2025-26 Coaching Carousel

[Carm]

Oregon hasn’t had a coach leave in the NIL era? It went from being an attractive job to being a top 5 job in the sport with the ability to pay players imo.

It really wasn't an attractive job before NIL. It was a place where coordinators could go to get a promotion and they left as soon as they had the resume. That's why Lanning has to pay $20M to leave. It had the reputation of being an extremely difficult place to recruit to, being in the middle of nowhere with mediocre weather and nothing to do for people under 50. NIL overcame that.

 

[Pipe Line]

James Franklin is easily safe this year, regardless of how the casual PSU fan feels. He's had 3 consecutive double digit win seasons with 2 playoff wins last year. He has 6.5 years & 50 million left on his contract, & PSU would have to pay that on top of an extraordinary premium they'd have to pay any new coach who'd be a clear upgrade.

IMO, they'd have to keep struggling this year, then have another very mediocre season/multiple bad losses next year before he'd realistically be on the hot seat or have any practical bearing on the coaching carousel.

It's not really the struggles IMO. It's just the not winning the big game that is the particular contextual problem for them right now. That UCLA loss is just the icing on that cake right now. That simply cannot happen if you're Penn State, regardless of travel, making the claims on talent on and staff that he made at the beginning of the year.

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

It's not really the struggles IMO. It's just the not winning the big game that is the particular contextual problem for them right now. That UCLA loss is just the icing on that cake right now. That simply cannot happen if you're Penn State, regardless of travel, making the claims on talent on and staff that he made at the beginning of the year.

Oh I don't think he's ever going to take them to the pinnacle. And yes, that was a bad loss. But he's been an okay-to-good coach that also parlayed that into a very large contract, and has 34 wins over the previous 3 seasons. They're stuck with him for better or for worse for at least a little longer.

 

[Bulldog10]

It really wasn't an attractive job before NIL. It was a place where coordinators could go to get a promotion and they left as soon as they had the resume. That's why Lanning has to pay $20M to leave. It had the reputation of being an extremely difficult place to recruit to, being in the middle of nowhere with mediocre weather and nothing to do for people under 50. NIL overcame that.

Maybe 20 years ago but Oregon was already recruiting at top 10-15 levels before NIL came along, so idk if that would be considered an “extremely difficult place to recruit”

 

[Pepe Silvia]

How many more losses does Prison Mike get down in Tallahassee before we add him to the thread. Or maybe I just did? Anyway, I think if he loses 2 more games he’s probably toast and Tony White will be out of a job.

There's no way FSU can afford to fire him now. He got the huge extension following the 2023 season. Iirc they would owe him $50+ million right now. No way an ACC team struggling too keep up in revenue can pay that

 

[Carm]

Maybe 20 years ago but Oregon was already recruiting at top 10-15 levels before NIL came along, so idk if that would be considered an “extremely difficult place to recruit”

Coaches believed it was. That's why they were forced to hire coordinators as HCs, and it was why guys left. If it was easy to hire to why force a DC hired to an HC to pay $20M to leave?

 

[Bulldog10]

Coaches believed it was. That's why they were forced to hire coordinators as HCs, and it was why guys left. If it was easy to hire to why force a DC hired to an HC to pay $20M to leave?

He was Georgia’s DC, you’re acting like they hired Syracuse’s DC. Buyouts are just part of the game.

 

[V-Doub]

There's no way FSU can afford to fire him now. He got the huge extension following the 2023 season. Iirc they would owe him $50+ million right now. No way an ACC team struggling too keep up in revenue can pay that

IDK how many “throw away” seasons FSU fans and boosters will tolerate. Most programs, especially ones like FSU, will find the money if they don’t see a future with their current coach. We’ll see…

 

[DuckSker]

Penn State doesn't need a program re-builder. They need a program take the next step-er guy. They need a Dan Lanning. Bama is back if they find a way out of Kalen this offseason and hire Lanning. If I'm Penn State I'm putting out the feeler to Lanning now and unofficially making him say no.

I wouldn’t be all the way out on Deboer just yet. He didn’t have a good quarterback last year. I could see Simpson taking Bama back to the playoffs this year

 

[DuckSker]

Coaches believed it was. That's why they were forced to hire coordinators as HCs, and it was why guys left. If it was easy to hire to why force a DC hired to an HC to pay $20M to leave?

Oregon has been good since ‘94 and great since 2008. I wouldn’t say they were forced to hire coordinators i’d say they chose to (and its worked) Helfrich was an inside hire and Chip Kelly guy (miss) , Taggart was a hot commodity at the time (miss), but Cristobal was a homerun hire, and Lanning was a homerun hire. Easily 2 of the best coaches in the game right now

 

[Irv]

Pretty sure Lanning already turned down Bama, but it might be a different story if you’re not following Saban.

Re: PSU, I don’t think they will fire him, but there ain’t no way he’s going to be allowed to fire the coordinators. They pay them a ton. Knowles is the highest paid DC in the country.

His coordinators are the guys he hand selected to get the team over the top. Either it works or it doesn’t.

 

[cwessel76]

Pretty sure Lanning already turned down Bama, but it might be a different story if you’re not following Saban.

Re: PSU, I don’t think they will fire him, but there ain’t no way he’s going to be allowed to fire the coordinators. They pay them a ton. Knowles is the highest paid DC in the country.

His coordinators are the guys he hand selected to get the team over the top. Either it works or it doesn’t.

The pharma money that PSU’s donor base can shell out will be enough to kick Franklin’s ass to the curb if they really want to make it happen.

Whether or not they should is another matter entirely.

 

[Carm]

He was Georgia’s DC, you’re acting like they hired Syracuse’s DC. Buyouts are just part of the game.

Oregon has been good since ‘94 and great since 2008. I wouldn’t say they were forced to hire coordinators i’d say they chose to (and its worked) Helfrich was an inside hire and Chip Kelly guy (miss) , Taggart was a hot commodity at the time (miss), but Cristobal was a homerun hire, and Lanning was a homerun hire. Easily 2 of the best coaches in the game right now

Sorry, I'm not making this up. I read it on Oregon boards contemporaneously.

The Oregon job is extremely difficult. The travel for coaches to recruit is terrible.

The buyout I am talking about is if Lanning chooses to leave, not what he gets if he gets fired. Buyouts the coaches have to pay to leave are fairly rare and much smaller than firing buyouts. Kirby Smart's buyout he owes Georgia if he takes another job is only $5M, for example. I think Matt Rhule pays Zero to Nebraska if he quits.

 

[Carm]

Visual Example - this is Eugene OR's 500 mile radius



From Eugene it is

860 miles to Los Angeles
2040 miles to Dallas
3285 miles to Miami

 

[herbsinator]

Visual Example - this is Eugene OR's 500 mile radius

View attachment 59675

From Eugene it is

860 miles to Los Angeles
2040 miles to Dallas
3285 miles to Miami

Counterpoint: Oregon has the 5th most talented roster based on total talent composite.

 

[Carm]

Counterpoint: Oregon has the 5th most talented roster based on total talent composite.

Yes - because of NIL.

 

[Mavsker]

Visual Example - this is Eugene OR's 500 mile radius

View attachment 59675

From Eugene it is

860 miles to Los Angeles
2040 miles to Dallas
3285 miles to Miami

would be a great recruiting footprint for sea world

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

Visual Example - this is Eugene OR's 500 mile radius

View attachment 59675

From Eugene it is

860 miles to Los Angeles
2040 miles to Dallas
3285 miles to Miami

I buy that Oregon's location is not a major positive factor in their recruiting (although that area does have 4 of the top-27 metro areas in the US by population), but in just about every other recruiting factor - from money to brand to corporate partnerships to off-the-field opportunities - Oregon has been a pretty easy place to get elite recruits' attention for the last couple decades.

 

[Carm]

I buy that Oregon's location is not a major positive factor in their recruiting (although that area does have 4 of the top-27 metro areas in the US by population), but in just about every other recruiting factor - from money to brand to corporate partnerships to off-the-field opportunities - Oregon has been a pretty easy place to get elite recruits' attention for the last couple decades.

Even in LA it was hard to recruit kids because the kids look at it as an isolated place with nothing to do.

But the whole discussion above was not that you can't recruit to Oregon - clearly it is possible. It was that it is has been a very hard job as a coach to recruit to Oregon - not just to convince players to come but to take the time to go and see them, get their families to Eugene, etc. So much so that established HCs did not want to go to Oregon and coordinators took the job with a goal of leaving as soon as they could get the initial HC experience. It has been a steppingstone job.

 

[DuckSker]

Visual Example - this is Eugene OR's 500 mile radius

View attachment 59675

From Eugene it is

860 miles to Los Angeles
2040 miles to Dallas
3285 miles to Miami

Nebraska’s 250 is much more daunting, and we aren’t a 2 hour plane ride to LA