Joel Klatt reveals new name in USC, LSU coaching vacancies
Right now in college football, the USC and the LSU head coaching jobs are the two hottest openings in all of college football, and a number of different names continue to swirl as candidates for both places.
One intriguing name that FOX Sports Joel Klatt mentioned on Colin Cowherd’s show was Matt Rhule of the Carolina Panthers.
Below is the video where Klatt discussed Rhule as a possible candidate to return to college football for either the USC or LSU head coaching jobs.
“I’ve been told that Matt Rhule is not all the way in on the NFL moving forward and that he could potentially come back down to any of these jobs.”
Rhule is an interesting name for Klatt to mention, for a number of reasons. For one, he’s a builder. A builder is what LSU or USC needs. Someone to build the program back up step by step and who is able to handle all of the adversity in the process. When given the proper time, Rhule has achieved great success on the college level.
Matt Rhule is an excellent builder of programs
In 2013, Rhule took over a Temple team that went 2-10 and by the time he was finished there in 2016, the Owls had two 10 win seasons, back-to-back.
Considering Temple’s football history, that very well could be the most impressive accomplishment of his coaching career. It shows a man that is willing to stay the course and battle through adversity.
In 2017, when he took over the Baylor Bears, they went 1-11. Only two years later he had the Bears sitting at 11-3 at the end of the season. The second turnaround landed him the Panthers head coaching job, his current gig. He signed an enormous deal with the Panthers, seven years and $60 million.
So if either LSU or USC were to lure him back to college, it would not be cheap.
Matt Rhule with Carolina
The Panthers went 5-11 in Rhule’s first season in 2020. This year, they currently sit at 3-4, but he has done a really good job of building the Panthers’ defense up to one of the top units in the league through the draft. Carolina currently ranks second in the league in passing yards allowed per game (239.1). The Panthers are a team that doesn’t appear to be far away from turning the corner.
It also isn’t helping him that Sam Darnold on the Panthers looks like Sam Darnold did on the Jets, very interception prone. Darnold turnovers aside, Rhule has been without his franchise player, Christian McCaffrey for much of the 2021 season due to a hamstring injury. It’s no coincidence that his team hasn’t won a game since McCaffrey was injured, he’s one of the best players in the NFL.
Would USC or LSU fans be patient enough?
The key question to ask is would both fan bases be patient enough to allow Rhule to build? It’s a fair question at a place like LSU, where the expectations are sky-high every year.
They did just fire their head coach less than two years after he won the national championship. The SEC has a notoriously high turnover for their head football coaches. Many of the schools are not afraid to pack your bags, pay the buyout, and send the coach on his way. Simply put, it doesn’t take much at all to get fired in SEC football. Could patience be learned at a place like LSU?
It’s going to be fascinating to watch these two coaching searches develop over the coming days and weeks.