You reap what you sow. That can’t be more true for a pair of college football head coaches heading into the 2025 season. It’s that time of the year when talks about returns and departures of coaches take the spotlight. Unfortunately for Brian Kelly, the pressure is high given the success of his predecessors. LSU’s ending is far from the utopia he envisioned when he was recruiting his players for the 2024 season. And he’s not the only one who has the shadow of dread following him into the new year. 

On January 29, Bruce Feldman joined The Solid Verbal College Football Podcast to give some hot updates on CFB coaches going into 2025. The Fox Sports analyst mentioned that Brian Kelly is one of the two HCs who are on a hot seat going into 2025. He said, “He’s at a place where the last three head coaches won national titles.” Yes, Nick Saban in 2003, Les Miles in 2007, and Ed Orgeron in 2019. While Kelly isn’t exactly unproductive at LSU, he’s been barren in National Championships since taking over the program in 2022. But that’s not the only concern plaguing him.

For Bruce Feldman, there’s no excuse for LSU’s under-the-radar performance. “They had a Heisman winner and two high level receivers and they weren’t great; they were good,” he pointed out. LSU produced 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels and elite WRs like Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., both of whom were selected as first-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. “But this year they really struggled,” Feldman added.

Digging up Brian Kelly’s initial pride in his 2024 class, he said, “They’ve loaded up in the portal. He’s been vocal about them not losing bidding wars or whatever you want to say; they should have a really loaded team. I mean, this is a team that at least should make the playoffs. It’s a 12-team playoff.”

LSU’s 2024 class ranked No. 9 on 247Sports, highlighted by 18 commits. Still, they fell short of the 12-team playoffs partly due to their weak defense as they finished the regular season with an 8-4 record. The ultimate goal of college football is still the National Championship. While Kelly is 29-11 in his three seasons in Baton Rouge, he sure has put himself in a fix going into 2025. And there’s another HC who’s under similar pressure as the Tigers HC. 

Lincoln Riley – To boot or not to

Bruce Feldman has a grim prognosis for USC HC Lincoln Riley. No surprise here; he’s almost an example of high maintenance and low performance. With an annual salary of $10.04 million, he is the fourth highest-paid HC in college football, behind only Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian. All three of them fell short of the National Championship title, but they had a productive season. Georgia and Clemson both won their respective conference title games while Texas advanced to the CFP semifinals. What about USC? 

A regular season record of 7-5. This past season, the Trojans suffered miserably on defense. They secured the 52nd spot on ESPN’s list of defensive stop rates with 63.8%, allowing 1.92 points per drive in 13 games. But here’s the root of the problem. As Feldman reported, “It would’ve cost $92 million to try to part ways with Lincoln Riley this winter. USC didn’t have that.” So, even if they want Riley to step down, his 10-year, $110 million contract is going to blow their finances. Despite QB Garrett Nussmeier’s return and the addition of 23 commits and 16 transfers, the seasoned analyst still feels skeptical — “I’m watching USC right now. And I’m a USC fan. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to see better than 8-4 this year.” 

Both Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley should be cautious moving forward. While there’s no immediate uproar for changes, anything could creep up along the way. Would they see another season in their respective schools? We’ll see about that.