2025 College Football Thread

[JWags85]

I know this is somewhat off topic, but this is probably the best place to put it.

The shooter who killed 3 UVA football players and wounded 2 students in 2022 has been sentenced to 5 life terms. He plead guilty, but apparently his attorneys were trying to get his mental health problems taken into account in the sentencing. The fact that there was a fair amount of planning on the shooter's part took that off the table.

While thankfully not as fatal, this coincided with another bizarre bout of CFB related violence in the South...

https://apnews.com/article/alabama-birmingham-uab-football-players-stabbed-455d6da6e6d98cc678ec983b2ff98052

More information will come out I'm sure, but wild.  Sweet culture you cultivated there, Dilfer!

[MU82]

Looks like Lane Kiffin is gonna quit on his Ole Miss team just weeks before the playoffs rather than try to lead them to a championship. L$U, here he comes.

The coaching transfer portal is always wide open. Contracts and "loyalty" be damned.

Not that I really blame Kiffin, either. One bad year and some Mississippi millionaires woulda been starting a "fire Lane" campaign.

I'm just glad the athletes are finally getting to cash in some, too.

[JWags85]

The coaching transfer portal is always wide open. Contracts and "loyalty" be damned.

I know this is your favorite drum to bang in college sports, but the transfer portal is always wide open for players too.  Multiple QBs and other high level players have transferred during the season and players are hopping around for NIL money far more often than coaches these days.  Gotta update your grievances from when players still had to sit out a year.  Just because the transfer portal window is a specific period of time annually doesn't mean players are handcuffed like coaches aren't.

As for Kiffin, its still all wild speculation at this point.  Stuff is hinting towards LSU, but its all hearsay.  He's still coaching the Egg Bowl.  As for the playoff, I'd be willing to guarantee he wants to coach it, but neither Ole Miss nor LSU would let him if his intention is to leave next year.

[MU82]

I know this is your favorite drum to bang in college sports, but the transfer portal is always wide open for players too.  Multiple QBs and other high level players have transferred during the season and players are hopping around for NIL money far more often than coaches these days.  Gotta update your grievances from when players still had to sit out a year.  Just because the transfer portal window is a specific period of time annually doesn't mean players are handcuffed like coaches aren't.

As for Kiffin, its still all wild speculation at this point.  Stuff is hinting towards LSU, but its all hearsay.  He's still coaching the Egg Bowl.  As for the playoff, I'd be willing to guarantee he wants to coach it, but neither Ole Miss nor LSU would let him if his intention is to leave next year.

I did update it, in my last sentence. And yes, the portal only has been wide open for the athletes for a few years - against the objections of the NCAA and most coaches. It's been wide open for the coaches - the ones who preach loyalty non-stop - for decades.

As for Kiffin, looks like he's quitting on a potential championship team. There's no other word for it.

[JWags85]

As for Kiffin, looks like he's quitting on a potential championship team. There's no other word for it.

There is a lot that is being speculated about.  But the main buzz is he's being forced out by both his current and future employer in the event of this job change, that's the whole reason for this drama.  He's not blind siding Ole Miss and bolting in the middle of the night, and as a result they won't let him coach the post season.  Even if he used his leverage and strong armed LSU into saying "I won't leave until after the playoff", Ole Miss wouldn't let him. 

It's like if I'm leading a big product roll out for my company that is happening in a week.  I'm also interviewing for a new job that is the best decision for my career long term.  I inform my current job I'm putting in my two weeks but will still finish the product roll out before I leave...but my boss says, no, forget it, today is your last day.  I'm not quitting on my project and my team, Im being forced out because of my future plans.

Quitting is a nasty word in sports/coaching and there are far better uses for it than what's happening here (like when he quit on Tennessee to be frank).  But we can agree to disagree, all good

Honestly, the biggest culprit here is the inane timing of the portal happening during the middle of the playoffs, that's why Ole Miss would be doing what they're rumored to be doing forcing his hand, and same with LSU.  CBB coaches can play out the NCAA and make a move after their season is over../but this is like a coaches being forced to make a decision cause the portal opens between the first weekend and the S16.

I kind of wish he would stay at Ole Miss cause he's done really cool stuff there and I think their program branding is very cool, but forget salaries, the rumored NIL money LSU is offering is insane.

[MU82]

Hmmm.

[The Sultan]

I think part of this is very much a Lane Kiffin problem. Looking at other jobs when you are pretty much a lock for the college football playoff is a crappy thing to do.

That being said, LSU is a great job - a destination job. If he wants that job, this is likely the only time he can get it. So I get why he is doing this. And if he is following the exit terms he agreed to in his contract, those are the terms.

But I also get why Ole Miss would want him out ASAP, and LSU would want him there in the same time frame. LSU wants to make sure the talent on their roster stays, and new talent can be brought in. And they're rivals! It's not as though he can do both jobs at once.

[JWags85]

I think part of this is very much a Lane Kiffin problem. Looking at other jobs when you are pretty much a lock for the college football playoff is a crappy thing to do.

That being said, LSU is a great job - a destination job. If he wants that job, this is likely the only time he can get it. So I get why he is doing this. And if he is following the exit terms he agreed to in his contract, those are the terms.

Yea, but like I said, the nature of the CFB schedule and windows necessitate early movement.  Kiffin hadn't been floating his name out there aggressively the last few years, it all popped off when 2 huge jobs opened midseason.  And like you said, LSU is a huge destination job (so is Florida, they've combined to win 20% of the national titles in the last 25 years).  And they don't often open up, especially not in the midst of your best career year.  Its a completely fair, understandable, and logical move to make, but the timing of everything makes it impossible to do cleanly and without criticism, no matter who the coach is and how respectful/well-intentioned they are.

But I also get why Ole Miss would want him out ASAP, and LSU would want him there in the same time frame. LSU wants to make sure the talent on their roster stays, and new talent can be brought in. And they're rivals! It's not as though he can do both jobs at once.

I also totally agree with this.  That was kind of my point from my previous post.  Diehards of either school may disagree, Kiffin critics certainly disagree, but I don't think anyone (based on the speculated information) is out of line or acting poorly, quitting, or being unreasonable/petulant.  Its just a byproduct of the current crappy recruiting timeline that the NCAA should try to remedy in the future.

[Pakuni]

Kiffin left Alabama just a week before a playoff game, albeit as OC. Him leaving Ole Miss before a playoff game shouldn't be a surprise.

That said, I think he really likes it in Oxford and would be willing to stay if the money and resources are close. He can lose three games a year at Ole Miss, lose annually to the league's top tier, be a goofball and have a life away from the program, and still be beloved down there.
Same thing puts you on the hot seat at LSU and, apparently, in the governor's crosshairs.

[The Sultan]

Kiffin left Alabama just a week before a playoff game, albeit as OC. Him leaving Ole Miss before a playoff game shouldn't be a surprise.

Saban relieved him of his duties because he was trying to do both jobs - and he couldn't. If anything it shows why him leaving ASAP is likely the best of a bunch of bad options.

[Pakuni]

Saban relieved him of his duties because he was trying to do both jobs - and he couldn't. If anything it shows why him leaving ASAP is likely the best of a bunch of bad options.

Fair, but I believe Saban felt misled about what Lane's commitment would be to Bama vs FAU at that time. It wasn't a fond parting of ways, and you don't decide to oust your OC on a whim a week before a playoff game.

[The Sultan]

Fair, but I believe Saban felt misled about what Lane's commitment would be to Bama vs FAU at that time. It wasn't a fond parting of ways, and you don't decide to oust your OC on a whim a week before a playoff game.

Oh no doubt. My guess is that Kiffin thought it could do both better than he could, and he chose his future job over his current one.

[Pakuni]

Okie State hiring Eric Morris from North Texas.
No idea how it turns out, but feels like exactly the kind of hire they should be making.

[JWags85]

Okie State hiring Eric Morris from North Texas.
No idea how it turns out, but feels like exactly the kind of hire they should be making.

Extremely underrated hire that won't get the buzz cause of all the huge jobs opening up.  Is a Leach/Kingsbury disciple offensively.  Was Mahomes' OC at TTU who helped him go from lightly recruited to an NFL prospect.  He's the one who discovered an unknown Cam Ward at the FCS level at Incarnate Word and developed him even further at Wazzu and then turned North Texas around lightning quick and had a great season with an AWESOME offense to watch...with a walk-on freshman QB (who is about to get monster NIL money somewhere unless he follows his coach to Ok St).  Absolute home run hire, IMO.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Colorado State is expected to make UConn coach Jim Mora the school's next head coach.