A Little Birdie Told Me the Coaching Carousel is Spinning Fast
James Franklin got hired and Lane Kiffin can't seem to make up his mind.
This past weekend of college football was pretty fun. Georgia rolled past Texas, Sooner magic continued in Tuscaloosa against Alabama, and Texas A&M pulled off an improbable comeback after being down 30-3 at halftime to South Carolina. There was also USC’s impressive victory in the pouring rain versus Iowa, Ole Miss’ close call against Florida, and some more Group of 6 chaos with Navy’s upset over South Florida.
But it’s time to move on, and seeing as it’s already Wednesday (man, this week has flown by), there’s no need to look back at what was in Week 12. Hold on, wait. A little birdie just told me that James Franklin was hired by Virginia Tech. That’s some pretty big news, if I do say so myself!
Franklin was by far the biggest fish in the sea when it came to this coaching carousel, and it appears that the Hokies were able to lure him in. It’s a hire that makes sense, given Franklin is familiar with recruiting the same areas that Virginia Tech does (the DMV metro area, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey). I like it, and I think he can win a lot of football games there.
Wait.
Timeout.
That same little birdie is also telling me that Ole Miss has given Lane Kiffin a deadline to make a decision on whether he’s staying in Oxford or not. That’s a bombshell!
According to multiple reports, Ole Miss’ athletic administration is tired of this whole “will he or won’t he” song and dance that’s been going on surrounding Kiffin and the open jobs at Florida and LSU. That narrative grew even more over the past couple of days when Kiffin’s family was seen romping around Baton Rouge. It’s also been reported that the Kiffins visited Gainesville.
Of course, Ole Miss can’t be a big fan of these shenanigans. After all, he’s still employed at the university, and it’s his job right now to get Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff and win a national championship. But even with all the success in the present, the Rebels have every right to look toward the future, and they want an answer before the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State on whether he’s going to be staying in Oxford moving forward.
I don’t know what will happen if the answer to that question is no. Does Ole Miss really have the guts to tell the head coach that’s on the verge of leading the program to its first appearance in the CFP to go away before the season ends? That’s a hard pill to swallow, yet all indications point toward the administration and the fanbase wanting a definitive stance one way or another from Kiffin. The only thing to do now is wait, I guess.
OK. This little birdie needs to be quiet. He just told me that apparently Steve Sarkisian’s name has come up in some NFL coaching searches. Now that’s just ludicrous, little birdie! Why would Sark leave Texas? I mean, he said today that he’s not going anywhere. When has a head coach ever lied at a press conference about whether they’re going to leave a job? That’s literally never happened in the history of humanity.
If Sark were to bolt for the Tennessee Titans job or any other NFL opening, the college football universe might explode. This coaching cycle has already been a mess, and having Texas open would just be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Alright, I think the birdie is done talking.
