Bruce Feldman breaks down latest on LSU, USC openings

On3 imageby:Jonathan Wagner10/23/21

Jonathan Wagner

Usually the coaching carousel doesn’t get underway until the final weeks of the season at the earliest. This season, though, two prominent jobs in college football are open before we even reach November. Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman reports that USC and LSU are both looking at Penn State head coach James Franklin as a leading candidate for their jobs.

“USC’s coaching search got a lot more complicated this week with LSU coming open,” Feldman said. “Both schools, I am told, have James Franklin as a top target. Remember, James Franklin before he was at Penn State did a remarkable job at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was atrocious before he got there, they’ve been atrocious since he left. But in three seasons there, he has two top 25 seasons.”

Franklin coached Vanderbilt to a 6-7 record in 2011 in his first year at Vanderbilt. He then went 9-4 in each of the next two seasons for an overall record of 24-15. Vanderbilt lost in the Liberty Bowl in 2011 under Franklin but won bowl games in each of the next two seasons.

LSU, USC jobs each have hurdles

Franklin is an obvious candidate for major coaching positions. Since taking over at Penn State in 2014, the Nittany Lions are 65-29. Franklin has led Penn State to six bowl games, winning three.

Whether it’s Franklin or somebody else, LSU and USC each have big hurdles to overcome in finding someone to take their jobs.

“Now with USC and LSU, they both have one big, unique challenge to overcome,” Feldman said. “For USC, it is going to come down to just how robust of a staff salary pool can they put together. Because there’s probably going to be a big cost of living challenge for anybody that comes out to Los Angeles.

“On the LSU side, Nick Saban is in their division. There is no Alabama in the Pac-12 South.”

LSU has been rumored to be interested in prominent names such as Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, and Michigan State’s Mel Tucker among many others. But Franklin appears in line to get serious consideration for the USC and LSU jobs over the coming months.