Speculation around Lane Kiffin’s future is raging, but the Ole Miss coach still refuses to play along. Asked again this week about reported interest from both the Florida football team and LSU, Kiffin dodged every attempt to pin him down, brushing aside talk of family visits and political connections while insisting he fully expects to be on the Ole Miss sideline for the Egg Bowl.
His message hasn’t changed: he’s focused on the Rebels, not on job openings elsewhere, even as the noise around Gainesville and Baton Rouge gets louder.
During Tennessee’s blowout of Florida's football team in Gainesville, ESPN’s Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit turned the broadcast toward what happens if Florida swings and misses on Kiffin.
As relayed by On3, Herbstreit said he has been asking people inside the sport who comes next if Kiffin stays put or goes to LSU, and he tossed out USC’s Lincoln Riley and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz as realistic backup options.
Riley has piled up wins and offensive fireworks at USC, while Drinkwitz has quietly built a consistent winner at Missouri and gone .500 against the Gators.
Herbstreit also noted that, from his vantage point, Florida people are acting like Kiffin is practically inevitable, which only raises the stakes if he chooses a different path.
Drinkwitz has already tried to cool things down, calling the chatter a distraction and stressing that he and his family love what they are building at Missouri. Riley, meanwhile, has given no public sign he is angling to leave Los Angeles, which makes his name feel more like wishful thinking than an active pursuit.
Another name hovering over the rumor mill is Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall.
Gators Online reported that Sumrall was scheduled to interview with Florida, but On3’s Pete Nakos later reported that the meeting was called off, without a public explanation.
Sumrall’s resume, from his 23-4 run and back-to-back Sun Belt titles at Troy to his work at Tulane, ensures he will stay on short lists for openings at Florida, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, and beyond, even as he publicly preaches a week-to-week mentality and tells his team not to chase speculation.
All of it leaves Florida’s big-picture plan looking both ambitious and fragile. Kiffin remains the obvious first choice, with Riley, Drinkwitz, and Sumrall floated as contingency options, but there is no guarantee any of them will be available or willing.
If Ole Miss hangs on to its coach and other targets stay put, the Gators could find themselves scrambling late in the cycle, trying to stabilize a flagship program that has already spent too long searching for its next long-term leader.
