Dan Orlovsky questions if Shane Beamer could be a candidate for LSU in coaching search

The firing of Brian Kelly opened up one of the best jobs in the country, as the LSU Tigers are looking for their next head coach. Naturally, that means everyone has their own opinions and thoughts on who could end up with that next job, including ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky.

During Thursday morning’s episode of Get Up, Orlovsky threw out a couple of names for the LSU job. There was a question about kicking the tires on Oregon’s Dan Lanning. Then, he also wondered out loud if South Carolina‘s Shane Beamer could be a candidate at LSU.

“I have a question with two names,” Orlovsky said. “One, is there any shot of Dan Lanning from Oregon? And then two, if you’re Shane Beamer, is that a place where you choose to go to, and would he be of interest for LSU?”

South Carolina hired Beamer in 2021, and he’s found a good amount of success there. In three of his first four seasons, he took the Gamecocks to a bowl. That included getting to the edge of the College Football Playoff a season ago. The problem is he’s just 3-5 and dealing with a frustrating season this year.

With that in mind, Josh Pate suggested to Orlovsky that LSU might not be interested in Beamer. However, there’s another job that’s open that Beamer could be looking at, too. That’s the Virginia Tech job, where he went to school and his father is a coaching legend.

“I think Shane would be of a lot more interest at Virginia Tech, potentially,” Pate said. “If he were to leave somewhere. I don’t think there would be much of a market for Shane Beamer at LSU.”

Pate also addressed Orlovsky’s other question. That was about whether or not it was worth asking Lanning at Oregon. The truth is, everyone would love to have Lanning, who is in his first head coaching job after making the jump from defensive coordinator. However, he’s happy and in an excellent situation at Oregon. So, it’s probably not happening.

“There’d be a huge market for Dan Lanning at LSU,” Pate said. “You just whispering the name will generate a lot of headlines in the Pacific Northwest and the boot of Louisiana today. Lanning’s not going anywhere. The structure of his deal at Oregon is unique to any deal in America. He’s got a deal with Oregon, he’s got a buyout with Oregon. He’s also got a deal with Phil Knight. So, it’s a really good setup that no one wants to walk away from that Dan Lanning has right now.”

The LSU search is going to be closely monitored. It’s also become a unique situation because the Louisiana governor, Jeff Landry, announced he’ll be preventing athletic director Scott Woodward from making the hire. How that changes things, however, remains to be seen.