Head Coaching Candidates 2025 (Here we go again!)

[Escambia94]

I like suggestion Lincoln Riley but they would need to compete against LA and he left Oklahoma to get away from the SEC.

There is much more to Lincoln Riley\s departure from OU. At the time, before this version of NIL, transfer portal, revenue sharing, and conference alignment, his statements probably made sense. From 2015 to 2021, the strategy to get to the 4-team CFP was to win a power conference championship then play 2 more games. In that era, it certainly seemed easier to win the Big 12--which he did from 2017-2020, but failed to do in his final year as OU was deciding to make the move to the SEC. At the time, it made sense to jump to the Pac-12, where it would be easier to win the conference and make it to the 4-team CFP...which he failed to do in the 2022-2023 seasons where USC was in the Pac-12. Now that the Pac-12 is gone, his team is in the Big Ten competing against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan. Not to mention, he now has to fly to the east coast for conference games.

Now I am about to lay down evidence where we might not want him at Florida. Given the resources available to USC, with a path to the now 12-team CFP, he has fallen short and is 0-3 in the CFP.

In 2023 he did not beat a ranked opponent in the regular season. His Trojans finished 8-5 (5-4 Pac-12, 1-4 vs ranked teams)
In 2024, his #23 Trojans beat #13 LSU 27-20 in 2024. That LSU team lost to Billy Napier's Gators, which probably means that LSU team was trash. For the rest of 2024, Riley's USC Trojans went 0-3 against ranked teams in their conference* (including Notre Dame, which plays a hybrid Big Ten schedule). They finished 7-6 (4-5 Big Ten, 1-3 vs ranked teams).
In 2025 he finally beat a ranked team in the regular season other than a trash SEC team in a 31-13 win over #15 Michigan. He also lost to #23 Illinois and #13 Notre Dame when the Men of Troy were ranked #20-ish. He needs to beat a ranked Oregon at Autzen in order to finish with an even record against ranked opponents in the regular season.

All that to say, I doubt Lincoln Riley is The Guy, but he would be an improvement over anyone else on that list except Lane Kiffin.

 

[DRU2012]

I like suggestion Lincoln Riley but they would need to compete against LA and he left Oklahoma to get away from the SEC.

I wasn't aware of that background "tidbit" re Lincoln...and the thing is, one large reason for the assumption that we could GET him was the current rumors concerning his desire to get out of California (and in particular USC).
Is this a problematical pattern of habitual behavior on his part? I don't know--but I'd sure now want more questions asked, digging done. Also remember that everything has changed dramatically in college football in the intervening years.
As for our "competing with LSU", I'm less concerned about that:
I am on record as NOT being among those who are concerned about that with respect to going after LANE...I am still of the opinion there that for Lane Kiffen it continues to be a matter of him either staying at Ol' Miss OR coming back to the State of Florida and that searing national spotlight that winning Nattys at UF brings.
I am less familiar with Riley's personal history or deeper motivations--but I DO know something about USC and the arrogant misconception among their students and alumni that their now somewhat patchy recent performance and progressively more "fading former-glory" that somehow continues an ongoing expectation that they are still this powerhouse program that is poised to dominate Collegd Football once more. It continues to pervade their annual expectations and exerts enormous pressure on whomever is the Head Coach from the moment he gets there. It is worse than at Floroda, with a sparsely scattered (and by now less fertile) recruiting reach and no longer Kings of a once proud "Pac 8/10/12/NADA".
WE on the other hand are "down", approaching 20 years now "in the desert" with respect to our own better days--but at worst are still labeled the "high profile Sleeping Giants" of what continues to be, top to bottom, far and AWAY (despite the loud claims of the jealous) the best and strongest Conference in American College Football, the SEC.
Come here and you are set financially. WIN here and YOU are undeniably "The Best": Champion Head Coach at the TOP of your profession.
In the end I suppose it all depends upon what an induvidual's current goals are, how that person envisions present and future "success". But most of the really talented and driven Coaches believe in themselves, and will ultimately choose to COMPETE AT THE VERY TOP--and only THAT is how they weigh such choices.

 

[DRU2012]

There is much more to Lincoln Riley\s departure from OU. At the time, before this version of NIL, transfer portal, revenue sharing, and conference alignment, his statements probably made sense. From 2015 to 2021, the strategy to get to the 4-team CFP was to win a power conference championship then play 2 more games. In that era, it certainly seemed easier to win the Big 12--which he did from 2017-2020, but failed to do in his final year as OU was deciding to make the move to the SEC. At the time, it made sense to jump to the Pac-12, where it would be easier to win the conference and make it to the 4-team CFP...which he failed to do in the 2022-2023 seasons where USC was in the Pac-12. Now that the Pac-12 is gone, his team is in the Big Ten competing against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan. Not to mention, he now has to fly to the east coast for conference games.

Now I am about to lay down evidence where we might not want him at Florida. Given the resources available to USC, with a path to the now 12-team CFP, he has fallen short and is 0-3 in the CFP.

In 2023 he did not beat a ranked opponent in the regular season. His Trojans finished 8-5 (5-4 Pac-12, 1-4 vs ranked teams)
In 2024, his #23 Trojans beat #13 LSU 27-20 in 2024. That LSU team lost to Billy Napier's Gators, which probably means that LSU team was trash. For the rest of 2024, Riley's USC Trojans went 0-3 against ranked teams in their conference* (including Notre Dame, which plays a hybrid Big Ten schedule). They finished 7-6 (4-5 Big Ten, 1-3 vs ranked teams).
In 2025 he finally beat a ranked team in the regular season other than a trash SEC team in a 31-13 win over #15 Michigan. He also lost to #23 Illinois and #13 Notre Dame when the Men of Troy were ranked #20-ish. He needs to beat a ranked Oregon at Autzen in order to finish with an even record against ranked opponents in the regular season.

All that to say, I doubt Lincoln Riley is The Guy, but he would be an improvement over anyone else on that list except Lane Kiffin.

Well summed. "Outside of Lane, best choice we have among those being publicly discussed".
Not exactly a "Ringing Endorsement"--but there just isn't a whole lot else on the supposed "realistic public radar" as currently presented.
Unless there are valuable candidates well OFF the "commonly accepted well-worn path" that are quietly and seriously being pursued, then our supposed "braintrust" is stuck in a "Lane or bust" loop THEMSELVES!
Which is a dangerous place to BE, at this point.

 

[DRU2012]

…We’ve simply been deprived of JOY for too long here!
Once a major feature of our play here under certain Head Coaches, it is best felt and recognized in a balanced team that, “When in doubt, SCORES!”
SO: “When in doubt, get one of THOSE guys!”

 

[Escambia94]

Well, we did have the right guy in Dan Mullen, but his dumb ass was too stubborn to fire his buddy Todd Grantham, then he lost control of his recruiting staff and they committed a violation that likely led to his top recruiter leaving for the NFL, and then he plumb quit on the team.

 

[DRU2012]

Well, we did have the right guy in Dan Mullen, but his dumb ass was too stubborn to fire his buddy Todd Grantham, then he lost control of his recruiting staff and they committed a violation that likely led to his top recruiter leaving for the NFL, and then he plumb quit on the team.

Yeah…too true—AGAIN!
Remember that character on the original SNL cast “Rosanna Danna” I think her name was? Always ended some weird wandering story-with-an-obscure-point at its very end, the listener(s) by that time thoroughly befuddled, with the NON-answer: “Well, ya know, it’s always SOMETHING…”…?
That is MY answer to your point here NOW.

 

[DRU2012]

(Strange how “STUBBORNESS” has turned out to be the eventual unyielding rock upon which Coach after otherwise promising Gator Coach has foundered here.
A kind of ego-ridden blindness that is somehow inevitably entangled with the very STRENGTHS that got them “ALMOST to the TOP”—Billy even thought that the damn thing that sunk him and his talented TEAM (in his case, his play calling and the overall Game Plans they were a part of) was actually “the thing that GOT us here”:
He came right out and SAID just THAT the week before he was fired—then came out and used another near-perfect example of ANOTHER ONE to do everything possible to LOSE a game they shoulda had EASILY put away by halftime.
I don’t know if they were going to fire him win or lose after Homecoming, but only a ridiculous call by the visitors already IN fg range, plus a ballerina-graceful tippy-toe stretch by a near-400 lb defensive lineman going up snagging the INT and AM LITERALLY--well, I WAS going to put it the usual way, but really the ONLY way to say it is that MSU snatched DEFEAT from the jaws of VICTORY that day.)

 

[Escambia94]

All coaches are stubborn--even the great Steven Orr Spurrier had some stubborn tendencies that let Bobby Bowden get the better of him in head to head matchups.

 

[DRU2012]

All coaches are stubborn--even the great Steven Orr Spurrier had some stubborn tendencies that let Bobby Bowden get the better of him in head to head matchups.

Yes, but the majority of the time THE GOOD ONES find ways of making even certain perceived “flaws” (“stubbornness” being a common and typical example) somehow work FOR them more than half the time.
The rest more often FALL on that sword.
(Oh—and while I have y’all’s attention here, I wanna send out a big “F-YOU!” to Yahoo Sports’ latest shallow, Gator-hating swipe at us for them belittling our efforts Saturday in overstating the supposed “if anything the somewhat overlooked superiority of the Georgia team’s play” (sounds like SOMEONE lost a spread-wager when they took a knee at the one to run out the clock), even down-playing the significance (not to mention failing to acknowledge how large a difference a PROPER call might have made) on that blind man’s ruling against us on the big “white-gloves-under-the-ball” catch-not-allowed with moments left that very likely changes everything had it counted—would have given us a shot at the end, but instead takes the last air out of us. That and the earlier miss on 4th and one down deep (going for continuing the drive rather than taking what for Smack would have been a chip shot fg) were the difference at the very end—and that AIN’T “what was REALLY a huge HIDDEN overwhelming Georgia VICTORY.”
I HATED losing the way we did, and cannot deny the subsequent big hole in my gut Saturday night-into-Sunday before I began to (slowly) shake it off.
I can neither argue now with the general view that we won’t win 3 of the coming last 4 and match last year’s 7-win regular season—and admittedly can’t really figure how much or in what way that affects subsequent considerations ANYWAY.
I’ll just stick with the idea that “WINNING IS BETTER”, and root for my Gators, regardless…
In all kinds of weather,
WON’T BACk DOWN.
We are the boys…

 

[Escambia94]

Since this is a coaching thread, I will say that Billy Gonzales did a wonderful job representing the Gator Nation as interim head coach. He understands the homework assignment. Honestly, if Lagway were playing at the same level as he did in 2024, or if Jones were to step up, the Gators could have won the game. Look at the film breakdown by Gator Nation Football Podcast. The Gators outplayed the Bulldogs until halfway through the 4th quarter when the players could not execute. Arguably, the offensive coaches also seemed to have run out of good running plays, but still, the game was winnable until there was 3:16 on the clock (the bad incomplete pass call against Sturdivant).

 

[DRU2012]

Since this is a coaching thread, I will say that Billy Gonzales did a wonderful job representing the Gator Nation as interim head coach. He understands the homework assignment. Honestly, if Lagway were playing at the same level as he did in 2024, or if Jones were to step up, the Gators could have won the game. Look at the film breakdown by Gator Nation Football Podcast. The Gators outplayed the Bulldogs until halfway through the 4th quarter when the players could not execute. Arguably, the offensive coaches also seemed to have run out of good running plays, but still, the game was winnable until there was 3:16 on the clock (the bad incomplete pass call against Sturdivant).

I see it ALL exactly the same way, E—. Glad you specifically noted the Gator Nation podcast that breaks it all down in detail: Like us, they clearly note the imperfect but nonetheless repeatedly, stirringly mounted and determined effort to WIN, not to mention how and where things somewhat foundered but were stubbornly retrieved and pressed once more—until not OUR mistake but a fat one on the part of officials with 3:15 left sealed our fate.
The sad and heart-sinking bottom line, and the point that bodes ill for the perceived state of our immediate future is that one inescapable observation:
“If Lagway were playing at the same level as he did in 2024, or if Jones were to step up, the Gators could have won.”
I’ll go a step further:
Had the first part about Lagway been the case, we WOULD have won—perhaps handily so.
Had Billy Napier properly recognized and assumed his true duty as Head Coach and Leader of Men, he would have long since acknowledged DJ’s consistently deepening difficulties this season, WHATEVER their perceived roots, and, for the sake of EVERYONE (from DJ on down through the whole team and his own responsibility for and TO them as their Head Coach, SHOULD have subbed in Jones some games BACK.
Of course, maybe he SEES all that himself had he just listened to everyone around him, starting with an otherwise supportive (to a FAULT) AD in Stricklin who strongly advised, cajoled, (according to himself) did everything he COULD in urging his Coach, along with practically everyone ELSE, to at the very LEAST relinquish play-calling duties, give it up to a dynamic, forward-thinking, truly functioning OC—Leaving himself room, time and perspective to see and reach clear and balanced decisions regarding what was really happening onfield during practice AND in-game.
However, he did not—and here we are.
One more unpalatable ongoing side note here on a thread that focuses on our Coaching dilemma:
More and more of the loudest “usual suspects” in terms of media voices and sites are muddying our waters with the usual, predictable verbal pollution, the most persistent of which lately is the supposed “sinking”/“fading”/(choose your bummer) of Lane to at best “maybe 3rd”, lately displaced by Eli D at “#1”, followed (according to ESPN and others) by James Franklin, then “the field”…while meanwhile the rising claim that “if he leaves Ol’ Miss, Lane will SURELY bolt to LSU, not UF—for THEY are CLEARLY the better job of the two—the top job open now!”.
I have detailed counter-arguments to this pack of half-truths and unsupported assumptions, but do not care, nor see any NEED, to bother mounting them for the benefit of fellow Gators who already know and could just as strongly make the case convincingly themselves!
So, NO: Rather than writhe, whine and sweat out the details of the latest minutia online, we prefer to focus on things that actually HAPPEN…and aside from on the field on Saturdays, aside from a lot of gum-flapping, NOT A WHOLE LOT IN TRUTH HAS.
Or will, for now.
We’ll be here when it does.
But in the meantime, all we really have is each other—together circle the wagons and fight off the bad guys.

 

[Escambia94]

On one hand we cannot believe all that we hear in the sports media about one candidate or another being a higher probability. Nobody knows. A coach like Drinkwitz still has 4 games to pad his resume for the next job. Lane Kiffin might have 5 or 6, possibly 7 games to pad that resume. Regardless, this all comes down to Lane Kiffin and everyone else. The difference between Brohm, Drinkwitz, and Fisch is negligible. The difference between Kiffin and those guys is rather large. The only magical outliers are an improved Jon Gruden with home run hires at OC and DC in his hip pocket, or Ed Orgeron with a renewed plan to succeed like he did at LSU. There are other names that will be thrown in, but no indications they are willing to leave--Dan Lanning, Lincoln Riley, Urban Meyer, the ghost of Knute Rockne, a clone of Lane Kiffin, et cetera.

 

[DRU2012]

On one hand we cannot believe all that we hear in the sports media about one candidate or another being a higher probability. Nobody knows. A coach like Drinkwitz still has 4 games to pad his resume for the next job. Lane Kiffin might have 5 or 6, possibly 7 games to pad that resume. Regardless, this all comes down to Lane Kiffin and everyone else. The difference between Brohm, Drinkwitz, and Fisch is negligible. The difference between Kiffin and those guys is rather large. The only magical outliers are an improved Jon Gruden with home run hires at OC and DC in his hip pocket, or Ed Orgeron with a renewed plan to succeed like he did at LSU. There are other names that will be thrown in, but no indications they are willing to leave--Dan Lanning, Lincoln Riley, Urban Meyer, the ghost of Knute Rockne, a clone of Lane Kiffin, et cetera.

Though admittedly fond of the burst of “alternate candidates” included at the very end above, here is my “unfortunate intuitive final-take”, as the sad Parade marches on:
Please note and understand that among a host of aforementioned “Things I Hope I’m Wrong About”,
I further preface the following by granting that by now, admittedly a certain paranoia (ITSELF the result of so many years of this program’s progressive failure and decay) has set in…BUT:
Based on a sort of gut-level weighing of the possible positives supporting his finally fulfilling a career-long dream in coming here, against (for us) potential negatives inherent in his “maturation”, supposedly manifested in his own statements to such effect much-cited online (mostly by Ol’ Miss fans and recent documentary), all ultimately may well add up to an eventual decision on Lane’s part NOT to leave Ol’ Miss at all, AFTER all.
I believe he IS still “considering” us: Distracted by his current team’s Playoff run, plus the shrewd advice and maneuvering of his just-as-notorious-as-HE-is agent, he has for the moment created a certain space around himself—but I just do not feel that great about this finally, in the end breaking our way.
So: There it is…
MY “bummed out, beaten down” ULTIMATE NEGATIVE TAKE on how the winds of fate may somehow NOT line up for us this time.
The one possible saving grace here is embodied in all the many ways I could be WRONG.
But that IS how, what and why it all boils down, from my (as I say, much-abused) current point-of-view.

 

[DRU2012]

…but make no mistake:
Seldom have I EVER so LONGED to BE WRONG!!!

 

[DRU2012]

Again:
I cannot overstate how strongly I feel in this regard, how deeply my feelings have further "developed".

 

[Escambia94]

My updated coach predictions:
Florida - Not Lane Kiffin
Ole Moss - Dan Mullen
Penn State - Eli Drinkwitz
Auburn -Lane Kiffin
LSU - Another Lane Kiffin
Virginia Tech - Billy Napier
Arkansas - Yet Another Lane Kiffin
UCLA - Jedd Fisch
Florida State - Bozo the Clown

 

[DRU2012]

I see you’ve more or less come around to my neighborhood on the DARK side of town, E—…
Though thanks to a jaded sense of humor you appear to be able to whistle as you pass the graveyard.
As for the specifics, one in particular, the very last, raises a certain problem:
My own fear that OUR eventual ill-timed hiring of “NOT Lane” COULD very well end up making FSU getting “Bozo” look like a winner in comparison.