{"id":295892,"date":"2025-11-20T00:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T00:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/295892\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T00:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T00:17:14","slug":"auburn-could-land-rising-college-football-coach-lsu-is-overlooking-insider-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/295892\/","title":{"rendered":"Auburn could land rising college football coach LSU is overlooking, insider says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_2abpa0hr7\">College football\u2019s coaching carousel is in full swing and by far the biggest name on the big board remains Lane Kiffin, amid the rumors that the Ole Miss coach <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_1fly2ec\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/college\/cfb-hq\/picks\/paul-finebaum-reveals-where-lane-kiffin-will-coach-next-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">will jump ship for greener pastures<\/a> either at LSU or Florida next season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_tbje0y4e0\">Overlooked in the confusion is what Auburn is looking to do, and one college football insider believes that a rising Group of Five coach who might be a good option for LSU could land on The Plains instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_zn2bjj7ew\">Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall could be a good candidate to replace Hugh Freeze as LSU is not expected to be interested in him, according to The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_bbrj6x5xo\">\u201cI would not be surprised if he\u2019s the Auburn head coach,\u201d Feldman told Todd McShay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_qjucsoe43\">\u201cI don\u2019t know if LSU would do it because, again, LSU does some nutty stuff and unless they\u2019re backed into a corner, I don\u2019t think they are going to do the thing that may make the most sense. They\u2019re going to do the thing that sounds the coolest at the press conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_y7pafsn2a\">Hence LSU\u2019s clearer interest in Kiffin, the biggest star currently in the mix and the current betting favorite to replace Brian Kelly, according to multiple sports books.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_dqob47kfu\">Sumrall, meanwhile, has taken a big leap on the Auburn leader board in recent days, rising to a commanding 70 percent likelihood to take the job, according to the prediction market Kalshi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_wi0aq5gcl\">Speculation around a potential move by Sumrall to the SEC has picked up this week, as reports emerged that he <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_1fly2ec\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/college\/cfb-hq\/florida-reportedly-schedules-interview-with-a-head-coach-jon-sumrall-not-lane-kiffin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">had an interview set up with Florida<\/a>, and then reported that he did not, in fact, have an interview set up with Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_duijz2us6\">Dipping into the lower ranks of football doesn\u2019t seem like something LSU would do, according to Feldman\u2019s estimation of the school\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_b8yu43i4w\">\u201cI\u2019ve always heard LSU money people would not hire a Tulane or a Group of Five guy,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_x6bpc0s0z\">\u201cJon Sumrall is a terrific coach. He\u2019s at Tulane. He played in the SEC, coached in the SEC. I\u2019ve never met anybody who\u2019s been involved in football who was not impressed by him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_7z6zisp2c\">They have reason to be right now, as Tulane was named the No. 24 team in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and is <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_1fly2ec\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/college\/cfb-hq\/rankings\/college-football-playoff-bracket-rankings-week-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the current favorite to be the No. 12 seed<\/a> as the Group of Five representative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_gclzx4cbo\">Sumrall is an Alabama native who coached at Troy before Tulane, has deep ties in Alabama, and is considered to be a popular figure among high school coaches in the state, a very lucrative position for any coach at Auburn to be in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_eogocisfa\">Sumrall has been on coaching staffs in the SEC before at Kentucky, his alma mater, and Ole Miss, before taking the top job first at Troy and then Tulane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_8u97fosiv\">Sumrall went 23-4 in two seasons at Troy, which was ranked in the AP poll in his first season, and is currently 8-2 with Tulane entering this weekend, with a 17-7 overall record there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_wwwlr9ypv\">Overall, he\u2019s 40-11 in his career as a head coach at both schools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_my4l2fki4\"><a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_1fly2ec\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cJpyopBZFH0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Feldman)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"College football\u2019s coaching carousel is in full swing and by far the biggest name on the big board&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-295892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}