2025 College Football Thread

[JWags85]

He's crazy

This is a valid and very plausible counter point.  From a pure entertainment standpoint, Gruden in the SEC could be hilarious.

This is shaping up to be the craziest and spiciest coaching carousel I can think of in a long time.  2 programs that have won a national title in the last 10 years already open (Florida/LSU), 3 more that have won in the last 20 years potentially opening up (Auburn, FSU, Texas), 2 more perennial top 20 programs (Ok St, PSU), 2 schools that arguably have the makings of being very attractive (Arkansas, UCLA), plus a school that was a power not all that long ago (VT), and then the wild card, Stanford, assuming being in the ACC helps their program and that Andrew Luck as the GM would be beneficial to them competing in the new NIL area.

I would think LSU goes hard after Franklin.  I honestly think that's probably the best option for them, but I don't know how he'd fit in the South (I know he was at Vandy, but that doesn't feel like true SEC.

Call me crazy, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Kiffin stay.  Get himself and his assistants a raise and a bigger NIL pot.  I just don't see him at LSU for some reason and I don't know if Florida is all that much better than Ole Miss as a job at this specific moment, other than the SEC East being easier than the West, and the expectations higher and the leash shorter. Though Florida feels like a perfect spot for him and I think he'd kill it.  He's got a lot of Spurrier in him

[Pakuni]

This is a valid and very plausible counter point.  From a pure entertainment standpoint, Gruden in the SEC could be hilarious.

This is shaping up to be the craziest and spiciest coaching carousel I can think of in a long time.  2 programs that have won a national title in the last 10 years already open (Florida/LSU), 3 more that have won in the last 20 years potentially opening up (Auburn, FSU, Texas), 2 more perennial top 20 programs (Ok St, PSU), 2 schools that arguably have the makings of being very attractive (Arkansas, UCLA), plus a school that was a power not all that long ago (VT), and then the wild card, Stanford, assuming being in the ACC helps their program and that Andrew Luck as the GM would be beneficial to them competing in the new NIL area.

I would think LSU goes hard after Franklin.  I honestly think that's probably the best option for them, but I don't know how he'd fit in the South (I know he was at Vandy, but that doesn't feel like true SEC.

Call me crazy, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Kiffin stay.  Get himself and his assistants a raise and a bigger NIL pot.  I just don't see him at LSU for some reason and I don't know if Florida is all that much better than Ole Miss as a job at this specific moment, other than the SEC East being easier than the West, and the expectations higher and the leash shorter. Though Florida feels like a perfect spot for him and I think he'd kill it.  He's got a lot of Spurrier in him

Just FYI, the SEC no longer has an East and West.
But with the new 9-game schedule starting next year, every team will play a group of three opponents annually then the rest of the conference on a rotation.
 
Ole Miss: LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma
LSU: Ole Miss, A&M, Arkansas
Florida: Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Vandy

[JWags85]

Just FYI, the SEC no longer has an East and West.
But with the new 9-game schedule starting next year, every team will play a group of three opponents annually then the rest of the conference on a rotation.
 
Ole Miss: LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma
LSU: Ole Miss, A&M, Arkansas
Florida: Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Vandy

You're totally right, brain fart.  I remember looking and thinking Florida's future schedule is softer than Ole Miss' regardless.  Also, good luck replacing Hugh Freeze in Auburn.

[MU82]

Clever blurb from Yahoo Sports:

The best job in America? A fired college football coach.

Paid not to coach: The 10 coaches who've been fired so far this season will earn roughly $169 million in buyouts, by far the most ever in a single season ($132 million in 2023). Three of the five largest buyouts in college football history have come this month alone.

Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M: $76.8 million (fired in 2023)
Brian Kelly, LSU: $53.8 million (Oct. 26)
James Franklin, Penn State: $49 million (Oct. 12)
Guz Malzahn, Auburn: $21.4 million (2020)
Billy Napier, Florida: $21.2 million (Oct. 19)

[Uncle Rico]

Clever blurb from Yahoo Sports:

The best job in America? A fired college football coach.

Paid not to coach: The 10 coaches who've been fired so far this season will earn roughly $169 million in buyouts, by far the most ever in a single season ($132 million in 2023). Three of the five largest buyouts in college football history have come this month alone.

Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M: $76.8 million (fired in 2023)
Brian Kelly, LSU: $53.8 million (Oct. 26)
James Franklin, Penn State: $49 million (Oct. 12)
Guz Malzahn, Auburn: $21.4 million (2020)
Billy Napier, Florida: $21.2 million (Oct. 19)

There's just no money

[The Sultan]

Clever blurb from Yahoo Sports:

The best job in America? A fired college football coach.

Paid not to coach: The 10 coaches who've been fired so far this season will earn roughly $169 million in buyouts, by far the most ever in a single season ($132 million in 2023). Three of the five largest buyouts in college football history have come this month alone.

Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M: $76.8 million (fired in 2023)
Brian Kelly, LSU: $53.8 million (Oct. 26)
James Franklin, Penn State: $49 million (Oct. 12)
Guz Malzahn, Auburn: $21.4 million (2020)
Billy Napier, Florida: $21.2 million (Oct. 19)

All but Kelly are represented by Jimmy Sexton.

[MU82]

All but Kelly are represented by Jimmy Sexton.

Remind me to sign him up as my agent before I accept my next middle-school basketball coaching gig.

[WhiteTrash]

There's just no money

I get this take. And it is correct for the list of schools, SEC & B10, and it applies to the ACC & B12 too. I could be wrong, but I don't think the majority of the NCAA is in the same boat.

[JWags85]

All but Kelly are represented by Jimmy Sexton.

People talk about Boras' impact on MLB, rightly so.  But I'd argue Sexton's impact on CFB even dwarfs his.  He represented 12 out of 14 SEC coaches then it jumped to 14 out of 16 when Sark and Veneables came with Texas and OU.  And that doesn't include Lanning, Dabo, and Mike Norvell.  Just insane influence.

I get this take. And it is correct for the list of schools, SEC & B10, and it applies to the ACC & B12 too. I could be wrong, but I don't think the majority of the NCAA is in the same boat.

Its also apples to oranges.  Much like Wojo, the vast majority of the time, its individual or groups of boosters banding together to drop a lump sum to get rid of a coach.  Its not the program reaching under the bed to pull out a bag of money to get them to go away.

You could argue that the same boosters could be feeding the fund to pay the players, but even for a rich dude will to blow money on his school's team, writing a $10MM check with a few other people once in a decade is different then pledging a few million more a year, every year, on top of the sizeable amount I'm sure they are already donating annually to get them on the call list to round up a buyout.

I'm certainly not shilling for boosters, and have no problem with players making a ton of money playing (I'm actually shocked how little Ive noticed a difference in CFB since NIL, even with the very well publicized challenges and complaints), but its a different story. 

Its not a great comparison, but my friend's wife came from a pretty blue collar family.  But her grandparents on his Dad's side had the random East Texas oil money.  They weren't the Ewings, but had a net worth comfortably north of $5MM in the mid/late 90s.  She was comfortable enough, but certainly not spoiled or decked in Abercrombie/Juicy/(insert whatever popular 90s brand).  But her grandparents would go nuts for Christmas and they'd get whatever expensive shoes they wanted or whatever other thousands of dollars worth of presents they wanted.  She jokes that it took her till her teens to understand why she couldn't have "nice stuff" all the time all year, but her grandparents could splash out like crazy once a year.  Surely they had the money to just do it all year?  Obviously lessons about not being spoiled, upstaging the parents, etc... are involved and it makes it a slightly imperfect analogy, but point largely holds IMO

[MU82]

I'm actually shocked how little Ive noticed a difference in CFB since NIL, even with the very well publicized challenges and complaints

This. So many Eeyores, but it's still college football.

[WhiteTrash]

I wonder if some of the driving force behind the coaching changes in the B10 and SEC is the result of the expansions. There are only so many winning teams an 18/16 team league can have. It was much easier for USC, Auburn, UF or Wisky to be a top 4 team in their conferences 10 years ago.