Search firm: Who should LSU hire to replace Les Miles?

ByADAM RITTENBERG
September 26, 2016, 12:30 AM

— -- ESPN's Search Firm is back, a bit earlier than expected, as LSU on Sunday made the first major in-season coaching change of the 2016 cycle. Les Miles is out after 11-plus seasons on the Bayou, where he won a national championship and 114 games, including 42 against ranked opponents.

One of the nation's most attractive jobs is now open. Alongside search firm regulars Mark Schlabach and Chris Low, as well as Baton Rouge-based SEC reporter David Ching, we break down the LSU job and seek the Tigers' next coach.

What LSU needs

David Ching: Based on their ineptitude on offense the past few years, it would just boggle my mind if they didn't go with somebody who was an innovator on offense.

Mark Schlabach: They have to hire a guy who can identify a quarterback, recruit a quarterback, develop a quarterback and then turn him into an SEC-caliber starter. Because they haven't had a guy they've developed who was any good since ... Jamarcus Russell?

Adam Rittenberg: It seems like they need a guy, too, who can recruit that position outside the state. Les was so tied to in-state quarterbacks when you have Texas next door and other states that produce really good quarterbacks.

David Ching: That's what really brought [Miles] down in the end, the failure not only to get somebody from outside Louisiana but the failure to identify a difference-maker within the state's borders. Dak Prescott was right up the road near Shreveport, and that year they signed Stephen Rivers instead. And that's who they wanted.

Chris Low: The other thing would be somebody who has the kind of clout or name or brand to not just get swallowed up by Nick Saban. Somebody, like a Tom Herman or a Jimbo Fisher, who can go up against Saban in recruiting and win some of those battles.

Schlabach: He has to have a big personality. He doesn't have to be quirky like Les Miles but he's got to be a voice for the program and a face for not only the program but the city of Baton Rouge and the state of Louisiana. And he has to have a thick skin because the bottom line is if he can't beat Nick Saban, he's going to be criticized.

The top choices: Florida State's Jimbo Fisher and Houston's Tom Herman

The search firm agreed that LSU's search must focus intensely on two candidates: Fisher and Herman.

Schlabach: I think they'll go after Jimbo Fisher first. He's got a longer track record as a head coach. He's obviously got strong ties to Louisiana. He coached there under Nick Saban. He's developed quarterbacks at LSU. He's recruited the state. The question is: Can they pry him away from Florida State? He's got a pretty good gig going there.

Ching: If you're a competitor, don't you want to go where it's toughest? I would think playing in the SEC West would be the greatest challenge that exists for a coach that has some confidence and ego about what he can accomplish.

Schlabach: I used to think Jimbo had an easier path to the playoff in the ACC, but now I'm not sure playing in the ACC Atlantic is any easier than playing in the SEC West because Louisville and Clemson are every bit as good as anybody in the [SEC] West outside of Alabama. Whether it stays like that, I'm not so sure.

Rittenberg: One thing I think about with Herman is his ties are to Texas and California, and there could be similar big jobs opening in both states. That could create some pause for him, even with LSU so appealing.

Low: I see Herman being really comparable to what Urban [Meyer] was when Urban came from Utah to Florida. He didn't have any ties to Florida. He was the hot guy. Everybody knew he was the hot guy. Notre Dame was coming after him. He could have either job and he picked Florida. I think Herman is the same kind of guy. I don't think that matters.

Schlabach: If you're LSU and you have to go outside the state to find some players to meet your needs, the one place you're going to go is Texas. Houston is as close to Baton Rouge as any city in Texas, so Herman's proximity would probably help.

Other potential candidates our firm discussed (in alphabetical order)

Art Briles: They'd have to miss out on the top three or four choices before they'd even take a look. - Schlabach

David Cutcliffe: LSU athletic director Joe Alleva hired Cutcliffe at Duke. Cutcliffe is a great developer of quarterbacks, he's a hell of an offensive guy. He's 62, so he might be too old. He would be way down the line, but Alleva likes Cutcliffe a lot. He definitely would fit that mold, and David has never coached great talent like LSU has. - Low

Larry Fedora: If Fedora ended up winning the ACC Coastal again and somehow winning the ACC. You hear him for Baylor. He has ties to Texas. Impressive track record on offense and in recruiting. -- Rittenberg

The fact that Gus Malzahn's offense has kind of flamed out, the spread hasn't lasted in the SEC, does that hurt his chances? -- Schlabach

Mike Gundy: He's another Oklahoma State guy like Miles, but he has a pretty good offensive track record. He nearly went to Tennessee after the 2012 season. -- Rittenberg

Bobby Petrino: I was told tonight that LSU is not very high on Petrino. They're leery about bringing him in there. - Low

Dabo Swinney: Dabo will never leave Clemson for anything other than Alabama. -- Low

Job breakdown

Schlabach: I think it's a top-five job in the country. It's one of the few states where nearly every high school kid wants to play for LSU. There's not a lot of rival schools outside the state who can lure them away. That's what makes the state so attractive. There's so much loyalty.

Ching: Even if it's not top-five, it's top 10 for sure. Resource-wise, there aren't many schools better than this. They had the highest-paid assistant coaching staff in the country, and Les was paid very well. This is a premium job, and anything less than a premium candidate would be a failure in this search.

Rittenberg: It's almost unique in the SEC in having a really good recruiting state all to itself.

Low: LSU is the one school in the entire country that has that oneness about it. Nebraska was like that, but it's a better version because of the talent in the state. Every kid wants to play there, plus it has the talent pool to go with it.

The firm's recommendation: Jimbo Fisher

Schlabach: The question is: They tried to get him last year and couldn't, so what's changed?

Low: I think there was a chance he was gone. What happened is LSU could never give him a definitive, "Les is gone," and he kind of got saved in the final hour. He had that political groundswell that sort of came on that week last November. LSU got cold feet with Jimbo.

Rittenberg: In terms of proven coach, proven quarterback developer, he has been there before at LSU, great recruiter. He would embrace the challenge of going against Saban. He checks pretty much every box they're looking for.

Low: Coached and recruited in the SEC. That's important. He coached under Saban, so he knows Saban pretty well.

Ching: He just seems like the most sensible candidate.