LSU
football's coaching search is in full swing and Oklahoma's
Lincoln Riley is a name circulating among insiders should Tigers athletic director choose to go "big-game hunting" with this hire, according to 247Sports national recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna. Petagna said this week Riley and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher
are considered among the top picks for the Tigers before they potentially move to secondary options in the search.
"The smoke down there is Lincoln Riley and, you know, when I've thought about this from the beginning, (LSU athletic director) Scott Woodward — who, obviously Washington fans are very familiar (with) and hired Chris Peterson at Washington and hired Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M and gave him a contract that hadn't been seen before in college football — I think we're going to see something similar to that,"
Petagna said on Dawgman Radio. "I think there's a 1A group and a 1B group.
"In that 1A group — Jimbo Fisher himself, Lincoln Riley and I think that's it in the 1A group. I think you'll hear names like (Michigan State's) Mel Tucker, (Cincinnati's) Luke Fickell and now (Baylor's) Dave Aranda and (Louisiana's) Billy Napier. ... Those are going to be the guys as LSU works down their list, if they don't have success with those names I mentioned before, I think that's where the coaching search will end up.
"It's going to be interesting to see the reaction to that, when Scott Woodward was put in place at LSU to make this exact hire. The reputation Woodward has, he likes to go big-game hunting and that's what LSU fans respect."
Fisher emphatically shot down LSU speculation this week, saying he would be the “dumbest human being” on the planet for leaving his current job. Fisher cites the Aggies' incoming 2022 signing class, investment from everyone tied to football at the university and even his ranch as reasons for staying put.
“I’ve told everybody I’m staying here, and I’ve told everybody that I plan on being the coach at A&M,” Fisher said. “Everybody thinks all coaches lie. I know. Y’all don’t believe us. … I’ve said the other things. I plan on being here. I love the AD. I love the president. I love the chancellor. I love living here. I love being on my ranch. The family loves it here. I love Kyle Field. I love the people here too. I love all that stuff, and that’s obviously not good enough.
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"I get it. I’m not mad at you. I read the reports when people come to me. I don’t want to hear it. I’m not interested. We’re going to recruit an unbelievable class this year, okay? So, I’m either the dumbest human being on God’s Earth, who is going to recruit all these guys to A&M so I can go over here and play against them. If I did that, you all would say, ‘That’s the dumbest human being, I don’t want him to be my coach.’"