LSU succeeds in hiring Lame Kiffin.
From The Athletic
Jim Dean
Whether it’s a success will not be clear for a few years. Winning a National Championship at LSU seems like a first step on the road to being fired. 
Michigan State has fired Jonathan Smith after 2 years.
Florida has hired Jon Sumrall away from Tulane.
Auburn has hired Alex Golesh, previously at South Florida.
Coastal Carolina has fired Tim Beck.
Duke, in a several-way tie for 2nd in the ACC, will play in the title game and thus has a chance to be the first five-loss team in the Playoffs.
I figure Lane will win financially regardless of what his team does
I wonder what Monte Kiffin would think about all of Lane’s drama. He wasn’t cut from that mold.
Jim Dean
The ESPN story on Kiffin says that he talked to Pete Carroll, and was told:
‘Your dad would tell you to go. Take the shot.’
Kentucky fired Mark Stoops today.
Michigan State has hired former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. Northwestern is scheduled to play at MSU in 2026, conference dates aren’t out yet.
Mike Nolan
Chris Klieman is expected to announce his retirement at Kansas State. Former Wildcat QB Collin Klein, currently the OC at Texas A&M, is likely to be named as his replacement. Klieman is 58.
It wasn’t that long ago that Klieman was on the short list for several job openings, I guess he got burned out, he said some thing during the season that could have been interpreted that way.
I was a bit surprised at Klieman’s retirement but think the pressure was getting to him. K State underperformed this year in the W/L column but seemed to have a resilient, tough team. I’ve never been a K State fan and wasn’t a fan of Snyder either but liked Klieman’s style. Never would’ve guessed he was only 58 years old. I would’ve liked to have retired at 58 too but don’t make a major coach’s salary.
Not sure what to think about Fitz going to Mich. State and I don’t know enough about his ouster at Northwestern to know who was at fault. That whole story seemed a bit vague to me.
Scott Buffington
Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune wrote a rather scathing column about MSU’s hiring of Fitz, noting that his record in his final 3 seasons was unspectacular and raising the issues that led to his firing, namely the reports of widespread hazing incidents at Northwestern, of which he claimed he was unaware. (I guess the buck doesn’t stop at his desk.) The ESPN article on the MSU hiring noted that Fitz needs to expect better results from his staff and make changes when needed. Loyalty shouldn’t outweigh performance.
I was more concerned with the on-field performance than his knowledge of or the veracity of the hazing claims. It remains to be seen whether he can build a competitive team in the new Big Ten and the NIL/transfer/player payments era. He should have fewer problems at MSU getting athletes through the admissions office, the basketball team never does. Northwestern is scheduled to play at MSU in 2026, should be an interesting game.
MSU has had a long history of possibly dirty play (going after a player’s knees, twisting ankles when tackling, etc.) I hope Fitz doesn’t condone this.