For the third consecutive Sunday in October, a significant school soccer teaching job has opened, and LSU is the largest of all of them.
Brian Kelly is out halfway by way of his fourth season at LSU, and an evening after his third lack of the 2025 season. LSU was blown out, 49-24, by Texas A&M, which scored 35 unanswered factors to win in Tiger Stadium for the primary time since 1994. An LSU season that started with nationwide championship aspirations and a street win in opposition to Clemson — the Tigers’ first season-opening win beneath Kelly — sidetracked in a short time with consecutive losses to Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.
Kelly, who stunningly left Notre Dame for an opportunity to win his first FBS nationwide championship, by no means even made the Faculty Soccer Playoff at LSU. He received a division title in his first season in 2022 however by no means completed increased than thirteenth within the last CFP standings. Kelly is the primary LSU coach to not win a nationwide championship there since Gerry DiNardo, whose tenure ended after the 1999 season. He finishes his Tigers tenure at 34-14, having misplaced a number of video games in SEC play in all 4 seasons on the Bayou.
LSU’s firing throws one other shocking twist into an extremely energetic teaching cycle. Though Penn State and Florida are each A-list jobs, LSU is on a tier of its personal. LSU is the one Energy 4 program in a state wealthy with expertise. The very fact three very totally different coaches — Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron — all received nationwide championships there speaks to the job’s potential and total excellence.
Is it an ideal job? No. The politics and occasional dysfunction round LSU are baked in there. Athletics director Scott Woodward’s future can be in query after the Kelly rent failed so miserably and led to a $54 million buyout. However the potential at LSU is very large and each potential candidate is aware of what this system could be when the whole lot is aligned. Buckle up. Issues are about to get even wilder. — Adam Rittenberg
Candidates | Transfers | Recruits
5 candidates for the job
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin: LSU’s firing of Kelly could possibly be actually dangerous information for Florida, which has made little secret of its need to carry Kiffin to Gainesville. Maybe Florida can nonetheless get its man, however Kiffin needs to be close to or on the very prime of LSU’s want checklist. He would not need to take care of in-state rivals there, and would lead a program with few if any limitations with assets, amenities and fan base. Kiffin is 51-19 at Ole Miss and has the Rebels positioned for his or her first-ever CFP look this season, which might find yourself hurting his possibilities to take one other job. However he does not have to be offered on LSU’s historical past and the recruiting benefits. The 50-year-old is 112-53 as an FBS coach.
Tulane coach Jon Sumrall: He is arguably the most popular title outdoors of the Energy 4, and may have alternatives to steer higher-profile applications quickly, particularly within the SEC. Sumrall, 43, is already within the state at Tulane, which is 15-6 beneath his watch and positioned for a attainable American convention title and its first CFP look this season. He additionally was an assistant at Tulane from 2012 to 2014 and is aware of the recruiting scene in and round New Orleans in addition to anybody. The leap to the Energy 4 and a program like LSU cannot be ignored, however those that know Sumrall count on him to transition nicely. He performed within the SEC at Kentucky and coached linebackers at each Ole Miss and Kentucky earlier than touchdown his first head-coaching job at Troy, which he led to consecutive Solar Belt titles. Sumrall is 38-10 total as an FBS coach.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman: Would LSU efficiently swipe Notre Dame’s coach twice in a row? It is exhausting to say. Ought to LSU make inquiries about Freeman? Completely. He has established himself as one of many sport’s prime younger coaches at simply 39. Freeman is the primary Notre Dame coach to win a CFP recreation — three in reality — as he guided the Preventing Irish to the nationwide championship recreation final fall. He is 38-12 as Notre Dame’s coach and has the staff positioned for a attainable CFP return if it will probably win out. Coincidentally, Freeman turned down LSU’s defensive coordinator job with Orgeron to affix Kelly at Notre Dame. He has spent his complete profession in his native Ohio or neighboring Indiana, and a transfer to the SEC could possibly be jarring. Freeman finally would possibly goal the NFL as his subsequent step, however he would no less than have to think about a prime program like LSU.
Georgia Tech coach Brent Key: He is a Georgia Tech man and has his alma mater positioned for a run on the ACC title and this system’s first-ever CFP look. Key would not depart for simply any job, however he must think about LSU. He is no stranger to this system after teaching Alabama’s offensive line from 2016 to 2018 beneath Saban, and collaborating within the annual LSU showdown. Key, 47, grew up in Alabama and has spent his complete profession within the Southeast, together with greater than a decade at UCF in varied roles. Secret is 26-16 at Georgia Tech as a first-time head coach, and has thrived in huge video games with a 7-1 document in opposition to ranked ACC opponents. He would carry a transparent recruiting imaginative and prescient and an strategy primarily based across the line of scrimmage to LSU.
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz: After Kiffin, Drinkwitz could possibly be the highest SEC teaching candidate who would look to maneuver inside the league. He has led Missouri since 2020, and has constructed a constant, revered program that’s 27-7 because the begin of the 2024 season with a No. 8 end and a Cotton Bowl title in 2023. Drinkwitz, 42, is an Arkansas native who got here up beneath Gus Malzahn and labored at Auburn early in his teaching profession. He hasn’t taken down many SEC heavyweights but additionally hasn’t been main one of many league’s historic powers. Drinkwitz ought to be capable to improve LSU’s offense and has been an aggressive and profitable recruiter. Given larger attain and assets at LSU, he might actually do some injury there. — Rittenberg
Most necessary gamers to retain
The Tigers put collectively one of many prime portal lessons within the nation this offseason, a veteran group loaded with beginning expertise and NFL potential, within the hopes they may add all the suitable lacking items for a nationwide championship run. However there is a ton of precious blue-chip expertise on this program, significantly from LSU’s most up-to-date top-10 recruiting class, that rival coaches will likely be attempting to poach now that this job is open.
CB DJ Pickett: Pickett grew to become one of many Tigers’ most proficient defenders as quickly as he set foot on campus. The five-star true freshman from Florida is about as uncommon of an athlete because it will get at his place as a 6-foot-5, 195-pound cowl man, and he hasn’t struggled to regulate to SEC competitors. Pickett gave up simply seven catches for 70 yards on 16 targets, with zero passing touchdowns and one interception, by way of his first seven video games in accordance with ESPN Analysis. Rival coaches see a future first-round choose two years from now and would love a chance to attempt to flip Pickett by way of the portal this offseason.
TE Trey’Dez Inexperienced: The sophomore pass-catcher continues to emerge as an impressive weapon within the Tigers’ passing assault, turning 21 catches into 264 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns on the 12 months. Inexperienced is a matchup nightmare as a 6-foot-7, 240-pound athlete and one of many quickest tight ends within the nation with a max velocity of 19.7 mph this season, in accordance with information powered by Teamworks.
LB Whit Weeks: Weeks, a first-team All-SEC choice in 2024, must resolve on the finish of the 12 months if he is able to enter the NFL draft or would reasonably come again for his senior season. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound captain has been critically missed over the Tigers’ previous two losses as he works to get well from an ankle damage. He has began 20 profession video games and has produced 203 tackles, 16 TFLs and 5 sacks for the Tigers’ protection.
RB Harlem Berry: The No. 1 ranked working again recruit within the 2025 class seems to be nicely on his strategy to changing into one of many extra thrilling playmakers within the SEC. Berry, a speedy 5-foot-11, 190-pound again, has rushed for 225 yards and two TDs on 4.9 yards per carry and earned his first profession begin in opposition to Texas A&M. If Caden Durham can get wholesome and again to enjoying at a excessive stage, he and Berry give this LSU offense a dynamic duo to proceed to construct round subsequent 12 months.
OT Carius Curne: Curne, the No. 133 total participant within the 2025 ESPN 300, is having to be taught on the go in opposition to top-10 SEC opponents, making his first profession begin at proper sort out in opposition to Ole Miss and shifting to left sort out in opposition to Texas A&M. The 6-foot-5, 320-pound freshman obtained injured in opposition to the Aggies however has flashed big-time expertise and will doubtlessly play sort out or guard as he continues to develop. The Arkansas native will likely be an necessary piece for the way forward for this LSU offensive line. — Max Olson
Three key recruits
DT Lamar Brown, No. 1 in ESPN 300: Brown’s July dedication marked the Tigers’ recruiting peak beneath Kelly, and if LSU manages to carry onto his pledge beneath a brand new workers, he’ll arrive as this system’s first No. 1 total recruit since Leonard Fournette within the 2014 class. The 6-foot-5, 285-pound defender hails from close by Erwinville, Louisiana, and attends highschool on the LSU campus. Nonetheless, a number of faculties — Texas A&M and Miami, most prominently — got here near pulling Brown out of Louisiana in the summertime. With each applications flirting with Faculty Soccer Playoff competition this fall, it might be no shock if both the Aggies and Hurricanes, or any handful of the nation’s different premier applications, attempt to flip the nation’s No. 1 total prospect over the following month.
DE Trenton Henderson, No. 61 in ESPN 300: It has been 4 cycles because the Tigers signed a prime 100 defensive finish prospect. Henderson kicked off a robust run of LSU summer season recruiting in July when the versatile edge rusher from Pensacola, Florida, picked the Tigers over Florida and Texas. Auburn and Michigan have been additionally concerned in Henderson’s course of earlier this 12 months. A highly-productive sack machine throughout his junior and senior seasons, Henderson will certainly appeal to late-cycle curiosity from main applications if he reopens his recruitment.
WR Jabari Mack, No. 64 in ESPN 300: LSU landed high-level broad receiver commits, however this system usually struggled to get them signed within the late levels of Kelly’s tenure, headlined by Dakorien Moore’s decommitment within the 2025 class and five-star 2026 cross catcher Tristen Keys’ flip to Tennessee in August. On condition that latest historical past, prospects like Mack will likely be important to the Tigers’ future pipeline on the place. The 6-foot, 200-pound receiver from Destrehan, Louisiana, is considered as a possible high-impact, vertical risk on the subsequent stage, which is why spring finalists Ohio State, Texas and Texas A&M might quickly be among the many applications to circle again with Mack earlier than the early signing interval. — Eli Lederman