Kiffin isn't going to Auburn
It's just a gut feeling, but Kiffin seems like a guy that appreciates the good thing he has going in Oxford, Mississippi
Imagine being an Ole Miss fan in a different season with a different coach. A coach not named Lane Kiffin. For purposes of this exercise let’s call him Kane Liffin.
It’s November 1 of that year and nobody, and I mean not a single member of the media, suggests that Kane Liffin would be a good candidate to replace another coach that just got fired by an SEC blueblood such as Alabama, Florida or Georgia.
Why would that be?
Well I’ll tell you why. It’s because Kane Liffin has an average to below average record and has barely tasted the postseason or maybe hasn’t been to a bowl game at all.
The great news, if you want to call it that, is that the fictitious Ole Miss head coach isn’t going anywhere. Not until fictitious Ole Miss Athletics Director Ceith Karter fires him.
You get my point.
Having a coach that isn’t coveted means your program is likely in the dumps.
Fortunately for us, Ole Miss has the most highly coveted head coach in the country right now in Lane Kiffin, and that’s because Ole Miss is experiencing unprecedented success.
We can’t control what happens to Lane Kiffin or where he goes, but we’ve got him for now.
And he seems to like it here. His parents live in Oxford. His daughter plans to go to Ole Miss in the fall and his team has a very talented base set to return next season.
The 2023 roster should include Quinshon Judkins, Jaxson Dart, Michael Trigg and probably some names from other rosters you haven’t even thought about yet. Kiffin is the Portal King after all.
And the Sip hoodies really suit him. Jokes aside, Kiffin has built a compelling brand at Ole Miss. In a lot of ways Kiffin is Ole Miss and Ole Miss is Lane Kiffin. He’s built something really cool here.
Thanks to the fat SEC TV contract, Keith Carter can probably find the money to pay Kiffin whatever he needs to be content at the top of the college coaching salary charts. My guess is he will be in the $10 million a year range, which would put Kiffin in the same stratosphere as Kirby Smart and Nick Saban.
Kiffin is worth every penny. The Rebels are 18-3 in the last two seasons, currently sit just outside the Top 10 and are on their way to a third straight bowl game.
Enrollment is up.
The Ole Miss brand has never been stronger and we all know much of the credit for that goes to the guy wearing the Sip hoodie and white visor running down the sideline and hurling his clipboard in the air.
It only makes sense to pay the man.
You’re going to see a lot of Kiffin to Auburn and Kiffin to {insert the blank} rumors between now and the end of the season.
Kiffin probably is Auburn’s first choice, but that doesn’t mean he will take the job.
My perception is that Kiffin likes Oxford and that he’s learned the hard way that the grass isn’t always greener in the other college football stadiums. In fact, I think I’ve heard him use those exact words more than once as he reminisced about what might have been if he had never left Tennessee for USC.
Kiffin doesn’t sound like a guy looking to jump ship.
So let’s just all breathe and enjoy being 8-1.
The biggest Alabama ever is in less than two weeks.
Don’t let Jimmy Sexton and the speculating media steal the fun of this November from us.
You’ve got the coach everybody else wishes they had.
Enjoy it.
Triple Threat
The three-headed monster of Quinshon Judkins, Zach Evans and Jaxson Dart have elevated Ole Miss to 3rd in the FBS in rushing yards (2,407 yards) and the top of the SEC, with Arkansas trailing by nearly 500 yards.
Judkins has rushed for 1,036 yards, which is second to Arkansas running back Raheim Sanders by a mere 5 yards.
Evans, who has been been limited by a sore knee and didn’t even play against LSU, is 4th in the SEC with 680 yards.
Meanwhile, Dart’s 473 yards running are good enough for 12th in the conference.
As I wrote yesterday, the scary part of these numbers is that Evans hasn’t been healthy. If he can use the open date to get that knee right, the Rebels could rip off some serious yardage in November.
With all the money Auburn still having to pay, 2 coaches millions of dollars to buy out their contracts, They can't buy Kane Liffen, much less Lane Kiffen 💯💯💯💯💯