Most analysts seem convinced that Lane Kiffin won’t be the head coach at Ole Miss for too much longer.
Kiffin is reportedly being courted by a few high-profile schools with head-coaching vacancies including Floria, Penn State, and LSU — all while Ole Miss has given him a deadline (allegedly Nov. 28’s Egg Bowl game against Mississippi State) to make a decision on his coaching future.
During an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” earlier this week, Kiffin denied the university had given him such a deadline.
One person who’s not buying that assertion is ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, who during a recent appearance on “SportsCenter” stated that he believes Kiffin is feeding into the speculation that he’s leaving Ole Miss.
Finebaum also stated that he believes Kiffin wants to leave Ole Miss for the Florida job but there’s one thing holding up his transition to Gainesville.
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“I think we believe that Lane Kiffin wants to go to Florida,” Finebaum said, via On3. “The problem is the [College Football Playoff]. Could he possibly walk out? Remember in, what was it, 2016, Lane Kiffin got the job at Florida Atlantic.
“He kind of dogged it in a playoff game, and Nick Saban fired him a week before the championship game, costing Saban a championship that year. I don’t think Lane Kiffin wants to go through that again.”
Assuming Ole Miss beats Mississippi State next weekend, the Rebels would likely host a CFP game on either Dec. 19 or 20. If Ole Miss reaches the quarterfinal round, it would be playing again sometime around New Year’s Eve, and if it makes it to the semifinals, it would be playing around Jan. 8 or 9.
Playing that late into January may take Kiffin out of the running for the Florida or LSU job—or both. And as Finebaum stated, with Ole Miss being a legit championship contender, Kiffin may not want to sacrifice potentially winning a national title to jump ship to another program.
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