College football fans believe LSU is most likely landing spot for Lane Kiffin in 2026

Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is the most coveted candidate in several current coaching searches within the SEC. We're talking about LSU and Florida, folks. Throw in the Rebels desperately trying to keep him, plus the faint possibility of an NFL leap down the road, and there's a true Lane Kiffin sweepstakes unfolding. At the very least, his current contract, worth $36.6 million, is going way, way up.

The latest development of substance is that an announcement that came down the pike on Friday from Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, which ensured that Lane Kiffin and his No. 6 ranked Rebels are laser-focused on completing a historically strong regular season before turning their sails toward a December run in the College Football Playoff. By all indications, Kiffin will at least wait until the conclusion of the regular season to make his decision, if there is one to make.

Various chatter and murmurings have had all three options — staying at Ole Miss, or jumping to Florida/LSU — as most likely at some point in this big charade. There's really no telling what to believe, especially from a puppet-master like Lane Kiffin who has the social media world on a string.

On social media, though, the people have spoken. College football fans were able to cast their vote on where Kiffin will wind up next fall on Brett McMurphy's X/Twitter account. McMurphy is a longtime college football insider who is now with On3, and on Friday, he posted a poll asking football fans where they think Kiffin will be come next summer. The options: Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Other.

Where will Lane Kiffin coach in 2026?

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 21, 2025

You can see the live results in that tweet, but as of this writing on Friday evening around 9 p.m. ET, LSU led with a 39% draw of roughly 9,100 votes, while Ole Miss got 30% of the tally, Florida received 26%, and the Other option had just 5%.

Given the sample population of that poll — 9,000+ college football fans avid enough to follow McMurphy — you'd think it's a pretty fair representation of how the general, rather informed, college football fan feels about the Lane Kiffin situation. They're split! LSU does get the nod, but a return to Ole Miss or an escape to Florida are certainly viable options as well, according to the people.

If misdirection and playing his cards close to his chest was the goal in this whole coaching search & negotiation fiasco, then Lane Kiffin is sure doing a swell job.