If one gambling website is accurate, USC’s next head coach will be one that would come to Troy with no coaching experience whatsoever at the collegiate level.
Bovada.lv has set former USC linebacker and current Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio as a 3/1 favorite to replace Lane Kiffin as the Trojans head coach. While we still find it highly doubtful that Del Rio is the choice, there’s a buzz nationally -- especially among those on the NFL beat -- that Del Rio is at or near the top of athletic director Pat Haden‘s coaching to-do list.
A pair of current FBS head coaches, Boise State’s Chris Petersen and Vanderbilt’s James Franklin, are next at 5/1. At least as far as Petersen is concerned and given his past propensity for eschewing big-time jobs to stay in Boise, those odds seem too high, although there’s a growing buzz that he might be as open as he’s ever been to taking a step “up” the coaching ladder.
Former Stanford assistant and current San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who some view as the realistic favorite if a current head coach cannot be wooed, is at 6/1.
Ed Orgeron, who was named interim head coach by Haden yesterday, has 20/1 odds to have the interim tag stripped and remain on as Kiffin’s permanent successor. Orgeron, though, is not even the favorite on the current staff to land the job; that honor falls to defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, whose odds are surprisingly high at 7/1 and ahead of the likes of Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian (both at 8/1), Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris (9/1) and Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin (12/1).
And, before you ask, yes, Jon Gruden and Herm Edwards are listed. The former is at 8/1 and the latter at 15/1.
One name mentioned even before Kiffin’s firing who’s not included in Bovada‘s odds? Former Trojan and current St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher.