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Silly season in college football started early this year with LSU, Florida, and other big-time programs already searching for their next head coach before Halloween. The overall consensus around the sport is that Lane Kiffin is a top candidate to take over the Tigers or Gators, but one legendary SEC quarterback thinks he'd be better suited staying at Ole Miss. Kiffin is among the most sought-after coaches in all of college football. The 50-year-old is an offensive guru, has the personality that fits the current landscape of the sport, and has become his own brand in Oxford since taking over the Rebels ahead of the 2020 season. Kiffin is 51-19 as the head coach at Ole Miss, and with a manageable remaining schedule, should lead the Rebels to their fourth 10-win season in five years. It's cliché to say, but that doesn't make it untrue: Lane Kiffin has legitimately built something at Ole Miss. While a good majority of the national media folks and plenty in Baton Rouge and Gainesville are clamoring for Kiffin to bolt Oxford and take his talents to either LSU or Florida, Cam Newton is taking a different approach while looking at the situation. It's pretty simple in Newton's mind: Kiffin is building something special in Oxford, so why stop now? "I think the hottest person right now is Lane Kiffin, but I would be questionable to take that job if I’m Lane Kiffin, because you will be chasing somebody else’s greatness at any of the schools that are vacant," Newton explained on ESPN's ‘First Take’ on Monday morning. "You’ll already be compared to Urban Meyer if you’re at the University of Florida. "Even with the likes of Eli Manning and the greatness of so many other players in Ole Miss history, you are able to create your own legacy. Something that hasn’t been done before. That’s why Indiana paid their coach, because they understand. There will be coaching vacancies, and the coaching carousel will move."…"I think he’s in the right space right there at Ole Miss, because he can create his own narrative, and now he doesn’t feel the pressure of everybody else," Newton concluded. Will Lane Kiffin Keep Building In Oxford, Or Bolt? Newton's point about Kiffin building his own legacy at Ole Miss is valid. Outside of Johnny Vaught, who last coached at Ole Miss two years before Kiffin was even born, there aren't really any shoes he has to fill in terms of coaching at Ole Miss. Kiffin is in the midst of creating a legacy at Ole Miss, an unlikely place in the early years of the NIL era in the big, bad, very rich SEC. READ: Lane Kiffin Leaving Ole Miss For Florida Would Be Nonsensical, And A Lateral Move, At Best Now, whether he wants to continue to take things to new heights in Oxford or try and win a national title elsewhere, that decision won't be influenced by Newton, someone typing on a keyboard, or anyone else who doesn't have the last name Kiffin. Ole Miss continuing to win football games will likely dictate the situation, however. With three straight home games against South Carolina, the Citadel, and Florida coming up before a trip to Starkville to take on Mississippi State on Black Friday, Kiffin's Rebels are staring 11-1 in the face and, at worst, should finish 10-2, which may still be good enough to make it into the College Football Playoff. Programs looking to hire Kiffin away from Ole Miss may be waiting months before Kiffin weighs his options if Ole Miss does, in fact, get into the Playoff.
