Copyright Jackson Clarion-Ledger
OXFORD — Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin is getting plenty of attention as he's mentioned as a top candidate for the opening at Florida. Kiffin is in his sixth season at Ole Miss and he has guided the Rebels to the upper echelon of the sport through a changing landscape of NIL and transfer portal craziness. He is 50-19 since taking over Ole Miss in 2020. The Rebels have made a bowl game in each season under Kiffin after missing one in the four prior seasons. As No. 8 Ole Miss (6-1, 3-1 SEC) prepares for No. 11 Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1) on Oct. 25 (11 a.m., ABC), Kiffin is considered a top target for the Gators, who fired coach Billy Napier on Oct. 19 after a 3-4 start. Kiffin was neutral when asked about being named as a top candidate on Oct. 19. He said he takes his name being tossed around as a compliment, but it is too much of a distraction to discuss in the season. Maybe Kiffin has made his mind up. Maybe he wants to leverage the offer for a raise. It's also possible he doesn't know, and preparing to lead Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels has been all-absorbing of his focus. If Florida is all-in, it will require convincing Kiffin that The Swamp in Gainesville has more to offer than The Square in Oxford. Here's the calculation Kiffin will have to work through at some point if Florida offers him the job. Can Florida offer Lane Kiffin more than Auburn did in 2022? Florida has a bar to clear if constructing a pitch to woo Kiffin. It must offer more than Auburn did. Kiffin emerged as a top candidate to coach at Auburn after the Tigers fired Bryan Harsin in the 2022 season. Auburn almost swayed Kiffin. The way Kiffin told it in a recent ESPN E60 documentary, it wasn't a player, coach, mentor or administrator who convinced him at the last second to turn down Auburn and stay at Ole Miss. It was his daughter, Landry, who put together a presentation to convince her father to stay at Ole Miss where she was a student. Ole Miss' case to retain Kiffin seems to have gotten stronger. Landry is still a student in Oxford. Kiffin's son, Knox, has moved to Oxford and is making an impact as a quarterback at Oxford High School. Kiffin's ex-wife, Layla, has moved to Oxford as well. If Florida can't beat Auburn's pitch, it better find another candidate Lane Kiffin's pros, cons of leaving Ole Miss for Florida Money is probably not the instrumental piece in the equation. No matter where Kiffin ends up coaching in 2026, it's likely to come under a newer, more lucrative contract. Kiffin is set to make $9 million in 2025 before bonuses. Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter is already reportedly working on an extension to keep Kiffin in place. NIL-wise, it will be hard for Florida to be a more attractive place than Ole Miss in recruiting. Not that the Gators can't compete, but how much better of a situation could Kiffin possibly get than what he has? He has pulled in a top-4 ranked transfer portal class each year since 2022, according to the 247 Sports Composite rankings. The Gators have one top-5 transfer portal class in that span. Kiffin even landed top edge rusher Princely Umanmielen from Florida in the portal. Umanmielen racked up 10.5 sacks as a Rebels in 2024. Kiffin grew up admiring Steve Spurrier, a fellow visor-wearing coach whose flamboyant style and winning ways spoke to Kiffin. That Spurrier's best run came at Florida — when he led the Gators to the 1996 national championship while coaching from 1990-2001 — may attract Kiffin, who said on the Pardon My Take podcast on Oct. 1 that he wanted to be Spurrier growing up. Kiffin would be signing up for a short-term rebuild. The Gators have gone 36-34 since 2020. Ole Miss has been 50-19 in that stretch. The question is the ceiling of the two programs. The Rebels claim three national championships, with the latest being in 1962. Florida has three titles since 1996. The latest national championship was in 2008 under coach Urban Meyer. Florida's most recent title is undisputed, and the Tim Tebow highlights it comes with can be watched in color and high definition. With college football's warp-speed rate of change, though, how much does a title from 17 years ago help in the quest for another one? Kiffin has yet to win a national championship as a head coach. Even is he's more focused on his personal life than earning a statue outside a stadium, there's not much else for Kiffin to check off on his to-do-list. If Kiffin believes he can win a national championship, it could be the trump card to get him to pack his bags and leave the place he has coached at longer than any other in his career. The catch is that he would have to not feel that way about Ole Miss. It's a small target that Florida's pitch needs to hit. Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
