College Football HQ

College football's hottest coach could end up in the NFL despite Florida, LSU rumors

Joe Cox|
Lane Kiffin is certainly the star of the 2025 coaching carousel, but a couple of college football insiders made a surprising (NFL) pick for Kiffin's future.
Lane Kiffin is certainly the star of the 2025 coaching carousel, but a couple of college football insiders made a surprising (NFL) pick for Kiffin's future. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

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With Lane Kiffin, the shifting of the rumors has been constant. The talented Ole Miss coach will surely head to LSU next season. Unless he goes to Florida. Or stays at Ole Miss. But when On3Sports' Brett McMurphy asked a panel of college football insiders for their picks on Kiffin's ultimate landing spot, two of his group made a surprising pick.

Kiffin to the NFL?

Yes, of the 80 people polled by McMurphy, the vast majority (59) picked LSU, with Ole Miss second and Florida third. But two of the pickers chose the Tennessee Titans as Kiffin's destination for 2026.

The path for Kiffin to the TItans

CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli and Outkick's Trey Wallace made the unconventional pick. Contemplating how they could possibly be right takes a bit of contemplation. First, Kiffin has to turn down the opportunity to move to LSU or Florida. Per published reports, Kiffin is set to meet with Ole Miss administrators on Saturday and give them his decision on whether he'll return to Ole Miss or move on elsewhere. Presumably, a Titans decision would require Kiffin to turn down the chance to move to LSU or Florida.

Kiffin would then ostensibly indicate the was staying at Ole Miss (unless he's quietly negotiated a Titans deal in the background or otherwise tells Ole Miss that while he's not going to Florida or LSU, he's done in Oxford-- which makes no sense). But sometime between that decision and the Titans' decision to hire a new coach. That hasn't been a hasty decision, as Brian Callahan was fired about six weeks ago, but there's no indication of any hurry by the Titans.

Presumably around the end of the Titans' season, Tennessee would then approach Kiffin with some kind of outrageous offer. If LSU and Florida are reportedly willing to pay $13 million, maybe Tennessee would pay more. They might allow him to be GM and coach, or to otherwise have final say on personnel decisions. It's certainly not the winning culture of the 1-10 Titans, who are in their fourth straight losing season, that would motivate Kiffin.

Kiffin's NFL past

Kiffin did coach in the NFL twice-- once early in his career as an assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars and then in 2007-2008 as head coach of the Oakland Raiders, where he was 5-15 before being chased out of the job by Al Davis. But another NFL tenure for Kiffin now would be shocking.

An even wilder Kiffin landing spot

Still, if Fornelli and Wallace were outside the box, Steven Godfrey went even farther by picking Alabama. Presumably in Godfrey's scenario, Kiffin turns down UF and LSU, then Kalen DeBoer bolts for another high profile job (Penn State?) and Alabama makes Kiffin the offer he can't refuse. Of course, USC similarly pulled him from Tennessee. But the possibility of Lane Kiffin on the Alabama sideline for 2026 makes the TItan possibility seem downright logical by comparison. Godfrey appeared to acknowledge the wild nature of his pick on social media.

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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.