BATON ROUGE — The gold helmets glimmer, the live tiger still prowls, and the ghosts of championship coaches still echo across the bayou. LSU football has a head coaching vacancy again — and it’s time to make the right hire, not the flashiest one.
Look west to College Station for the blueprint. When Texas A&M hired Mike Elko, they didn’t chase celebrity or hype. They didn’t go after a “CEO coach” or a sideline salesman. They hired a football guy — a grinder who knew the game, understood the culture, and wasn’t afraid to get dirty rebuilding a fractured locker room. One year later, the Aggies look competent, disciplined, and dangerous again. That’s not coincidence. It’s what happens when a program with every resource imaginable — money, recruiting base, facilities, fan passion — stops trying to impress and simply hires the right football coach.
LSU finds itself in that same crossroads moment. The Tigers don’t need another glitzy name or culture mismatch. They don’t need a corporate-type in a gold polo and headset. They need someone who bleeds ball, who can recruit like hell, and who can turn talent into results. The formula isn’t complicated. LSU has one of the richest pipelines in America, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to East Texas. It has NIL muscle, a rabid fan base, and a track record of national championships. It just needs a leader who can harness it all.
Three names stand out — Kenny Dillingham, Eli Drinkwitz, and Jon Sumrall — each representing the same energy and football-first mentality that Elko brought to A&M. They’re modern, hungry, and proven. They’ve built programs, not just managed them. And in Baton Rouge, any of the three could return LSU to its natural state: feared, physical, and elite.
The Case for Kenny Dillingham
Dillingham is college football’s version of a young savant — part play-caller, part recruiter, and part culture architect. At just 35 years old, the Phoenix native became one of the youngest Power Four head coaches when Arizona State hired him in 2022. A former high school coach at Chaparral in Arizona, he climbed the ladder quickly, joining Mike Norvell’s Memphis staff before stints at Auburn, Florida State, and Oregon as offensive coordinator.
He’s a builder through and through. When he arrived at Arizona State, the Sun Devils were fresh off NCAA penalties, limited scholarships, and low morale. Two years later, Dillingham’s offense was one of the most efficient in the Big 12, averaging over 33 points per game in 2024 and ranking top-20 nationally in yards per play. His 11-3 finish as Big 12 champions and CFP participants that season turned heads across the country.
Recruiting-wise, Dillingham has deep roots in the South — fertile areas LSU already recruits. Pair that with LSU’s brand, and the Tigers could corner the region. His youth and offensive innovation scream fit. LSU has always been loaded with talent; it just needs someone to let it loose.
Dillingham does more with less and is great at getting his players to maximize their potential. He’s already worked at Memphis, Auburn and Florida State, so this is no culture shock in Baton Rouge, either.
Just don’t fake a Cajun accent or say anything bad about a crawfish boil and Dillingham will be well on his way to earning the trust of the purple and gold faithful.
The Case for Eli Drinkwitz
Drinkwitz has done what many coaches in the SEC never manage — keep Missouri nationally relevant. Hired in 2020, he led the Tigers to consecutive bowl seasons and a breakout 11-2 campaign in 2023 that included wins over Georgia and Florida. In 2025, Missouri remains top-20 nationally in total offense, scoring 35.4 points per game while allowing just 16.8, one of the SEC’s best scoring margins.
Before Mizzou, Drinkwitz made his name as an offensive mastermind at NC State and Boise State under Bryan Harsin before leading App State for one season in replace of Scott Satterfield. His coaching lineage traces back to Gus Malzahn’s spread offense, and he’s always been regarded as a cerebral strategist who gets the most from his quarterbacks.
Recruiting? Drinkwitz’s connections stretch from the Midwest to the Southeast — especially in Texas, Georgia, and the Carolina’s. He’s a proven SEC recruiter with national reach. And if LSU calls, it’s hard to imagine him saying no. The Baton Rouge job is the kind that changes legacies. Drinkwitz may have deep ties to Columbia and an Arizona State connection looming, but this is LSU — the kind of call that’s too big to ignore.
The Case for Jon Sumrall
Sumrall is the embodiment of a culture hire — tough, honest, and relentless, similar to Mike Elko. A former Kentucky linebacker, he cut his teeth as an assistant at Troy, Ole Miss, and Kentucky before taking the Troy head job in 2022. In just two seasons there, he went 23-4, captured two Sun Belt championships, and finished in the top 25 both years. In 2025, he’s done the same at Tulane — keeping the Green Wave nationally competitive after Willie Fritz’s departure, sitting near the top of the American Athletic Conference standings.
He’s a southern football lifer — raised in Alabama, with recruiting roots stretching from Mississippi to Louisiana and deep into Florida. He understands the South’s recruiting culture — relationships, loyalty, and trust — better than most. And he’s already beloved in the region.
Hiring Sumrall wouldn’t be a gamble; it’d be an investment in identity. He wins with toughness and defense, something LSU fans have always embraced. With the Tigers’ resources behind him, the sky’s the limit.
Why LSU Should Target These Three
LSU doesn’t need a gimmick or a “splash.” It needs sustainability. Dillingham, Drinkwitz, and Sumrall all bring energy, innovation, and recruiting know-how without baggage. They’ve built programs, not just inherited them. And all three are still young — in their 30s or early 40s — meaning they could give LSU a decade of stability if successful.
The Tigers’ advantages are immense: top-10 national recruiting classes, NFL-ready facilities, one of the most loyal fan bases in the sport, and the kind of NIL power that keeps rosters stacked. LSU isn’t in rebuild mode; it’s in re-direction mode.
Brian Kelly’s tenure wasn’t a disaster, but it left Baton Rouge wanting more. LSU doesn’t settle for Citrus Bowls. It wins national championships — something every Tigers coach since Saban until Kelly has done.
The next man up doesn’t have to be a savior. He just has to be smart enough to let LSU be LSU.
Nick Saban is curled up in his recliner with a blanket, celebrating birthday’s with his wife, Miss Terry. You aren’t getting the Alabama legend and College Gameday host out of retirement life to come back to LSU, so let’s stop chasing that fantasy.
The best chance for LSU to return to annual contention is with one of the three names mentioned above.
Whether the Louisiana governor has to step in and make this hire or not, it needs to get done. You have 3 names that can quickly right the ship in the Big Red Stick.
In our best form of Cajun lingo, “Get ‘Err Done, Tigahs!”
Final Word
If LSU is serious about rebooting the Tigers’ football identity, they should start with a short list of three: Dillingham, Drinkwitz, and Sumrall.
Call Dillingham first — he’s the youthful visionary who could modernize LSU’s offense overnight. If not, Drinkwitz brings proven SEC chops and national credibility. And if both pass, Sumrall is your Cajun-culture fit, ready to lead LSU back to its defensive, physical roots.
These aren’t “hope hires.” They’re the kind of hires that make sense — football sense, cultural sense, Louisiana sense.
LSU doesn’t need a circus. It needs a builder. And right now, there are three damn good ones ready to take the call.
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