After a relatively quiet offseason of coaching moves this past year, the 2026 college football offseason is trending to lead to an absurd shakeup across the country. Most recently, Penn State decided to move on from James Franklin, making not just a coveted job open, but a qualified head coach on the market.
It doesn’t take a long look at the betting odds offered by BetOnline to see how this could all cause a ripple effect across the SEC. The candidate with the fifth-best odds of taking the now open PSU job? Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin at +800. Also listed are Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea and Texas A&M’s Mike Elko.
As far as where Franklin will coach next year, a pair of SEC schools are at the top of the list. Franklin going to Arkansas, which is now open after the firing of Sam Pittman, leads the way at +300. Returning to Vanderbilt is in second at +400. Florida, which may part ways with Billy Napier if things continue to crumble, is at +900 as the sixth-best-odds option. Other SEC schools named include Auburn, LSU and Missouri.
More From RTI: Tennessee Makes List of Standout Schools For De-Committed Penn State Prospect
If one of these potential options in the SEC pans out, it could create a ridiculous ripple effect. Think back to when Nick Saban retired to see how much that ultimately shook up college football. Kalen DeBoer left Washington for the Tide, Jedd Fisch left Arizona for the Huskies, Brent Brennan left San Jose State for the Wildcats and Ken Niumatalolo took over the Spartans’ program. That’s not to mention the reshuffling of assistant coaches, recruits and transfers from current rosters, as well.
You can already see the fallout from Franklin’s firing on the recruiting trail, too. Multiple prospects have already announced they are decommitting and others are likely to follow over the next stretch of the season.
From a Tennessee perspective, you can sit back and watch with likely only good things coming your way, though. Josh Heupel doesn’t seem to be poachable, and it’d also be a shocking development if he took a job elsewhere on his own volition. Instead, it just means recruits that UT was previously in the mix for that picked Penn State may be headed to Knoxville after all.
