By Michael GallagherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberJust days ago, most were convinced Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was going to be the next head coach of the Florida Gators.
But by Thursday night, the consensus seems to be that Kiffin will actually be heading to a different SEC powerhouse when it’s all said and done.
Kiffin has been courted by several schools with high-profile head-coaching vacancies, and what initially seemed to be a two-team race between Florida and LSU now appears to be a runaway win for the Tigers.
According to betting market Kalshi, Kiffin is not the favorite to be the next coach at LSU, seeing his odds jump to 53% on Thursday.
And if that weren’t enough to prove Kiffin to LSU has real momentum, CBS Sport’s Matt Zenitz reported on Thursday that the university is even willing to make a big concession to entice Kiffin to take the job.
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...“If/when Lane Kiffin is hired as LSU’s head coach, LSU is open to former Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron being part of Kiffin’s staff, sources tell @CBSSports,” Zenitz reported. “Kiffin and Orgeron have a longstanding relationship.”
With Kiffin to LSU seeming like a done deal at some point, details emerged on Thursday thanks to Wilson Alexander of The Advocate of what kind of numbers LSU is willing to throw Kiffin’s way to make a deal happen.
“What I’ve heard is substantial, like a very large financial package,” Alexander told “McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning.” “I don’t have a firm number for you, but I think they would put him up there with the highest-paid coaches in the country, which would be maybe over $13 million, something like that, on an annual basis.
“I know there’s interest in the LSU side of things…for a shorter term. Something that would reduce the cost of a buyout if by Year 4 they’re wanting to fire him.”
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If Kiffin were offered an average annual salary of $13 million per year or more, it would make him one of the to two highest-paid coaches in college football along with Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who makes $13.3 million per year.
Behind Smart, Ohio State’s Ryan Day ($12.6 million per year), USC’s Lincoln Riley ($11.5 million per year), Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($11.4 million per year), Texas’ Steve Sarkisian ($10.8 million per year), and Oregon’s Dan Lanning ($10.4 million per year) round out the next five highest-paid coaches.
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