The chips have fallen — LSU, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn make head coach hires

What a Sunday morning it’s been around the SEC — we have four (!!) head coaching decisions this morning as the dominos have finally fallen following Lane Kiffin’s decision to head to LSU.

Kiffin chose LSU over Ole Miss which suddenly has become messy as he reportedly wants to coach in the playoff. He’s apparently threatening to take his entire offensive staff with him to Baton Rouge if Ole Miss won’t let him. What a mess that’s become.

Kiffin’s final decision finally got the carousel spinning. Florida went all in on the Kiffin sweepstakes and got burned, forced to move down the board. Eli Drinkwitz and Clark Lea received extensions after being linked to the job, so Florida settles here for Tulane head coach John Sumrall.

Sumrall seemed to be the backup plan for both LSU and Florida should they not land Kiffin, and that comes true this morning. Sumrall had been heavily linked to Auburn throughout this process, which ran a quiet search.

Today, Auburn moves to hire former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh. Golesh had been linked to Arkansas last week, but nothing ever became official. Auburn, just hours off a gut-wrenching loss in the Iron Bowl, plucks Golesh from South Florida.

And yes, Golesh and Kiffin will come to Neyland Stadium in 2026.

And finally Arkansas moves to hire Ryan Silverfield away from Memphis. Silverfield had been one of the first names linked with the job from the jump, which began shortly after his Tigers beat the Razorbacks in Memphis.

This one isn’t going to be well-received by Razorback fans. Arkansas was one of the first to hop on the carousel and failed to land a top name. Silverfield’s Memphis team ended up 8-4 after being the frontrunner for a playoff spot in the group of five.

The loser in all of this? It’s quickly becoming Ole Miss. Kiffin’s messy departure timeline still isn’t clear and the Rebels are going to be left with a watered down pool of candidates to replace him. Ironically too — that’s a team preparing to play in the College Football Playoff. All eyes remain on Oxford and will for the next couple of weeks.

Remember too, Penn State is still left on the board, so we may not be done spinning just yet.