Let's Debate: Which Newly Hired Head Coach Is Best Positioned To Succeed?

The coaching carousel has been spinning at full speed lately. 

More than a quarter of the SEC's teams — Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas and Kentucky — are moving forward with a new head coach.

Elsewhere, in the ACC, Virginia Tech hired former Penn State coach James Franklin, who was fired by the Nittany Lions in October, while Stanford turned to the NFL, hiring Washington Commanders quarterback coach Tavita Pritchard.

In the Big Ten, Michigan State hired ex-Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, and UCLA is set to hire Bob Chesney away from James Madison after a potential College Football Playoff run for the Dukes.

Other conferences were shaken up too, as Oklahoma State hired Eric Morris from North Texas, which in turn hired ex-West Virginia coach Neal Brown, and Oregon State hired JaMarcus Shephard, who's currently Alabama's wide receivers coach and assistant head coach under Kalen DeBoer.

FOX Sports' college football writers revealed which coach they feel has the best chance to succeed in their new role.

3. With all the recent coaching changes, which newly hired head coach do you believe is best positioned to succeed at their new school — and why?

Michael Cohen: Lane Kiffin, LSU 

At this point, no one can dispute the messiness of Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss last weekend. From his decision to walk away from a team that will participate in the CFP, to the chorus of profanity he received while boarding a private jet at the University-Oxford Airport, to the rack of his clothing that was left outside the Ole Miss football facility, to the discrepancies about who said what during his various meetings with the Rebels’ administrators, nothing about Kiffin’s exit was clean-cut. That is almost entirely his fault, regardless of what his friends on TV will peddle about the college football calendar being to blame. Kiffin could have — and should have — handled his untangling from Ole Miss more gracefully. That much is all but impossible to dispute. Just as it’s nearly impossible to dispute Kiffin’s standing as one of the best, most adaptable coaches in college football — a descriptor that extends far beyond Xs and Os given the sport’s modern landscape, though Kiffin is renowned for his offensive mind, too. 

At a time when roster building and roster retention are more important than ever, Kiffin has proven himself a maestro with both during a highly successful six-year run at Ole Miss that included three consecutive 10-win seasons and four such campaigns overall. His last four transfer portal classes with the Rebels finished fourth, first, second and second in the national rankings compiled by 247Sports, earning Kiffin the apropos "Portal King" moniker. His last four high school recruiting classes finished 16th, 21st, 23rd and 27th to show that he can effectively marry multiple methods of player acquisition, even while working in a state — Mississippi — that isn’t bursting with top-end, local talent. 

That, ultimately, might be why Kiffin made the move from Ole Miss to LSU, whose athletic department and administration seem ready to give him all the financial backing he wants while maintaining a similar hands-off working relationship to what he enjoyed in Oxford. Because aside from Florida, Texas and California, which are widely regarded as the three most fertile recruiting states in the country, Louisiana is arguably atop the second tier. The Bayou State has produced an average of 1.3 five-star prospects per year over the past six recruiting cycles, per 247Sports, and a whopping 10.8 players per year ranked among the top-300 prospects nationally. That level of sustained high school talent will give Kiffin an excellent local starting point for every class he builds. Plus, the 2027 crop in Louisiana looks even better: four five-star prospects and 12 top-300 recruits in the current rankings. One of those players, four-star quarterback Peyton Houston (No. 92 overall, No. 8 QB) is already committed to the Tigers. 

In other words, Kiffin should have everything he needs to succeed at LSU.

Laken Litman: James Franklin, Virginia Tech

Franklin was fired by PSU on Oct. 12, and the Nittany Lions still don’t have a replacement. Meanwhile, he has flipped a few former Penn State recruits to come to Virginia Tech. He's also expected to finish this recruiting cycle with a top-25 class. (Last year, the Hokies had the No. 42 class.)

Additionally, we’ve seen how the ACC has struggled this season. It might not even get a team into the CFP. Sure, Franklin was fired in part because of his inability to win big games, but the competition is different in the ACC. The environment is ripe for him to have success and do so quickly.

RJ Young: Eric Morris, Oklahoma State

Morris is coming off the best season in North Texas history and is a win away from taking a Group of 6 program to the place the Cowboys most want to be — the CFP. With his pedigree as a man who tutored Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield and Tennessee Titans QB Cam Ward, he’ll reenter a league he’s already very familiar with as an assistant after fielding the best player in the American Conference in Mean Green signal-caller Drew Mestemaker and the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense (46.8 points per game). 

The Cowboys are in a league with a legacy of airing out the ball and developing first-round quarterbacks, and they're situated in a region where Morris can recruit players who fit his scheme with ease without needing to leave the state of Oklahoma or Texas. It’s a home-run hire for Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg and one that has positioned the Pokes as relevant heading into the 2026 offseason.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.

Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.

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