The good times don’t last very long in college football.
Less than 12 hours after No. 6 Ole Miss won a historic College Football Playoff game against No. 3 Georgia, 39-34, there is an ESPN report about the LSU-bound assistant coaches upcoming availability.
Mark Schlabach is reporting that “it remained unclear how many Ole Miss assistants, who are joining (Lane) Kiffin at LSU, will be allowed to remain with the Rebels” for the CFP semifinal game against No. 10 Miami.
That includes offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., tight ends coach/co-offensive coordinator Joe Cox, wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator George McDonald and running backs coach Kevin Smith.
All four figure to be important to LSU’s recruiting efforts in the transfer portal, which opened Friday. The report does state that Weis is expected to coach the Rebels in the Fiesta Bowl. It also adds there was a plan for other assistants to return to LSU to help work the transfer portal.
Then it gets juicy. “A source said some of the assistants have apparently pushed back on leaving an Ole Miss team that is two victories away from winning a national championship.
‘There are going to be some fireworks,’ an Ole Miss source told ESPN. ‘We always knew this might be a possibility.’”
Taylor’s Take
Throughout this whole process, both Pete Golding and Kiffin have echoed similar statements about there being a plan in place. What that plan is exactly isn’t known, which invites speculation.
I don’t expect to see any fireworks. There are other reports that some assistant coaches remained behind in Louisiana after the game. I think that was the plan.
The coaches leaving for LSU will likely spend Friday-Sunday doing their LSU jobs and return for the Ole Miss game week.
Frankly, that should be fine with Golding and Ole Miss. If those coaches are busy recruiting for LSU, then the Rebels don’t have to worry so much about tampering. It’s still a worry, but less-so.
Also, the most important piece of news in the report was that Weis is expected to coach in the Fiesta Bowl.
Ole Miss just had a great offensive performance against Georgia further proving Weis may have been the mastermind this whole time. Take him away from his Ole Miss duties and that’s a problem.
But with the Rebels needing just two more wins to win a national title, I don’t think Weis will pass up this opportunity.
Of course, I said something similar about Kiffin leaving Ole Miss before the CFP and look where we are now.
