The college football season isn’t even close to being over, and there’s been a total of 11 head coaches fired. Headlined by LSU’s Brian Kelley, Penn State’s James Franklin, Florida’s Billy Napier, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze, and Arkansas’ Sam Pittman. Many more are expected to be fired in the coming weeks.
Napier’s tenure at Florida was not good. His record from 2022-2025 was 22-23, only making it to a bowl game 2 out of the 3 years. In all 3 years, Florida had a top 15 recruiting class, landing the number one QB, DJ Lagway, and DL, LJ McCray. Some potential candidates for the job are Lane Kiffin, Jeff Brohm, Jedd Fisch, and Lincoln Riley. One of the most important things for the new coach would be to keep Dj Lagway out of the transfer portal. Will the new coach be named by the end of the regular season, or will it go past the playoffs?
Kelley’s time at Louisiana State University was just good, not great. With the talent he had, it was a letdown; they never reached the playoffs and only reached the SEC championship once, and lost 30-50 to Georgia. Kelley’s offenses at LSU were always elite, but the defense was far from good. He had Heisman winner Jayden Daniels for 2 years and never really did anything with him. In all 4 years, LSU had a top 10 recruiting class. In the 2026 class, the number 1 defensive lineman, Lamar Brown, is committed, and we will see if he stays committed when the new coach is named. Some potential candidates for the job are Marcus Freeman, Jon Sumrall, Lane Kiffin, and Brent Key. The governor of Louisiana, Jeff Lanry, said, “I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward (Athletic Director) is not selecting the next coach. Hell, I’ll let Donald Trump select it before I let him do it.”
Franklin could never get over the hump with Penn State. His record from 2014 to 2025 was 101-42 and only 4-21 against AP top 10 opponents. The firing comes after a heartbreaking loss to number 6 Oregon, a bad loss to UCLA, and the final game at Penn State for James Franklin was a 1-point loss to Northwestern in Beaver Stadium. The preseason hype for Penn State this year was insane; almost every preseason College Football Bracket had them as a top 4 seed. This was very valid considering they were bringing back one of the best backfield duos, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. In all 11 years for James Franklin, he has had a top 20 recruiting class. Some potential candidates for the job are Jeff Brohm, Manny Diaz, and Matt Campell.
Freeze at Auburn was a disgrace to a great program. The only reason he was hired was because he beat Alabama twice at Ole Miss. He finished with a record of 15-19, only winning 6 SEC games. Auburn has had a top 15 recruiting class ranking the past 3 years. Some coaching candidates for the Auburn job are Jon Sumrall, Brent Key, Elijah Drinkwitz, Clark Lea, and Glenn Schumann. Hugh Freeze’s daughter had a comment on the fans after the firing, “We don’t wish bad upon them, but we do hope that they turn to the Lord and find Jesus.”
Pittman was hired by Arkansas after the 2019 season. When Pittman arrived at Arkansas, they were a dumpster fire; they were on a 19-game SEC game losing streak. He helped give some respect to the program. Arkansas went 32-34 over the time he was there. They made it to a bowl game 3 times, going 3-0 in bowl games. Some potential candidates are interim HC, Bobby Petrino, Rhett Lashlee, Alex Golesh, Eric Morris, and Jon Sumrall.
Many experts say this will be the craziest and busiest coaching carousel in college football. There are many elite programs with job openings. How fast will they be filled? Will even more teams fire their coaches? Only time and success will tell.
