Mark McLeod, Blitz Sports Radio

mark@blitzsportsradio.com

@McLeodLive

November 17, 2025

Fans and journalists are pressing Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin to publicly declare his future plans. Kiffin hasn’t signed the Ole Miss extension; nor will he publicly state that he has no interest in other jobs. Furthermore, Kiffin will not say that he will be the Ole Miss head coach in 2026. 

The frustration is understandable and given Kiffin’s legendary status as a social media troll, it has created a great divide. 

Some Rebels fans believe Kiffin is openly trolling Florida and LSU- two programs that have made no secret of their desire to lure the coveted 50-year old away. Meanwhile, others feel like a jilted lover standing at the alter watching their fiancee’ walk out the front door.

Florida and LSU fans just want to know if he’s coming to restore their fledgling programs to national championship contention. 

By the way, if you really believe that Lane Kiffin hasn’t made a decision, I feel for you. 

I believe Lane Kiffin ends up at Florida. I came to believe that last season. I just had no earthly idea when that might happen. 

Despite humiliating blowout losses to Miami and Texas A&M to kickoff the ’24 season, I knew that Napier wasn’t going anywhere because Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin would not make the move to fire him. Billy Napier was his guy. I saw no need to even discuss it. In my opinion, the priority was to address the on the field issues and there were a lot of them, folks. 

It was a very strange season because the rumor mill was that Napier was out and then he wasn’t before he was out again (after the blowout loss to Texas) and then, the Gators closed strong. My point with this is that the leash was short in 2025. 

Stricklin had given Napier an abundance of additional staffing to quickly restore Florida among the SEC hierarchy. While Napier deserves credit for addressing the culture issues at UF, he didn’t produce wins, as promised. The NIL problems significantly improved, although arguments can be made over what percentage football gets vs other sports. There was money for the transfer portal. In my opinion, Napier didn’t go quite deep enough there. 

These points are important to note because Lane Kiffin (or whoever the new coach may be) can see that Stricklin and the Florida boosters provided the necessary tools for the Gators to quickly improve and that Napier was given ample time to develop and win. What more can a coach ask for? 

Kiffin is going to want to bring in some of his own people. Will that prove to be a problem? We simply don’t have any facts here. 

We also know that Kiffin watched Steve Spurrier and the Gators throughout the 1990’s and that he wanted to be like Steve Spurrier. That’s a plus. A major plus? Who knows. 

I’ve provided some takes on why Kiffin would like Florida. What about you? Do you think that he fits the Florida mold? 

Kiffin checks an awful lot of boxes. He checks more boxes than any previous Florida coaching hire. Charley Pell, Spurrier, and Urban Meyer had the most impressive head coaching resumes I’ve seen at Florida, but none of them had been a head coach for more than seven years. Kiffin has twice the experience and like them, an impressive resume as an assistant under quality teachers. 

The Kiffin File

31-6 since 2023

115-53 (68%)

34 of his 53 (39%) losses occurred in year one after taking over a program. 

-Six 10 win seasons in his last nine years as an HC

-Only one losing season in 14 years and that was at FAU

-SEC head coaching experience w/ four 10+ win seasons in six years

-SEC assistant coaching experience

-He can identify talent

-He does an outstanding job in the transfer portal

-He can recruit, but has relied heavily on the portal

-He developed quarterbacks

-He has made a lot of good assistant coaching hires

-Kiffin is a master at trolling opponents 

Kiffin has seemingly matured too. 

There are red and yellow flags. Perhaps you’ve noticed changes in Kiffin over the past two or three years? Perhaps it’s just within the past year? It may be that you haven’t noticed any changes and that he’s the same guy that he has always been? 

The divide isn’t great. Kiffin is the overwhelming choice to replace Napier by most of the Gator Nation. I have to believe that LSU fans have similar thoughts. There are Ole Miss who want him out because “were tired of the drama”.

I’ve spoken to and/or heard from some of you who do not want Kiffin at Florida. There have only been a few of you, but your reasons largely stem with red or yellow flags reading his personality and/or character.

If you’ve seen his social media post, it’s obvious that he is actively working on improving his overall character. Kiffin is seemingly trying to develop various areas of his life into strengths. I’m not saying they’re weaknesses because only Kiffin can speak to what he sees as strengths and weaknesses in his life. What is obvious though, is that he is pushing himself to be better in every facet of life.

None of us are a finished product and neither is Lane Kiffin. We will never be a finished product.

I may be wrong, but it appears to me that Kiffin has been working on this for several years and, perhaps the passing of his father Monte accelerated his focus. When Monte Kiffin passed, something changed with Lane Kiffin.

While it would be impossible for Kiffin to make this decision based entirely on family, I do believe that is his overriding focus. And good for him. I also have to wonder if Kiffin feels as though a move to Florida would be good for Layla, bringing her and his children closer to the extended Reaves family?

One final concern has been about a lack of commitment to Florida. Kiffin has certainly moved around a bit in his career. Many other coaches have too, including the GOAT, Nick Saban before he settled in at Alabama. 

It definitely would’ve concerned me seven or eight years ago. Florida fans want a coach who will stay for a long time. Every program wants that too. I would be fine if a Florida coach would just stay ten years. Steve Spurrier once said that ten years is about as long as one coach should stay at a job.

I can make the case for him to stay at Ole Miss. I can make the case for him to load the moving trucks for Gainesville or Baton Rouge. It will be several days before an announcement is made regarding his future, so hopefully nothing changes.

I do think Lane Kiffin is coming to Florida and if that happens, I’m excited for his arrival.