ESPN’s Rece Davis has a bold prediction for who will be the next LSU football coach and Tigers fans are likely going to hate it.
LSU football fans want Jimbo Fisher to be the next coach, but he’s repeatedly denied any interest in returning to the school he once served as an assistant under Nick Saban.
But could LSU still hire a Saban assistant to fill the vacancy with Ed Orgeron and the university parting ways at the end of the season?
According to ESPN’s Rece Davis, he thinks LSU should hire Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.
Rece Davis tabs Alabama OC Bill O’Brien as the next LSU football coach
“I think Bill O’Brien is going to be the next coach at LSU,” Davis said on “The ESPN College Football Podcast earlier this week, via Erik Hall of the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.”
The bold prediction shocked co-host David Pollack and likely shocked LSU and Alabama football fans.
Davis backed up his prediction by saying he’s not the first choice. That’s Fisher, but he’s not leaving Texas A&M.
“I think Bill O’Brien is on several lists,” Davis said. “Not just theirs. He’s a former NFL head coach. He did a remarkable job at Penn State.”
O’Brien took over at Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal that resulted in Joe Paterno being fired. O’Brien had success before returning to the NFL to be the head coach of the Houston Texans.
He had success with the Texans, making the multiple trips to the playoffs, but it was largely his work as the general manager that cost him his job.
O’Brien is in his first year as the offensive coordinator at Alabama and has a Heisman candidate at quarterback in Bruce Young, but if LSU hired O’Brien, the feeling from Alabama fans would likely be met with pleasure.
If this comes to fruition, Alabama fans would love it because they don’t like O’Brien and they’ll trust in Saban to find another play-caller. Meanwhile, it’ll hurt LSU, one of their two biggest rivals at the same time.
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