National Analyst Makes Case for Ole Miss Football's Lane Kiffin to Florida Gators

The Florida Gators job is officially open with the administration in Gainesville making the move to relieve Billy Napier of his duties after four seasons with the program.

Across four seasons in the Sunshine State, Napier compiled a 22-23 record as the decision-maker of the program with change being made Sunday afternoon.

Now, speculation surrounding which head coach will take over for the Florida Gators has begun heating up with Ole Miss Rebels' Lane Kiffin receiving as much publicity as anyone.

But the main question that remains: Would Kiffin depart Oxford and bolt for Gainesville if the program came calling with the right offer?

College football analyst Josh Pate dove into both sides - whether Kiffin should or should not take the gig - Tuesday night on Josh Pate’s College Football Show.

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

“I just wonder what legacy means to him,” Pate said. “This is kind of the case I would make if I were Ole Miss: ‘Yes, there are edges that Florida has, but this is 2025 college football. Those are not the edges they used to be. If this were 1997, if this were 2010, it’s understandable.

"It’s 2025. And truth be told, our NIL structure may be even better built right now than theirs is.’ Ole Miss is ahead of the curve and has been ahead of the curve on that front.”

But would that be enough to keep Kiffin in the Magnolia State? Pate continued on why a potential move to Gainesville would make sense.

“The Florida folks would push back and say, ‘Yeah, well how many staffers have you lost that you wanted to retain?'” Pate said. “‘How many have we lost down here? And we had a guy en route to being fired.

"Yours can stay there as long as he wants to and he still can’t retain staff. He would never have that problem here. And if we got the right coach here the machine behind him that we’ll build with NIL will dwarf anything you have.’ OK. Maybe that’s true.”

Kiffin is building a legacy in Oxford and there's no doubt about it. He's brought stability to the program while rejuvenating the Rebels across his time with Ole Miss. Pate weighed the "legacy factor" as well.

“How much does legacy mean to Lane Kiffin?” Pate said. “Because right now Lane’s been in Oxford for a while, and he’s at the pinnacle of his career. And if you’re watching in real time, you never really know you’re in the good old days, you’re in the prime of your career. But you’ve got to think of it in documentary terms.

“Fast forward 30 years. You career, I would guess, is over. You’re looking back on it, and there’s a fork in the road. And you’re either going to decide my life is in Oxford, Miss., I’m the head coach at Ole Miss. And if you decide to go that route, you’ll end up winning several more years at Ole Miss.

"And you will fundamentally alter that town and there will be stuff named after you and buildings and streets named after you one day if you do your job correctly. That’s one path at the fork in the road.”

“The other path is you want to find out how you would do at the University of Florida because you think you can win a national championship there and you’re not sure you can win one at Ole Miss,” Pate said. “And that means more to you than legacy.”

Now, with the rumor mill heating up, what does Pate believe Kiffin would do? Simple answer: He hears both sides logistically.

“I’m not saying either is wrong,” Pate said. “I am quite literally asking: What matters more? That’s what you’ll find out if this goes from theoretical to actual.

"If it’s put in front of him, you have an offer in front of you to be the next head coach of the Florida Gators, then and only then will you really find out.

“And everyone’s got these slam dunk theories. ‘Oh he’ll absolutely take it,’ or ‘Oh, he’s not leaving.’ You don’t know. He may not even know. Or maybe he does. But if he does, by my estimation he hasn’t told many people.”

More Ole Miss News:

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