Lane Kiffin is one of the most iconic coaches currently in college football, and you never know what he is going to say or do, but what I can tell you is he knows how to win football games and should be the number one target for whatever major program opens up this offseason.
Lane Kiffin Was Rumored For Alabama But Never Offered
The Crimson Tide hired Washington’s head coach, Kalen DeBoer, and Kiffin should now be the number one coaching option for whatever top program opens up this winter.
Kiffin and Oregon’s head coach, Dan Lanning, have been in many conversations about the best coaches to leave their school for a better job. Lanning was also rumored for the Alabama and Texas A&M job this winter but didn’t want to leave the Ducks, so we will see if he revisits that this offseason if something major opens up. Still, Kiffin seems like a guy who would bounce from Ole Miss if a better job was offered, and you can’t blame him because he is too good to be in Oxford.
Ole Miss is part of the SEC, which is a major thing in the new era of college football, with them and the Big Ten both becoming super conferences and getting most of the love. Still, the Rebels aren’t exactly a top program in the conference, being behind Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, and Florida.
Kiffin Could Head To Florida Or Miami
There is a good chance that Florida will open up this year and fire head coach Billy Napier, which could be Lane Kiffin’s best landing spot. The Gators have been trying to get back to being relevant like they were in the mid-2000s with head coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Tim Tebow, and right now, they are still looked at by many as a top-tier college football program. The way Kiffin can recruit and relate to the young players, Florida would be a perfect spot for him.
Kiffin put together the best transfer class this offseason while at Ole Miss. Think about what he could do at a program like Florida with better resources.
Let’s say another job opens up, like Miami in the ACC. Wouldn’t Kiffin’s personality fit well with the city and its fans? Think about Kiffin being the guy who brings Miami back. That would be an epic story.
Kiffin Has Changed For The Best In The New Era Of College Football
College football has changed a lot in the past few years, and coaches have a hard time adapting to the transfer portal and NIL, but Kiffin seems to have taken a new era and handled it better than most coaches.
Lane Kiffin has adapted like he has been doing this his entire life, and he works very well with relating to the younger generation because of his personality. He is a funny guy, and you can see a lot of that side on his social media. Players have taken notice of this, and they want to play for him. It also helps now that they can throw bags of cash at the athletes.
Another thing Kiffin gets punished for, and there is an understanding of why, but he has changed and grown up a lot over the years; how he handled the jobs at Tennessee and USC and didn’t leave both of those places on good terms, but that happened ten plus years ago. You can see a different side of him now than you did in 2009 and 2013.
Another thing that will help Kiffin’s case for a top job is he is a winner. When he got to Ole Miss in 2020, he went 5-5 in a shortened season due to COVID and then won ten games in 2021; he took a step back with eight in 2022, and then last year had 11 wins with his only losses to Alabama and Georgia.
Ole Miss will be one of the best teams in the county this season, and ten-plus wins are most likely to happen.
Lane Kiffin is sort of like Urban Meyer; he can only stay at a place for a handful of years, but while he is there, the program wins. If one of these programs opens up like Florida or Miami, he should bounce and build it up as he has done at Ole Miss.
