After firing head football coach Brian Kelly, LSU is on the hunt for someone to lead its football program back to national title contention. Could Lane Kiffin be that man?
By dismissing Kelly, who went 34-14 in parts of four seasons as head coach, LSU is making it clear to its fan base and the rest of the country that simply winning nine or 10 games isn't sufficient in Baton Rouge. For the Tigers, unlike many programs in college football, it's not just a goal to win a national championship, but it is an expectation.
Before Kelly, each of the three previous head coaches — Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron — won a national title at LSU before leaving for the NFL (in Saban's case) or being fired (in both Miles and Orgeron's cases). Additionally, LSU had won at least 73.8% of its total games and 67.4% of its conference matchups under Saban, Miles, and Orgeron. With Saturday's 49-25 home loss, the Tigers' overall and SEC win percentages slipped to 70.8% and 65.5%, respectively.
But who can realistically replace Kelly, whom LSU snagged from Notre Dame in November 2021 with a 10-year, $95 million contract? Well, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin, whose daughter is dating current Tigers linebacker Whit Weeks, will almost certainly be on the shortlist. Getting him to Baton Rouge, however, could prove troublesome.
“Kiffin fits both categories (being a big-time candidate and winning big in the SEC), and he seemed to relish taking digs at Kelly whenever possible,” The Athletic's Bruce Feldman wrote. “Whether he is ready to leave Oxford, where his extended family has settled in nicely, is another matter. The 50-year-old has done an excellent job and has the No. 7 Rebels in prime position to get into the College Football Playoff for the first time. His Rebels have finished in the top 11 in three of the past four seasons and are on track to make it four times in five years. They’re 7-1 with their lone loss at Georgia. They responded by winning Saturday at No. 13 Oklahoma. Timing could be tricky with a potential extended Playoff run in play. Even trickier: Kiffin is expected to be one of the top targets for the UF vacancy in a state where he’s had a lot of success, winning two conference titles at Florida Atlantic.”
In his sixth season at Ole Miss, Kiffin has transformed a historically mediocre program into an SEC title contender. He has led the Rebels to three seasons of 10 wins or more in the last four years, became the first Ole Miss coach to lead the Rebels to five straight bowl games since Johnny Vaught, and has 7-1 Ole Miss up to seventh in the nation after beating Oklahoma on the road this past weekend. With FCS The Citadel and South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi State (who have a combined SEC record of 3-11) left on the schedule, Kiffin and Ole Miss also appear on the verge of making their first SEC championship game or CFP berth.
To lure Kiffin to Baton Rouge, LSU would likely have to pay Kiffin even more than the $95 million it paid Kelly, as well as the $54 million buyout owed to Kelly and the few million it would take to buy out Kiffin from his lucrative Ole Miss deal.
After the upcoming bye week, LSU, under interim head coach Frank Wilson, will go on the road to face Alabama.
