LSU Next Football Coach Odds: Who Will Replace Brian Kelly?

Yesterday, another big domino fell in the college football coaching carousel, as LSU head coach Brian Kelly was relieved of his duties after an embarrassing home loss to Texas A&M. After entering the season with hopes of contending for a national championship, LSU fans are now instead wondering who the program’s next head coach will be.

For the third straight weekend, one of college football’s biggest jobs opened up, following James Franklin’s ouster at Penn State on October 12 and Billy Napier’s dismissal at Florida a week later.

With Kelly’s tenure in Baton Rouge ending after three-plus seasons, ten FBS head coaches have lost their jobs in the first two months of the 2025 season. Eight firings have occurred at Power 4 schools, and Kelly is the third SEC head man to be given his walking papers after Napier and Sam Pittman (shown the door at Arkansas on September 28).

With respect to Penn State and Florida, the LSU job moves to the top as the best available opening.

Three different head coaches have led the program to a national championship in the 21^st century, with the most recent title coming in 2019 under Ed Orgeron.

But since that historic 15-0 season, the Tigers have not made another College Football Playoff appearance or even finished inside the top 10 of the final AP poll. Their lone SEC Championship Game appearance came in 2022, when the Georgia juggernaut steamrolled them in Atlanta.

The next LSU head coach will have hefty resources and the expectations that come with those resources, just as Kelly did.

But who will be the next man up in Baton Rouge? BetOnline and other top online sportsbooks have released next LSU head coach odds, and someone already coaching in the state tops the list.

LSU Next Football Coach Odds

Jon Sumrall (Tulane head coach) +150
Joe Brady (Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator) +200
Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss head coach) +400
James Franklin (former Penn State head coach) +600
Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri head coach) +800
Jeff Brohm (Louisville head coach) +1200
Brent Key (Georgia Tech head coach) +1400
Jimbo Fisher (former Florida State and Texas A&M head coach) +1800
Clark Lea (Vanderbilt head coach) +2000
Urban Meyer (former college and NFL head coach) +2500
Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame head coach) +2500
Rhett Lashlee (SMU head coach) +3300
Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State head coach) +4000
Jon Gruden (former NFL head coach) +4000
Lincoln Riley (USC head coach) +4500
Dan Mullen (UNLV head coach) +5000
Dabo Swinney (Clemson head coach) +5000
Dan Lanning (Oregon head coach) +6600
Alex Golesh (South Florida head coach) +6600
Matt Campbell (Iowa State head coach) +7500
Nick Saban (the G.O.A.T.) +7500

Assessing the LSU Head Coaching Job

Why Did LSU Fire Brian Kelly?

After seasons of 10-4, 10-3, and 9-4, LSU was expected to be in the College Football Playoff mix this season, led by quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, considered a Heisman Trophy favorite and a potential #1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Expectations only increased after the Tigers opened the season with a 17-10 win at then-No. 4 Clemson, which vaulted the Bayou Bengals into the top five.

But since starting 4-0, the Tigers have lost three of four, falling at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt and at home to Texas A&M. And while the losses in Oxford and Nashville were close, Saturday’s 49-25 loss to the rival Aggies saw the Tigers allow 35 consecutive second-half points after leading 18-14 at halftime.

That disastrous second half and the prospect of yet another season without a CFP berth were enough for LSU brass and boosters to determine that Kelly’s tenure needed to end immediately, despite 34 wins in 48 games.

Season-by-Season Record for Brian Kelly at LSU

2022: 10-4 (6-2 SEC), lost in SEC Championship Game, won Citrus Bowl
2023: 10-3 (6-2 SEC), won ReliaQuest Bowl
2024: 9-4 (5-3 SEC), won Texas Bowl
2025: 5-3 (2-3 SEC), fired

While LSU did start 4-0 this season for the first time since 2019, Nussmeier and the offense have failed to fire time and time again. A 56-10 win over Southeastern Louisiana is the only time to date that the Tigers have crossed the 30-point mark, and they have scored 20, 19, 20, 24, and 25 points in SEC play.

With a trip to Alabama on November 8 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and a visit to Oklahoma still to come, LSU is staring at a losing record in SEC play. That is an unacceptable achievement in any season by current program standards but particularly unacceptable given what was expected entering the season.

Therefore, this decision does not come as a major surprise, especially when Kelly, whose four previous head coaching stints were all at Midwestern schools, looked like an odd fit from the outset.

With Nussmeier back after a big 2024 season, it looked like things might just work. But that has proven to not be the case, and the search is now on to find a better fit for the hot seat in Baton Rouge.

LSU Head Coaching Candidates

The decision to fire Kelly sooner rather than later was also understandable with the coaching carousel in mind.

Florida and Penn State have already made moves, changes could be coming at Florida State, Clemson, and Auburn, and there is heavy speculation surrounding a possible NFL future for Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.

With numerous notable programs either definitely or potentially in the market in this coaching cycle and eyeing some of the same candidates, proactive personnel decisions make a lot of sense, especially in the current era of college football.

So, who could the money men at LSU be targeting to take over the reins?

Jon Sumrall, Tulane HC

Sumrall would not strike the masses as a flashy hire, but he is 38-10 in three-plus seasons at Troy and Tulane. This season, the Green Wave are 6-1, with their lone loss coming at Ole Miss. They lost star quarterback Darian Mensah to a big-money deal at Duke (who they beat on September 13), as well as star running back Makhi Hughes (now redshirting at Oregon) but have barely missed a beat thanks to BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff.

Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills OC

Brady would be a first-time head coach, but he would be a popular hire. He was the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach on LSU’s 2019 championship team, after which he made the jump to the NFL.

His initial jump did not quite work out, as he didn’t make it two full seasons as the OC for the Carolina Panthers. But his rep has been rebuilt and then some in Buffalo, where he was first the quarterbacks coach then the interim OC before being promoted to permanent OC.

If Brady is a or the top target, LSU may face some competition for his services. Odds at BetOnline have the 36-year-old as the favorite for the top job at Penn State, where he was a graduate assistant in 2015 and 2016. Also, he could very well be in the mix for an NFL head job.

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss HC

In 1998, Tommy Tuberville infamously uttered that he would have to be carried away from Ole Miss in a pine box then promptly carried himself to Auburn days later.

Kiffin departing Oxford for one of the Rebels’ biggest rivals would be an even more infamous move, even if a move to LSU would be a direct result of the significant success he has had with the Rebels.

Following Saturday’s 34-26 win at Oklahoma, Kiffin is now 51-19 in five-plus seasons in Oxford. He is on course for a fourth 10+ win season there, and with a favorable home stretch (South Carolina, The Citadel, and Florida at home before a regular season finale at Mississippi State), a first CFP berth is firmly in the crosshairs.

Kiffin has been a popular name in the rumor mill in recent seasons because of his success at Ole Miss, and he has been heavily linked with the Florida job.

But will he leave what he has? As green as the grass may well be elsewhere, it might not be greener than it is in Oxford.

He is paid well enough for the extra millions he would get elsewhere to not matter. The resources are and will continue to be there to succeed at a high level without the weight of the kind of expectations that he would have in Gainesville or Baton Rouge. Also, he and Ole Miss have always seemed like a perfect fit.

Other Potential Candidates for the LSU Job

Franklin may have relatively short odds, but can you picture him falling upward when he was fired at Penn State in part because his teams struggled to win big games? As high as the stakes and expectations were there, they will be even higher at LSU.

It’s also difficult to picture Fisher (whose tenures at Florida State and Texas A&M ended poorly), Meyer (a polarizing legend that needs to stay retired), or Freeman (another Midwesterner) seriously being in the mix.

Brohm, Key, and Lea are all at their alma maters, but the success they are all having this season will have them in the middle of some rumors, even if none of them make a move.

If it does go beyond Sumrall, Brady, or Kiffin, will Drinkwitz have a choice between Gainesville and Baton Rouge? At BetOnline, he is the favorite for the Florida job, ahead of Franklin, Kiffin, and Washington’s Jedd Fisch (a Florida alum). Drinkwitz has led Mizzou to consecutive double-digit win seasons, and the Tigers, who are 6-2 following a close loss at Vanderbilt, have been ranked for most of this season.

The coming weeks are going to be interesting and full of both firm and unfounded speculation, but LSU fans will certainly be hoping that it ends with a better fit than the man who received his pink slip on Sunday.

Other College Football Betting Information

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Who Will Be LSU’s Next Football Coach After the Firing of Brian Kelly?