ESPN analyst reveals pick for best hire of 2025 coaching carousel
By David Wasson
Published:
The 2025-26 college football coaching carousel was one of the busiest in history, with 30 FBS coaches hired so far – and a few more jobs still open. Everywhere from LSU to UAB, Michigan State to Colorado State, seemed to have turnover.
ESPN analyst Bill Connelly analyzed all 30 of the moves so far in the coaching cycle and concluded that LSU’s decision to hire Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss was the best decision of the bunch – awarding the move an A+ grade.
Here’s Connelly’s analysis:
We won’t overthink this one. Everything about the run-up to Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss was dramatic and strung out, and it will forever be part of his coaching biography that he left an active playoff team for a school he had beaten weeks earlier. But in his past nine years as a head coach, he has won double-digit games six times (at schools without much, or any, recent history of doing that), and he engineered the Rebels’ best three-year run in 60-plus years. He checks almost every box for a school that can afford to hire a guy who checks lots of boxes.
Kiffin move from Oxford to Baton Rouge was one of 6 moves made by SEC programs. Alex Golesh took over for Hugh Freeze at Auburn, Jon Sumrall took over for Billy Napier at Florida, Pete Golding was promoted to Kiffin’s position at Ole Miss, Ryan Silverfield took over for Sam Pittman at Arkansas and Will Stein assumes the head job at Kentucky.
Kiffin will have high expectations at LSU in 2026 and beyond.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
