Pirates Star Paul Skenes Has Two Big Names in Mind for LSU Football Job

Liam McKeone | Oct 29, 2025

Paul Skenes starred for LSU in 2023 before going first overall in the MLB draft. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

LSU dismissed Brian Kelly over the weekend, opening up another massive college football head coaching job. As with similar open positions at Florida and Penn State, the Tigers' gig comes with enormous resources and even bigger expectations. Given the Kelly hire wound up something of a whiff in terms of College Football Playoff contention it wouldn't be a surprise to see the school swing big to try and land its next hire.

If the Tigers follow the same line of thinking as former LSU star Paul Skenes, they'll definitely be going big fish hunting for their next head coach. Skenes helped lead the Tigers to a championship in 2023 before getting picked first in that year's MLB draft by the Pirates. Coming off another outstanding year in Pittsburgh, he appeared on CBS Sports HQ and was asked his thoughts on who LSU should hire to helm the football team. Skenes began with a disclaimer that he's not a terribly engaged college football fan before offering up two huge names that he thinks would make a good fit: Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban.

"I really don't pay much attention to it," Skenes said. "I think there are a few guys in college football who would fit Baton Rouge pretty well. Baton Rouge is an interesting place, to be a sports head coach there. I've seen Lane Kiffin out there a little bit, that would be an interesting hire. We could go big and go for Nick Saban. Hopefully he takes the job. I'm interested to see what happens. I'm kind of passively an LSU Tigers football fan. I'm not a football guy. I don't have any recommendations or anything like that on who we should hire, but it's going to be interesting."

"I've seen Lane Kiffin out there a little bit, that would be an interesting hire. We could go big and go for Nick Saban."

Paul Skenes on who he would like to see as LSU's next football coach. pic.twitter.com/1SOhO7N1nf

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 29, 2025

Saban would, of course, be a dream hire for any school but it would be particularly fitting for LSU; he led the Tigers to a national championship in 2003. But it's hard to consider him a likely candidate. The 73-year-old retired from coaching Alabama in 2023 and has been an ESPN analyst for the last few years. While LSU is capable of offering Saban a massive amount of money to return to the sideline his public stance has consistently been that he's done coaching. So it's a long shot.

Kiffin, on the other hand, is much more gettable relative to Saban. As Skenes notes, Baton Rouge is an "interesting" place to be a head coach and Kiffin's fiery personality would probably fit well as long as he wins. Kiffin has done plenty of that this season at least and his Ole Miss Rebels are sitting at 7-1 as the calendar turns to November. However, LSU will almost certainly face stiff competition for Kiffin's services. He's the most popular candidate in a coaching landscape loaded with big-time job openings.

Many eyes are monitoring the search for the Tigers' next coach. Perhaps Skenes will end up prophetic.

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