By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU’s Lane Kiffin is at the head of the Class of 2026’s six new head coaches in the Southeastern Conference heading into the summer after a league record tying five firings during and after the 2025 season.
Fired were Florida’s Billy Napier, LSU’s Brian Kelly, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops after five also in 2017.
Tulane’s Jon Sumrall replaced Napier. Kiffin left Ole Miss to replace Kelly. Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield took over for Pittman. South Florida’s Alex Golesh replaced Freeze. Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein took over for Stoops. And Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to replace Kiffin, who was not fired.
Greg Sankey’s SEC … it Just Means More To Win Metrics Than Trophies. Column:https://t.co/Pz3yyaVOnh
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 29, 2026
The first five above will be in their Honeymoon seasons, which means no pressure in year one to keep their job.
That includes Kiffin. The word nationally and locally I keep hearing is that Kiffin is under tremendous pressure to win big in 2026 – as in reach the College Football Playoff – because of his contract ($91 million over seven years, third highest salary at $13 million a year) and his No. 1 by far Transfer Portal class (41 players).
Fans not being happy is not pressure. Fans are largely delusional, particularly LSU fans. Lane could have a very good season and miss playoffs. He has 5 road sec games.
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 29, 2026
And that is wrong. There are great expectations for Kiffin at LSU because of his contract, his wild success with the portal and the tremendous success he had at Ole Miss. But expectations are far different than pressure. Kelly was under pressure entering the 2025 season after LSU and its financial support went all in for his portal class entering that season that was also ranked No. 1. Kelly had to win more or be fired, which is what happened as soon as he fell out of the playoff race in his fourth season. That’s pressure.
Kiffin will be in his first season. And he will still be honeymooning regardless of the high expectations and preseason ranking that will likely be top 10. In the end, he could lose five or six games and return for 2027. So, that’s not pressure. In truth, the team will be vastly improved, even if it does lose three or four games, which is a possibility. This is the first season of the nine-game SEC schedule, and five of Kiffin’s are on the road, including at an excellent Ole Miss team because of the job he did there, as well as at Auburn and at Tennessee.
The offense will be vastly improved. The offense will have a real running game. Quarterback Sam Leavitt will be ready for August camp and be in the same class as Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow. The defense in the third year of coordinator Blake Baker will be closer to elite. The Tigers will likely win 10 games, but they could still not make the playoffs. And the bottom line they will be on the way up for the future, regardless of how 2026 ends. Remember, Kiffin’s 2026 portal class is really built for 2026 and ’27.
The eight returning SEC head coaches will enter 2026 on solid ground:
– Georgia’s Kirby Smart is the longest tenured coach in the SEC heading into his 11th season. He’s looking for a third national title after back-to-back crowns in 2021 and ’22 for the last stand of SEC championships before the Big Ten Takeover of three straight and perhaps counting. Without the dinosaur SEC Championship Game, Smart could have won another national championship in the 2023 season. The Bulldogs went 12-0 and 8-0 in the SEC before a 27-24 loss to Alabama in the SEC title game that knocked them out of the CFP and put the Tide in. After a 63-3 win over No. 5 and 13-0 Florida State in the consolation Orange Bowl, the Bulldogs finished 13-1 – likely the best team in history not to reach the CFP. Thanks, SEC title game and commissioner Greg Sankey.
– Texas’ Steve Sarkisian is going into his sixth year after three straight double-digit win seasons and two CFP appearances in three years.
– Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea enters his sixth season after a startling 10-3 campaign and 6-2 SEC finish following a 7-6, 3-5 season in 2024. But can he keep it up at one of the most difficult place to win in the SEC.
– Missouri’s steady Eli Drinkwitz, who might be LSU’s coach today had Kiffin gone elsewhere or stayed at Ole Miss, is going into his seventh season at a difficult place to win consistently. He is coming off three straight winning seasons (11-2, 10-3 and 8-5), which is more than any Mizzou coach since Gary Pinkel had seven in a row from 2005-11 before entering the SEC.
– Oklahoma’s Brent Venables is coming off a breakthrough season at 10-3 and 6-2 with a playoff appearance.
– Third-year Texas A&M coach Mike Elko rolled to an 11-2 and 7-1 season and a CFP appearance in his second year.
– Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby started slow, but that can work for an extended stay. After a 2-10 opening season, he was 5-8 last season.
– Delusional Alabama fans and some LSU people may think otherwise, but Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer enters year three on very solid ground. First off, after interest from Michigan and Penn State, he just got a new contract extension by seven years and $87.5 million and is signed through Jan. 31, 2033. Interestingly, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne, who winced at former LSU athletic director Scott Woodward’s ridiculous buyouts to Ed Orgeron ($17 million after his firing) and Brian Kelly ($54 million after his firing), has only a $10 million buyout for DeBoer. And that goes down by $2 million after 2026 and again after 2027. That’s how you do it.
DeBoer has not been Saban-like yet, but he did advance in the CFP last season with a win over Oklahoma before former Saban assistant Curt Cignetti’s eventual national championship Indiana flexed that Big Ten muscle with a 38-3 humiliation. DeBoer still finished 11-4 and 7-1 after a 9-4, 5-3 opening season without a playoff appearance. Give him time.
That leaves only three coaches who will be under real pressure.
SHANE BEAMER, SOUTH CAROLINA – Beamer is entering his sixth season after two losing seasons out of his last three. He was 5-7 and 3-5 in 2023 before a 9-4 and 5-3 recovery. But he had his worst SEC season of his tenure last year at 1-7 with a 4-8 mark. His SEC overall record is 16-24 for 40 percent. Beamer has won more than eight games just in ’24. If he has a third losing season in four years, South Carolina may be looking for its third coach in just over a decade.
JOSH HEUPEL, TENNESSEE – Most Tennessee fans think they have a great coach. In reality, he is just great compared to the cast of goofs Tennessee has had since Phillip Fulmer left after the 2008 season and after Kiffin’s one season in 2009 when he went 7-6 and 4-4 after inheriting a 5-7 and 3-5 outfit.
Derek Dooley had three straight losing seasons and was 5-19 in the league after Kiffin. Butch Jones finished above .500 in the SEC once in five years. Jeremy Pruitt had one winning season while getting on NCAA probation in three years.
So Heupel at 45-20 (69 percent) and 24-16 in the SEC (60 percent) in five seasons looks great, right?
Well, Brian Kelly was better over four seasons and got fired – 34-14 (70 percent) and 19-10 (65 percent). Heupel did reach the CFP once in the 2024 season, but Big Ten muscle suffocated him, too, in a 42-17 laugher to eventual national champion Ohio State. Then he fell to 8-5 and 4-4 last season, and can’t attract quality quarterbacks lately, even though he is viewed as this great offensive coach. Kiffin got Leavitt after a late bid by Heupel.
Tennessee’s 2026 portal class was ranked No. 26 by 247sports.com with only one top five position player in No. 3 edge rusher in Chaz Coleman of Penn State.
Heupel has had some great offenses, but he tends to have weak defenses. He is 0-for-5 against Georgia with four losses by an average of three touchdowns, and he’s 14-10 in the SEC since 2023.
Rocky Top needs to wake up and realize it is mediocre, as LSU did last year.
PETE GOLDING, OLE MISS – Why is Pete here. He is a first-year head coach with the Rebels, which usually means honeymoon. But Golding was a rushed hire due to Kiffin’s departure after the regular season, and Ole Miss needing a head coach immediately because Kiffin left Ole Miss a fantastic playoff team at 11-1 and 7-1.
Golding did a good job driving the Corvette Kiffin modeled, fueled, shined and perfected over six seasons. He went 2-0 in the playoffs with Kiffin’s team and Kiffin’s key assistants, particularly offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who is at LSU. But Golding will be in his first full season as a head coach in 2026. He was an excellent defensive coordinator at Alabama for five seasons and at Ole Miss for three. But being a head coach is far different from being a DC and slipping onto the top of a well-oiled machine for a ride just in time for the playoffs last year.
He is not under a make-good contract, no. It is a five-year deal, but his $6.8 million salary for his first season is No. 36 in the nation. And his buyout after one season would only be $5.1 million. There will be high expectations as Kiffin left him a very good nucleus from a team that reached the CFB semis, including quarterback Trinidad Chamliss and running back Kewan Lacy. Kiffin left a much better team than the one he inherited at LSU. He has improved it greatly through the portal, but No. 1 portal classes do not always transfer to the playoffs. Kiffin had the No. 1 portal class in 2024, but that team did not blossom until 2025 and reach the CFP. That could happen at LSU. In fact, Ole Miss should be favored when LSU visits on Sept. 19.
PETE GOLDING SAYS HE CAN EXPOSE TAMPERING SYSTEM
If Ole Miss doesn’t make the playoffs or doesn’t finish close, look for Golding to feel more heat than if Kiffin does same. If Golding falls on his face and loses five or six games, don’t be surprised if Ole Miss looks elsewhere. And Golding’s ridiculous, “I’ll expose the whole system” comments at the SEC Spring Meetings only illustrated some immaturity and that he might not be ready for the big job yet.
Be the first to comment