The Brian Kelly era in Baton Rouge is officially over.
LSU fired its head coach after a 5-3 start, including back-to-back losses to SEC squads Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.
At the beginning of the season, the Tigers sat at +2000 to win the College Football Playoff, and it looked like they could be in the conversation after getting off to a 4-0 start. Even after losing a close one to Ole Miss in Week 5, it seemed like the Bayou Bengals could stay in the mix.
Now those odds are an insurmountable +50000.
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Kelly was still under his 10-year contract that was worth about $100 million. His $53 million buyout will be one of the largest in the history of college sports.
With Kelly out — as well as athletic director Scott Woodward — where does LSU turn to get its football program back to prominence in the SEC and nationally?
Here are the lines at Oddschecker.com for LSU’s next head coach as of Nov. 4.
LSU next head coach odds
Jon Sumrall: +150 (bet $10 to win $25 total)
Joe Brady: +200 (bet $10 to win $30 total)
Lane Kiffin: +350 (bet $10 to win $45 total)
James Franklin: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Eli Drinkwitz: +700 (bet $10 to win $80 total)
Jeff Brohm: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Brent Key: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Jimbo Fisher: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Clark Lea: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
The Favorite: Jon Sumrall is at the top of this board at +150 and has been rumored to be a top choice for the Auburn head coach vacancy, too. Currently, Sumrall is Tulane’s head coach, a position he’s held since December 2023. He cut his teeth as Kentucky’s co-defensive coordinator and at Troy as head coach. At Troy, he led the team to two Sun Belt Conference championships.
Lions to Tigers?: Ousted Penn State head coach James Franklin is fourth on this list at +500. Is it in the cards for the former Nittany Lion to change his stripes? Hiring Franklin to lead the bounce back in the Bayou could make perfect sense, especially when you take into account his accomplishments. In 2024, he reached 100 wins at Penn State, and during the CFP era, he’s one of only four active coaches to achieve the feat of winning at least five New Year’s Six or College Football Playoff (CFP) games.
The Proven Veteran: Jimbo Fisher’s last head coaching gig was at Texas A&M, where he spent six years leading the Aggies until being fired in November 2023. While A&M was 45-25 under him, it was his tenure at Florida State that thrust him into the stratosphere of coaching elite. At FSU, he went 83-23 and won the national championship in 2013.
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