What will Lane Kiffin do? It is the question that has turned all eyes toward Oxford, Mississippi, for the past two weeks.
Pundits and fans alike have been left to closely parse tweets and interviews to try to figure out where the coach will work next season. Will Kiffin stay at Ole Miss, where he has made program history? Will he leave for one of the best jobs in the country at LSU? Or will he return to the state of Florida, a place that has sentimental meaning to him, to coach the Gators?
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said a resolution is expected Saturday, the day after the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. In anticipation, we’re making the case for each school in the running for Kiffin.
Ole Miss
Kiffin has an opportunity to carve his face on the Mount Rushmore of Ole Miss legends if he stays. Look at what he has done in six years with the Rebels. His four 10-win seasons over the past five years are more than the team had in the previous 50 seasons combined.
This season might be Kiffin’s finest work yet, as Ole Miss is on the verge of a CFP berth. A win in the Egg Bowl will almost guarantee the Rebels a spot in the 12-team field. If this is what Kiffin has done in just six years, imagine what might happen with six more years and even more investment in football. If the resources start to flow more freely now that Kiffin has proved that he can build a winner, it’s not unreasonable to think that Ole Miss could turn into a consistent contender. Kiffin has shown that he can win, even though he’s not at one of the country’s biggest programs.
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He also has proved he can effectively develop quarterbacks no matter where he is and having that position figured out is perhaps more important than anything else when it comes to winning championships. Turning Trinidad Chambliss from a Division II quarterback into an elite SEC player in a year is just the latest example. His quarterback last year, Jaxson Dart, was a first-round NFL pick. And the fact Kiffin has done this at Ole Miss, where predecessor Matt Luke failed to notch a winning season, shows it is possible to win at a place that has had more average seasons than good ones over the past three decades.
Perhaps more than all of this, though, Kiffin says he’s found happiness in Oxford. He has his family there with him, including his son, Knox, a quarterback on the Oxford High School football team. It might sound like a cliché, but it is hard to put a price on happiness, even if that price is $98 million. And it’s not as if life on the field will necessarily be better somewhere else; if it were so easy to win at LSU and Florida, why couldn’t their last coaches do it?
The Tigers heavily invested in their roster this year, but they struggled, and Brian Kelly was shown the door. Florida has not won an SEC title since 2008. Ole Miss offers more known quantities than the other programs. Its edge is clear: Starting over is hard. Why do it if you don’t have to?
LSU
Put aside the dysfunction that has already been a part of the LSU coaching search, including the developing legal situation with former coach Brian Kelly. Put aside the fact that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has strong opinions and perhaps has meddled a bit in the school’s search for a new coach. Kelly told ESPN over the summer, “This state relies on success. The governor told me the other night their best Mondays are after a win.” That statement, in a nutshell, encapsulates the situation at LSU.
Is that so bad? That is the type of passion that drives programs to do everything possible to win. LSU has everything it needs to win now. Well, almost. Its facilities just underwent a complete renovation to put them among the top in the SEC; Tiger Stadium is one of the best venues in college football — nearly 40,000 seats bigger than Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss. And LSU is the only Power 4 school in the state of Louisiana, making it easy to own the talent-rich state from a recruiting perspective.
On top of all that, LSU is invested in getting the right coach no matter the cost. Not only is Kiffin set to receive a reported $98 million deal to become the highest-paid coach in college football if he takes the LSU job, but according to Yahoo Sports, the school has promised to enhance NIL-related roster investments to more than $25 million. That is quite the commitment for a school that just spent $18 million in 2025 in the hopes it would compete for a championship.
The three coaches before Kelly — Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron — all won national championships. Since the turn of the century, only Ohio State has managed to have that level of success under three different coaching regimes. Perhaps that should be as good a selling point for Kiffin as anything else.
Florida
Kiffin is Steve Spurrier 2.0, and he fits the Florida ethos to a tee. He’s an offensive guru and a quarterback whisperer. He would theoretically fit right in at a school that has had three Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, all with statues in front of the stadium. Kiffin’s late father-in-law, John Reaves, was an All-America quarterback at Florida. Kiffin himself has spoken about how much he loves the state and how he enjoyed his time at FAU. Kiffin wears a visor to look like Spurrier, his idol. He also trolls rivals at a Spurrier-esque clip. Kiffin and Florida seem like a perfect match.
Spurrier changed the perception around Florida when he was head coach by using his wide-open offense to win the school its first national championship. Urban Meyer only enhanced that reputation when he won the Gators two more titles. But since then, Florida has been walking through the wilderness, losing its edge over rival Georgia and cycling through coaches at an alarming clip. The fan base still has images of Spurrier and Meyer dancing in its head, but Florida has been slow to keep up with the changing college football times.
But now the Gators’ eyes are wide open: A new $85 million football facility opened in 2023, and there are plans for a $400 million renovation to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium starting in 2027. The Swamp at night for a high-profile game rivals Tiger Stadium as one of the best home environments in the country.
Florida gave Billy Napier money to invest in his staff and players. A strong core of young offensive players will be set to return — including running back Jadan Baugh and receivers Vernell Brown III, Tre Wilson and Dallas Wilson. Imagine what Kiffin would be able to do with quarterback DJ Lagway. Florida is just waiting for the right coach who truly gets what it takes to win in Gainesville to vault it back into the national spotlight.
