunatics, and be willing to have someone take care of all things "roster" and let him just coach. That's Auburn. Why won't it happen? He's a Bama boy - will he have the stones to do it? I gotta think he felt spurned by Saban leaving and them not going after him. So, a la Bo Schembechler, he reinvigorates the rivalry that doesn't even need reinvigorated. Can you imagine DeBoer vs Saban for the foreseeable future?

2. UCLA: Neuheisel will demand his job with his hair like this, and damn it they will listen or feel the wrath of his inner divorced (cheated on) woman:



3. LSU tries to bottle up 2019 all over again - Joe Brady to lead the Tigers.

• It won't work - and the fan base will simultaneously love and hate it. But he seems like foregone conclusion to become a HC somewhere, just not sure the fans will love his first head gig being in Baton Rouge. BUT with Daboll freed from the Giants, he will go back to Buffalo with his first love, Josh Allen, and Brady needs to go somewhere in that scenario.
• I think Brent Key would be the smart move here. Going toe to toe with Kirby last year - I think Brent Key is honestly one of the best coaches in College Football and LSU would be lucky to have him. Will he leave his alma mater? Probably not. Should he? Definitely.

4. Penn St - if they were smart they'd get Fitzgerald. But they aren't smart - they are criminals. So they will finish off the Felony Bingo Card with known Murderer: Brian Kelly

• He belongs up north. Cincinnati, Notre Dame, then PSU. (I don't actually believe this as he's untouchable with a 10000 ft pole in my opinion) but it would be hilarious and I think Penn State has lost their whole advantage in this whole thing - being the biggest job available a month ago
• My real thought is Will Stein - and that will make for what's become a fun mini rivalry - PSU vs Oregon. They've met a bunch the past few years, and they have been great matchups - why not take their OC who is so close to Lanning to fuel it even more.

5. Florida - They shouldn't do the small school thing again, but they are going to do the small school thing again: Jon Sumrall

• If Auburn doesn't snag him, Florida will. And Auburn does snag him, then Florida will go get Dabo.

6. Arkansas - Who the fuck cares?

7. Okie State: Kliff Kingsbury back to the Big12. He belongs there. He will thrive there. His offense at Okie St can bring them back to what they became in the 2010s

I am also a firm believer that Dillingham should be at a top tier job - I think he's incredible. I get the alma mater, and being close to home, but being in the Big12 and ACC is proving year after year to be step below and you pretty much have to plan on the conference title to be nationally relevant, EVERY SINGLE YEAR. He belongs at a PSU or LSU in my opinion. But I don't hear much about him in this cycle, so maybe he really will go the Campbell route and be a Big 12 lifer.

One thing I haven't heard many, if any talk about, is the trickle down AFTER this first wave. It will be the craziest coaching cycle we've ever seen

 

[HughJanus]

Add in Sark to the NFL for good measure.

 

[djw004]

Add in Sark to the NFL for good measure.

That will be caught in the trickle down post which will feature, (drumroll), Major Applewhite coming home to Texas!

 

[Kazman5k]

I can’t wait for lane to toy with Penn state and Florida fans for weeks just to stay at ole miss

 

[djw004]

I can’t wait for lane to toy with Penn state and Florida fans for weeks just to stay at ole miss

He ain't leaving if you ask me...

 

[V-Doub]

I've long documented my love for the Coaching Carousel - it's the number 2 reason I love College Football so much. With that, and 0 inside information on any of the jobs, and some unlikely but fun scenarios, here are my predictions for those I have predictions on based almost entirely on story lines alone:

1. One of the last to the party, but one of the first to announce: Dabo Swinney to Auburn

• What?! Dabo to Auburn?! Yes. Dabo to Auburn. His book at Clemson has been written. It's done. Move on. He needs to go to a place that loves a southern boy, will spend like lunatics, and be willing to have someone take care of all things "roster" and let him just coach. That's Auburn. Why won't it happen? He's a Bama boy - will he have the stones to do it? I gotta think he felt spurned by Saban leaving and them not going after him. So, a la Bo Schembechler, he reinvigorates the rivalry that doesn't even need reinvigorated. Can you imagine DeBoer vs Saban for the foreseeable future?

2. UCLA: Neuheisel will demand his job with his hair like this, and damn it they will listen or feel the wrath of his inner divorced (cheated on) woman:

View attachment 62060

3. LSU tries to bottle up 2019 all over again - Joe Brady to lead the Tigers.

• It won't work - and the fan base will simultaneously love and hate it. But he seems like foregone conclusion to become a HC somewhere, just not sure the fans will love his first head gig being in Baton Rouge. BUT with Daboll freed from the Giants, he will go back to Buffalo with his first love, Josh Allen, and Brady needs to go somewhere in that scenario.
• I think Brent Key would be the smart move here. Going toe to toe with Kirby last year - I think Brent Key is honestly one of the best coaches in College Football and LSU would be lucky to have him. Will he leave his alma mater? Probably not. Should he? Definitely.

4. Penn St - if they were smart they'd get Fitzgerald. But they aren't smart - they are criminals. So they will finish off the Felony Bingo Card with known Murderer: Brian Kelly

• He belongs up north. Cincinnati, Notre Dame, then PSU. (I don't actually believe this as he's untouchable with a 10000 ft pole in my opinion) but it would be hilarious and I think Penn State has lost their whole advantage in this whole thing - being the biggest job available a month ago
• My real thought is Will Stein - and that will make for what's become a fun mini rivalry - PSU vs Oregon. They've met a bunch the past few years, and they have been great matchups - why not take their OC who is so close to Lanning to fuel it even more.

5. Florida - They shouldn't do the small school thing again, but they are going to do the small school thing again: Jon Sumrall

• If Auburn doesn't snag him, Florida will. And Auburn does snag him, then Florida will go get Dabo.

6. Arkansas - Who the fuck cares?

7. Okie State: Kliff Kingsbury back to the Big12. He belongs there. He will thrive there. His offense at Okie St can bring them back to what they became in the 2010s

I am also a firm believer that Dillingham should be at a top tier job - I think he's incredible. I get the alma mater, and being close to home, but being in the Big12 and ACC is proving year after year to be step below and you pretty much have to plan on the conference title to be nationally relevant, EVERY SINGLE YEAR. He belongs at a PSU or LSU in my opinion. But I don't hear much about him in this cycle, so maybe he really will go the Campbell route and be a Big 12 lifer.

One thing I haven't heard many, if any talk about, is the trickle down AFTER this first wave. It will be the craziest coaching cycle we've ever seen

I like that you put your prediction out there, but I don’t think many (if any) of these will happen. Draco Malfoy may get the UCLA job, might be the most likely. And I could see, long shot, Dabo to Auburn.

The rest… don’t see it. But I like your story lines and that you put your predictions out there.

Side note: Between Auburn, Florida, Penn State, LSU and potentially Clemson and FSU. Literally zero % chance all of them get a decent coach. Maybe 2 or 3 hit on their prospective hire, but that’s about it IMO. Gonna be a lot of disappointed fan bases 🙂

 

[wildcat_husker]

The funny thing about Neuheisel is that he's not even the interim head coach. He's the interim OC.

 

[doublewing]

I don't think any school on this list will hire Brian Kelly. He's an asshole and he's old. He may land a lower profile P4 job but no blue blood school will touch him.

Will Stein would be a good hire for PSU. Brian Hartline as well. I think both of them end up being hired by schools on this list.

Lane may be best suited to stay where he's at. He'll likely get a raise and be in a conference where a bunch of schools are with new coaches and rebuilding. I definitely don't see him leaving the SEC.

 

[V-Doub]

I don't think any school on this list will hire Brian Kelly. He's an asshole and he's old. He may land a lower profile P4 job but no blue blood school will touch him.

Will Stein would be a good hire for PSU. Brian Hartline as well. I think both of them end up being hired by schools on this list.

Lane may be best suited to stay where he's at. He'll likely get a raise and be in a conference where a bunch of schools are with new coaches and rebuilding. I definitely don't see him leaving the SEC.

I know everyone wants Lane and SEC honks think it’s the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes and he’ll go to the highest SEC bidder. But I think they’re all full of shit. I just can’t think of one good reason for Lane to leave Ole Miss…

1. Money, he’s already loaded and Ole Miss will pay the max that they can afford to keep him. And that won’t be much less (if at all) than what LSU, Florida or Auburn will offer. Money doesn’t seem like a huge motivating factor IMO.

2. Better chance at winning a NC? Historically yes, Florida LSU and Auburn might boast a better opportunity. But today, with the portal and NIL…? I think Ole Miss has just as good of a chance as those other schools.

3. Job security… Lane has security at Ole Miss. 2 or 3 bad seasons at those other schools and he’s toast.

4. Wants to prove something at a “higher profile” job? Doubtful, Lane already learned that the grass isn’t always greener when he jumped from Tennessee to USC.


Can’t for the life of me come up with one good reason Lane would leave Ole Miss.

 

[djw004]

I like that you put your prediction out there, but I don’t think many (if any) of these will happen. Draco Malfoy may get the UCLA job, might be the most likely. And I could see, long shot, Dabo to Auburn.

The rest… don’t see it. But I like your story lines and that you put your predictions out there.

Side note: Between Auburn, Florida, Penn State, LSU and potentially Clemson and FSU. Literally zero % chance all of them get a decent coach. Maybe 2 or 3 hit on their prospective hire, but that’s about it IMO. Gonna be a lot of disappointed fan bases 🙂

Oh absolutely - if one of these was right it'd be fine. My main point with this is - I think a LOT of these places fired just because they were sick of their guy and had little to no plan for replacement. Which is what’s making this cycle so bizarre - I don't know that we've seen so many question marks in a coaching cycle. And some big time job is going to jump ship to another big time job that no one is seeing/expecting like when Riley went to USC outta nowhere. And then we will have ANOTHER big one open.

It's all comedy at this point.

 

[nscottie]

What about FSU? Is Norvell safe for another year?

 

[Pepe Silvia]

What about FSU? Is Norvell safe for another year?

They're too poor to make a move this year

 

[V-Doub]

Oh absolutely - if one of these was right it'd be fine. My main point with this is - I think a LOT of these places fired just because they were sick of their guy and had little to no plan for replacement. Which is what’s making this cycle so bizarre - I don't know that we've seen so many question marks in a coaching cycle. And some big time job is going to jump ship to another big time job that no one is seeing/expecting like when Riley went to USC outta nowhere. And then we will have ANOTHER big one open.

It's all comedy at this point.

Yeah, I just took some time to do the @Fargo Husker challenge. If I get any of’em right I’ll be shocked 🤣

 

[V-Doub]

They're too poor to make a move this year

Probably. Wisconsin and FSU…