While rumors are swirling that Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin is very interested in both the LSU and Florida head coaching vacancies, longtime SEC commentator Paul Finebaum hinted at only part of that being true.
Despite Kiffin's family visiting both Gainesville and Baton Rouge over the last few days to start off the Rebels' bye week, Finebaum indicated that Kiffin might not really be considering LSU anymore because of the recent actions of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.
“Lane Kiffin is the story right now,” Finebaum said on ‘The Matt Barrie Show'. “And Matt, as the week unfolded last week, the Kiffin rumors started going crazy. And we're not here to discuss rumors, but you could not avoid it, and everybody seems to know something. He is going to have a difficult time these next couple of weeks dealing with it because everything seems to be pointing toward Florida. It appears the governor did a good job of taking Lane Kiffin out of the LSU situation…”
Specifically, Landry publicly criticized then-LSU athletic director Scott Woodward following the firing of Brian Kelly. Landry, elected as governor in 2024 after eight years as the state's attorney general, told the media that Woodward, who had been the school's AD since 2019, would not hire the next football coach.
Landry cited Jimbo Fisher's record-breaking $77 million contract buyout, as well as Kelly's $54 million buyout, as reasons why Woodward was not being trusted to replace Kelly, although Woodward, who left A&M in 2019 for LSU, did not give Fisher his 2021 extension but rather hired him from Florida State in December 2017 before his departure for Baton Rouge. Woodward, an LSU alumnus, resigned the day after Landry's comments.
While Landry received plenty of criticism for interjecting himself so publicly into the coaching change, it remains to be seen whether that or LSU trying to get out of paying Kelly his full buyout will truly be factors in Kiffin's decision-making process.
Regardless, the rumors will continue to surround Kiffin, who has largely avoided directly addressing reports he is eyeing Florida and LSU, both of whom fired their head coaches last month. Kiffin and 10-1 Ole Miss are one win away from securing their first College Football Playoff (CFP) berth, and depending on the results of the final two weeks for Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia, he and the Rebels could be heading to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game for the first time as well.
Ole Miss finishes up its regular season on Black Friday with the Egg Bowl vs. rival Mississippi State, while LSU has Western Kentucky and Oklahoma left on its schedule.
