The College Football coaching carousel is shaping up to be one of the most chaotic we've seen in several years with 8 Power 4 jobs opening before the middle of November. This carousel has seen the likes of Brian Kelly and James Franklin fired and as LSU, Penn State, and Florida all look for coaches this could be a coaching carousel to remember.
In a way, this coaching carousel could go down as one of the craziest of all time if a few things shakeout perfectly. The last great coaching search came in 2021 in part because of Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame and Lincoln Riley jumping from Oklahoma to USC. If this cycle is going to go down as one of the craziest cycles in recent history, a ton of the same figures and programs will play an impact.
These 4 head coaches leaving would spark a chaotic coaching carousel
Lane Kiffin is going to busy next fall as he'll apparently be coaching Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, and the New York Giants. Everyone wants to land Lane Kiffin this offseason, and everyone seems to think he's leaving Ole Miss even if he's had the chance to already and turned down those head coaching offers. If Lane Kiffin does decide to make a move, it'll leave Ole Miss looking for a new head coach, and they'll likely try to move quickly with a respected head coach to keep the program together.
When Josh Pate floated to keep an eye on Lincoln Riley this offseason, it started to bring endless possibilities to the table. Whether Lincoln Riley leaves USC for the LSU or Florida jobs, or if he takes an NFL job like the New York Giants opening to work with Jaxson Dart, it would send a massive ripple effect through the sport.
The Trojans would need to hire a head coach, and they would certainly go big game hunting. The last time that USC needed a head coach, they shocked everyone by luring away Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma. We'd likely see the Trojans do it again with the money they'd get back from losing their head coach.
Almost every big schools coaching hot board starts with the phrase "You call Marcus Freeman to see if he's interested in the job". Between the openings at Penn State, LSU, and Florida there are going to be calls to see if Freeman is interested in moving, and if the Irish have their second coach in a row poached, it would send shockwaves through the sport.
Given that Marcus Freeman has taken this program to a higher level than ever seemed possible under Brian Kelly, the Irish would need to pull in a big name to keep the momentum going. It seems as if Marcus Freeman is far more invested in the program, and hitting that next level than Kelly was which makes him more likely to stick around.
Every program in the Country would love to hire Dan Lanning, and some schools in the SEC feel they could make a run at him thinking they have the better job opening. The issue is, in this era of college football, there may not be a more attractive job than the one Lanning has, but they may not realize that yet.
In the case that Dan Lanning leaves Oregon, it would be truly shocking as Phil Knight and Nike have heavily invested in the program. The chance to lead a Big Ten program would quickly make Oregon one of the top jobs available, and with the added NIL benefits, the Ducks could quickly shock everyone with the level of candidate they could hire.