Is It More Likely for Pete Golding or Lane Kiffin to Coach at Alabama Again? Just a Minute

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI's beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as Alabama Crimson Tide on SI football writer and assistant editor Katie Windham discusses which coach of this week's biggest matchup in college football, Pete Golding or Lane Kiffin, would be more likely to ever coach at Alabama again.

The most intriguing matchup in college football this weekend is not happening in Tuscaloosa. (Though we will have awesome coverage here at BamaCentral for Saturday's matchup between No. 10 Alabama and Florida State.) Instead, it is taking place about three hours up the road in Oxford, Mississippi between No. 7 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss, who are both coached by former Alabama assistants in Lane Kiffin with the Tigers and Pete Golding with the Rebels.

Kiffin worked as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator under Nick Saban from 2014 to 2016, helping coach Alabama to three straight SEC championships and a national title in 2015. He also has head coaching stops at Tennessee, USC, FAU and Ole Miss.

Golding served as defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022, winning three SEC titles and the 2020 national championship. He took the same position at Ole Miss in 2023 and was promoted to head coach when Kiffin left last season.

Current Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer received a big contract extension this past offseason and is not on the hot seat, but when the head coaching position at Alabama becomes available again, would Golding or Kiffin be considered for the job?

The answer seems pretty clear for Kiffin: no. Because of his time in Tuscaloosa, and the drama that continues to follow him, it is highly unlikely that Alabama would ever consider Kiffin for the position regardless of the success he has on the field.

That leaves Golding as the more likely possibility if comparing the two. Right now, he would not be at the top of Alabama's list, but depending on how his tenure goes during his first head-coaching stint with the Rebels, he could be considered in the future.

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