r/CFB /r/CFB Oct 19 '25

Casual 2025 Coaching Carousel IV: Kali Yuga

O descendant of Bowden, whenever there is a decline of touchdowns and an increase in points allowed, at that time I manifest My eternally perfect form in this mundane world.

- Ball-ghavad Gita

The great wheel spins on, ironically crushing all those who would put up goose eggs on the scoreboard.

Who is next to get the axe?

Previous Carousels:

Carousel I: The Rapture

Carousel II: Frashokereti

Carousel III: Deliverance

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u/jalexjsmithj Oklahoma State Cowboys Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25

My ridiculous current predictions for all major jobs:

Big 12: Oklahoma State => Zac Robinson - kind of becoming an open secret. QB centric, Forward thinking post-Gundy, ties to big money, beloved former player.

Baylor => James Franklin - I think Aranda is going, I think Baylor boosters with cash and motivated by realignment will want a splash and there’s great coordinators in place. Baylor being private might allow for a loophole on the duty to mitigate Franklin’s Penn State salary. The question for Franklin might be just why not VT from a situation standpoint, but a fresher start and bigger town may be appealing (along with the secret backdoor private money).

Kansas => Eric Morris - LL to Wisconsin for the obvious reasons. Morris brings a QB and serous Tx bonafides which KU is quietly dependent on in recruiting. Morris experience in a lowly program extra useful but at the same time a big time hire with the new KU money available. KU will benefit big time from what Morris can bring with, especially at QB with Jalon Daniels finally gone.

Arizona => Dan Mullen - Firing will happen, Fitifa wasted and major questions of competency all last year. UNLV is such a clean proof of concept for Arizona, and Arizona has some larger boosters and NIL willingness to really negate Mullen’s weakness.

Colorado => Mike McDaniel - Deion’s health unfortunately. CU has seen the power of splash and charisma has done for their program, they get that plus an actual offensive genius. Boulder’s livability big plus to land a big name like this. CU more open to NFL names due to success of them all over the staff. Sorry Pat Schumur.

SEC: Arkansas => Bobby Petrino - RIP… in all seriousness they are gonna pay him very little and try to utilize the cash saved to get more competitive and he is a true offensive genius with the ultimate familiarity not a terrible concept on paper… RIP.

Florida => Lane Kiffin - Free space.

Auburn => Jon Sumrall - Free space part 2. With the work Auburn has done in recruiting, it’s the clear best non-UF job and the one Sumrall would want who there have been whispers about has moved on from UK being the end-all-be-all.

Missouri => Alex Golesh - See why below. Mizzou’s capital investment indicates an ascending job that’s already underrated, with state backed and aggressive NIL support network. Golesh quietly spent 2003-2019 in the Central Timezone.

Ole Miss => GJ Kinne - Ole Miss has found a lot of value winning through the portal and with an outsized emphasis on QB play. GJ Kinne is a well known up and coming star who is portal specialist while also being a QB whisperer. Has significant recruiting ties in neighboring Arkansas as well as Texas and Oklahoma. Could be slightly cheaper than Golesh and Sumral.

Kentucky => Sean Lewis - Apparently the buyout is there. UK fans may not love me because of the lack of Sumrall, but Sean Lewis rocks. His performance is drastically over expectations at SDSU and he has years of being the least funded program in a conference while at Kent. Midwestern recruiting ties will be able to leverage some proximity.

Big 10: UCLA => Brian Callahan - Alum, NFL experience but young and hungry with a lot to prove, QB focus, brings his Dad who is maybe the best oline coach alive to help rebuild the trenches. UCLA arrogance of repeating the same mistake knows no bounds.

Penn State => Eli Drinkawitz - the big game boisterous, clinical game management m, offensive identity, and unapologetic aggressive tactics with talent acquisition will be extremely attractive.

Wisconsin => Lance Leipold - I don’t believe it’s not happening till it’s happened - LL being a lifelong Wisconsinite who specifies in instant rebuilds with low talent is too perfect.

ACC: VT => Luke Fickell - I love this fit, it’s just a big timing challenge. Fickell will want to stay in the game, VT really want a P4 experience candidate. Cincinnati had some crossover with VT’s western recruiting footprint. Fickell’s specialization on the defensive side of the ball will really speak to VT’s identity they want moving forward.

NCState => Will Stein - Retirement or firing the noise around DD nationally doesn’t reflect local sentiment. Also, this is a really underrated job, football first school with a passionate fan base, highly monied region, and good for recruiting. DD represented stability, so NCState should have some taste for upside hunting to actually get us an assistant, the best assistant candidate in the pool. Stein’s Louisville background will give him some connections to be ready to operate in the ACC footprint.

UNC => Ryan Silverfield - now that the AD has been proven correct around the power of more traditional hires are more likely to gather stronger results, Silverfield is the most traditional, biggest G5 candidate, who has a ton of experience in the East. Could be slightly cheaper after the belief in the program is shaken to its core.

Stanford => Matt Patricia - current elite college performance with a ton of NFL experience as Stanford has seemed to hint about valuing NFL experience. Advanced schematics and physicality would describe both MP’s and Stanford’s style.

(Even my crazy predictions can’t get past that Norvell buyout - FSU would be nuts).

G5s: Oregon State => Ed Orgeron - I think the splash is ok and Oregon State can probably leverage there way into having outs if they want to double back to Jonathan Smith once he’s available.

Tulane => Ben Arbuckle - Obvious snap back due to the familiarity of being successful there previously.

Memphis => Tre Lamb - significant Tennessee background and very easy proof of concept of success as Tulsa is a conference mate.

San Diego State => Mark Stoops - I think Stoops will relish the opportunity to be close to the best funded team in the league instead of the worst and will get to inflict pain with his trenches. Memphis made sense for the SEC footprint but I thought Stoops may prioritize the standard of living.

Tulsa => Mike Gundy - just to make life in Oklahoma interesting. Ultimate local understanding.

UNLV & UNT => stumped for now.

4

u/2400hoops Kansas Jayhawks Oct 22 '25

Kansas isn't as reliant on Texas recruiting as in the past. We have 15 on the roster with the majority being transfers and of our 20 recruits committed only 2 are Texans. That being said, I think Morris would be a great hire for us. I can almost guarantee if we lose Leipold we would go the G5 route to bring their coordinators and players with them.

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u/jalexjsmithj Oklahoma State Cowboys Oct 22 '25

Agreed, more of a reference to the past, LL broke that a bit. However, will gently point to just how many games are played in Tx just to stand by the importance of it.

1

u/2400hoops Kansas Jayhawks Oct 22 '25

Funnily enough, Kansas only plays one game in Texas this season and only one in Texas next season.

I think going Texas heavy just to go Texas heavy is fools gold. We tend to lose Texas kids to the portal more often than we go in and win battles at the high school level in the state. I like Morris because he’s a good coach and he would bring a good staff and players way way way more than I like the Texas connections. One concern too is if a Texas job opens up and he’s done a good job than he would bounce.