CFB Insider Believes Ole Miss Should Hire This $15 Million Coach If Lane Kiffin Leaves

The race for Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin is heating up this fall with multiple programs in pursuit of the program's decision-maker.

No. 5 Ole Miss (10-1, 6-1 SEC) is in the midst of a historic 2025 season with a College Football Playoff berth within arms reach, but the hottest topic across the sport is the future of Kiffin.

The Florida Gators and LSU Tigers are rolling out the red carpet for Kiffin with the program in Baton Rouge reportedly offering a "blank check" to the Ole Miss shot-caller.

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt believes LSU is prepared to make a significant run at Kiffin if he makes the move to depart the Magnolia State.

“There’s an old coaching adage out there that the quickest way to be defeated is to be distracted,” Klatt said. “I think that the biggest threat to Ole Miss down the stretch is distraction. And that distraction in the form of their future head coach.

"I don’t know where Lane Kiffin is going to end up. I know that Ole Miss is basically telling him, ‘Hey, it’s a blank check. You tell us what you need to stay here, and we will do it.’ I have that on good authority.

“I also have, on pretty good authority, that LSU is prepared to do the same thing for Lane Kiffin. They’ll basically tell him, ‘The keys are yours.’ Florida is a job that I think Lane would prefer over the other two, from what I’ve been told, and they are not quite in the same boat as Ole Miss and LSU in terms of ‘here, the sky is yours and name your price.’ There are more strings.”

If Kiffin were to depart Oxford this offseason, college football analyst Josh Pate believes the Ole Miss Rebels should pursue Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall.

"All due respect, mountains of respects, to Lane Kiffin. If I'm Ole Miss, I want you to be my head coach. But if it's not you, I'm going to be okay. I need to know sooner rather than later," Pate said.

Ole Miss Rebels Football: Lane Kiffin. — Courtesy of Ole Miss Rebels Football.

"And I'm going to be okay because you know what I think? I think I could be very competitive with Auburn in trying to pursue Jon Sumrall. That's what I think because there aren't many places in the SEC right now that are set up better to succeed than Ole Miss."

Sumrall is the clearcut, definitive favorite for the Auburn Tigers opening as the coaching carousel heats up, but if the Rebels see Kiffin depart, he could become a candidate for the Ole Miss gig.

More Ole Miss News:

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Ole Miss Football Great Doubles Down on Lane Kiffin to Florida Gators 'Not Happening'

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