Lane Kiffin rumors explained: Is he leaving for another job after this Egg Bowl?

• College Football

Is today Lane Kiffin’s final Egg Bowl? Looking at the case for Florida, LSU, and Ole Miss plus predictions

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Ole Miss travels to Starkville today for the latest installment of the Egg Bowl, the annual clash between Mississippi and Mississippi State. There is much at stake for Ole Miss, as the team can clinch their second 11-win season in school history. A win over the Bulldogs likely clinches a spot in the College Football Playoff, and could even propel the Rebels to the SEC Championship Game if they get some help from around the conference this weekend.

However, all of that comes with a dark cloud overhead.

Rumors about Lane Kiffin’s future at the school have overshadowed the team in recent weeks, as both LSU and Florida are reportedly pursuing Kiffin for vacancies at the head of their own programs. Kiffin has deflected those rumors in recent days, putting the focus on today’s game against Mississippi State.

But soon an announcement will be made.

As Ole Miss sits on the precipice of a massive weekend for the program, let’s look at the options in front of Kiffin, what experts are saying about his impending decision, and make a prediction of our own.

The case for LSU

Let’s start working through the reported options in front of Kiffin, starting with LSU.

The case for a move to Baton Rouge has several pillars, but they all share one tenet.

Money.

According to CBS Sports, there is a seven-year, $98 million contract offer on the table for Kiffin to take over the Tigers. That would make Kiffin the highest-paid coach in college football, surpassing the $13 million per year Kirby Smart earns at Georgia.

Kiffin currently earns $9 million per year at Ole Miss, which ranks sixth … among SEC coaches.

But that is not the only money on the table. According to Ross Dellinger of Yahoo Sports, LSU is also “promising significant NIL and revenue share roster investments exceeding $25 million.” That is a massive investment in the program, and a big step up for the Tigers, who spent $18 million this past season while hoping they could compete for a national championship under Brian Kelly.

Of course, that kind of investment in a coach, and a roster, would carry massive (perhaps overwhelming) expectations. After all, Kelly’s departure reached the halls of government, where Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry injected himself into the discussion and even said (in jest, we think) that he would ask President Donald Trump to pick LSU’s next coach. That is quite the situation for a new coach to walk into.

But it might be one that Kiffin would relish.

The case for Florida

The case for the Gators?

That might start with family.

Layla Kiffin attended the University of Florida, and her father was an All-American quarterback for the Gators. A move to Gainesville would be a homecoming of sorts, and Kiffin has also talked about how much he loves both the state and how he enjoyed his time at Florida Atlantic University, where he made his return to the head coaching ranks after a stint at Alabama as the offensive coordinator.

There’s also the Steve Spurrier aspect. Kiffin wears a visor as a tribute to Spurrier, the coach he wanted to be in his younger days. “I wanted to be Steve Spurrier,” Kiffin said recently. “When I watched him and his offenses in the visor and kind of the way he’d throw jabs at other coaches and team and stuff, I was like, Steve Spurrier is the man. That’s what I want to be.”

A move to Gainesville would see Kiffin join Spurrier and Urban Meyer, fellow offensive-minded head coaches who rode offensive innovation to the top of the college football world. That sounds a lot like Kiffin. But in Florida he’d also join a program ready to improve the foundations, as there are currently plans for a massive renovation to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Those plans for a $400 million renovation project come in the wake of Florida opening a new $85 million football facility back in 2023.

The case for Ole Miss

Home is where the heart is.

While that sounds like one of the messages Kiffin would share to social media — Kiffin is a poster’s poster after all — it may be the biggest reason Kiffin could stay in Oxford.

Kiffin’s football journey has been well documented, and one that has taken him from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Al Davis called him a “flat-out liar,” his departure from Tennessee after just one year made him persona non grata in Knoxville, and USC fired him at the airport and left him behind at LAX.

Nick Saban and Alabama even parted ways with Kiffin days before a National Championship Game, as Kiffin was preparing to take over at FAU. That led to the incredible line from Mark Schlabach: “Kiffin is about the only coach who could be fired from a job that he’d already quit.”

But in Oxford, Kiffin has found his home. He’s built a program that has won ten games in three consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. He has the Rebels on the cusp of their first SEC Championship Game, even if they need a little help from their SEC friends to book a spot in Atlanta, as well as their first College Football Playoff appearance.

He’s become the best version of himself since arriving in Oxford.

That is worth more than any contract, or any promise of NIL dollars.

Lane Kiffin’s decision

As for when we will get a decision, that is just a matter of hours now.

Ahead of today’s Egg Bowl Keith Carter, the Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics at the school, shared this message on social media:

“Despite the outside noise, Coach Kiffin is focused on preparing our team for the Egg Bowl, and together, we want to ensure that our players and coaches can concentrate fully on next Friday’s game,” Carter said in part. “The team is on the cusp of an unprecedented season, and it’s imperative they feel the support of the Ole Miss family in the week ahead.”

For his part, Kiffin continued to deflect any questions about his future. During his weekly press conference ahead of the Egg Bowl, the head coach maintained that position. “I’m saying the same thing for six years,” Kiffin said during the SEC teleconference. “I’m not talking about speaking on other jobs. I’m focused on this one.”

Will that focus on Ole Miss remain after today? We will find out soon enough.

What experts predict about Kiffin’s future

Kiffin’s future has become a matter of national discussion, and is one of those college football stories that has broken through the sports world and into the mainstream.

The saga even received the full CNN treatment on Friday morning.

As such, experts have lined up to make their predictions. Brett McMurphy of On3 Sports spoke to several college football experts for this piece, which included the majority picking LSU:

I will say, the selection of the Tennessee Titans is a rather interesting choice.

What will Lane Kiffin decide?

Self discovery is a powerful thing.

Finding the best version of yourself is a process that can take months. Years. Even decades. For Kiffin, that process brought him from the collegiate ranks, to the NFL, back to college, and finally to Oxford. That is where he eventually found the best version of Lane Kiffin he can be.

Now maybe having found that version, he is in a better place to make the next step. Maybe the new and improved Lane Kiffin is ready to take the field at Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night as the head coach of LSU, or walk into The Swamp amid the shadows of Spurrier and Meyer. Maybe that is where his journey goes next.

But from where I sit, these past few seasons have seen Kiffin become the coach he was meant to be, at the program he was meant to lead.

And along a path only he was meant to forge. Where he can write his own story, and not just a few chapters in another program’s.

He’s found his home, and it’s time to stay there and become a true legend.

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