Urban Meyer names college football coach who would be a 'great coach' at Florida

As a national-title winning coach of the Florida Gators, when Urban Meyer weighs in on coaches who might thrive in Gainesville, it's certainly notable. On the podcast A Peek Inside Florida Gators Football, Meyer discussed the UF vacancy with host Ali Peek WIlbur. Specifically, he weighed in on the candidacy of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin for the Florida head coaching role.

Kiffin the Candidate

Florida's interest in Kiffin has certainly not been secret. He's long been considered the top candidate for the Florida job, and betting and prediction markets have consistently backed that option. LSU has apparently become more serious in the pursuit of Kiffin and Ole Miss has reportedly imposed a "fish or cut bait" deadline on Kiffin to determine if he is staying with the Rebels. Against that background, Meyer weighed in on Kiffin as a candidate.

Meyer's Thoughts

I do think Lane would be a great choice. I think Florida's one of those top five jobs, maybe top three jobs in America that you can swing for it all every year at Florida. Now, it's rugged. There's a lot of ruggedness to it. Some people were saying it's much more comfortable at Ole Miss. I don't know if a guy like Lane likes comfort. You want to go take swings as hard as you can.
Urban Meyer

Florida's Struggles

Since Meyer left Florida after the 2010 season, Gator coaches have done plenty of swinging, but mostly a fair amount of missing. Will Muschamp coached the Gators to a top ten season and Dan Mullen had two of those seasons. But Florida hasn't won a conference title or completed a season with less than two losses since Meyer's run with UF.

Kiffin's Candidacy

Kiffin has largely been considered the top coach in this hiring cycle. That said, his own resume is devoid of any College Football Playoff experience (although the Rebels look like a safe pick this season). Kiffin's 115-53 record includes four 10+ win seasons in the last five years at Ole Miss, a team that previously posted just two 10 win seasons in the last 50 years before Kiffin's run.

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin was frank after the firing of Billy Napier that he was seeking a head coach who could win a national championship, although Foley acknowledged that there are only three currently active FBS coaches who have won national titles (Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day). Accordingly, the question for the Gators is likely which coach is ready to make the jump, and Urban Meyer sees Kiffin as a viable candidate to make the move.