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USC coaching search: CFB insider says Trojans have favorite for job

Dave Hooker

By Dave Hooker

Published:

The USC coaching search may have a favorite.

According to a report by Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports, Matt Campbell is the favorite to be named the next Trojans head coach.

Thamel said Campbell, who is the head coach at Iowa State, would make sense for the Trojans, who have had their eye on Luke Fickell at Cincinnati. Fickell would be a great fit for most any open position but he’s a steadfast midwestern and he has the Bearcats in the College Football Playoff hunt at 12-0. Fickell’s season has made it difficult to have serious conversations with him and he’s unlikely to leave for a west coast program. Thamel wrote that Campbell would likely be the Trojans coach barring a late, desperation move by another program.

LSU, Florida and Southern California are all looking for head coaches to fill recent vacancies created when they parted ways with their former head coaches. Thamel said LSU is the “potential domino” in the trio of high-profile coaching searches. That means that the Tigers could have an effect on the rest of the programs that are also looking for head football coaches.

Michigan State’s Mel Tucker has agreed to a long-term contract extension that has taken him out of the running. Tucker was thought to be one of the Tigers’ top targets. LSU had reportedly made a strong move to lure Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher back east but it appears that will not materialize after Fisher steadfastly denied the reports that he had been offered a massive deal. That would leave LSU without a prominent big-name candidate since James Franklin has signed a long-term deal with Penn State. Thamel said fans should expect something “disruptive”  when LSU hires it next coach to replace Ed Orgeron.

Dave Hooker

Dave Hooker started covering Tennessee in 1998. He hosts an SEC radio show out of Chattanooga and covers the SEC for Saturday Down South.

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