LSU Coaching Search: Revealing top candidates if Marcus Freeman says no

LSU has already seen a coaching search that has taken several turns since the firing of Brian Kelly on Sunday, which now includes the involvement of the Governor of Louisiana. So, with that, Josh Pate tried to center the conversation again back to the search itself.

Appearing on ‘Get Up’ on Thursday, Pate discussed the now-open job down in Baton Rouge. He couldn’t help but laugh during his reaction, though, at the crazy storyline of a politician going at an athletic director as part of this for the Tigers.

“Did you notice, the real kicker in all of that was, he said, ‘I’m not hiring the next coach, but Scott Woodward is not hiring the next coach.'” Pate said. “But, someone out there asked the only question that matters, and that is who is hiring the next coach? I don’t know! I just know Scott Woodward is not going to hire the next coach, but we’re going to get a board of supervisors, all appointed by me, the governor in Louisiana, mind you, and they’re going to figure out who’s going to hire the next coach.

“I’m not hiring him, but all of the people that have attachment to me and all the people I appointed? They’ll figure out how to hire him. We’ve got to stack good days on top of each other in this coaching search, and, yesterday, we did not stack a good day in the state of Louisiana.”

That said, Pate was then asked if he was the one making the hire in the bayou, who he would try to get as the next head coach at LSU. His answer was first with Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, whom he noted that he’d want to hear a no from more than once. But, from there, Pate thought several people could be reasonable candidates, whether it be the typical hot board names so far around this cycle in Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz or ones who, while maybe not being the major options, he thinks would be successful anywhere in names like Iowa State’s Matt Campbell or, even just an hour or two down the road, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall.

“Well, if I could get anyone I wanted, I would go after Marcus Freeman,” Pate said. “Now, if Marcus Freeman says thanks but no thanks, I’d tell him, ‘Hey, I’ve cleaned up the political structure down here, you’re good!’ And, if he still says, all due respect, no thanks? I’m not sure my list would look like theirs.

“My list would look like a guy who really, really knows how to coach ball, and who understands how to harness the infrastructure of Louisiana, and that just means let them put the rocket boosters on you that they put on Les Miles, that they put on Ed Orgeron. I would have no problem going after a guy like Matt Campbell at Iowa State, for all I care. Lane Kiffin is on the hot board. I understand that. Eli Drinkwitz is on the hot board. I just look at all these hot boards and every one of them has the same three of four guys. Jon Sumrall at Tulane, in-state, would work fine here.”