Candidates to Replace Les Miles at LSU
By Scotty Nola
Smaller College Head Coaches: Memphis Coach Justin Fuente
Dec 22, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Memphis Tigers head coach Justin Fuente holds the Miami Beach trophy after defeating Brigham Young Cougars in the Miami Beach Bowl at Marlins Park. Memphis won 55-48 in a double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Fuente is one of the hottest Head Coaching Candidates in the country. He and Houston Coach Tom Herman have both been linked to the South Carolina job.
Fuente rose to prominence last year by guiding Memphis to a ten win season behind star QB Paxton Lynch. The LSU staff is familiar with him because he played the Tigers this year and his team played well despite being overmatched.
Fuente does have one major stroke against him with LSU fans: The ghost of Curley Hallman. Hallman had a similar career arc to Fuente, turning Southern Miss. into a national buzzword behind NFL prospect Brett Favre.
Hallman capitalized on that buzz by winning the LSU job where it soon became apparent his only positive attribute as a football coach was getting hired at the college closest to Brett Favre’s house.
Tom Herman has also had success at a mid major, but it is likely LSU will bypass coaches with no track record with a major conference school.
Other Smaller College Head Coaches:
Don’t go to sleep on Syracuse Head Coach Scott Shafer. No one is calling his name yet, in fact there was speculation he might be fired by Syracuse after a losing streak following a series of major injuries at QB.
Shafer has some intriguing resume points. For one, he has experience at three major schools: Illinois, Stanford and Michigan.
Shafer also can point to being a former Jim Harbaugh assistant, which gives him a little more shine. Outstanding coaching this year in losses against LSU and Florida State that were much closer than anyone expected also point in his favor.
The main red flag with Shafer is recruiting. He has put together a good team at Syracuse by defining lightly recruited but talented players but the squad he lined up to play LSU didn’t have a single four star athlete.
Next: The Wild Card Candidate