LSU Football Coaching Search: Ole Miss is worried about programs coming after Lane Kiffin

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin is a potential option to replace Ed Orgeron as LSU football‘s head coach.

Kiffin, who previously served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers, USC Trojans, and Florida Atlantic Owls, is in his second season as the head coach at Ole Miss.

The former Alabama offensive coordinator went 5-5 in his first season in Oxford a year ago. And he currently has Ole Miss at 7-2 and No. 12 in the latest AP Top 25 poll.

Kiffin has a reputation as a high-energy coach with an innovative offense mind. It’s easy to see why LSU could potentially be interested in hiring Kiffin to replace Orgeron.

Ole Miss is worried about losing Lane Kiffin

Ole Miss knows that programs are going to come after Kiffin. Maybe it’s LSU, or maybe it’s Florida (if Dan Mullen ends up getting fired).

Whoever it is, the Rebels are going to have their work cut out for them if they’re going to keep Kiffin in Oxford.

In fact, Ole Miss vice chancellor Keith Carter is already working behind the scenes to keep Kiffin.

Here’s what he had to say recently, via 247Sports, when it comes to Kiffin and other programs pursuing his head coach:

"Coach Kiffin and his staff and the team are putting a good product on the field and, obviously, there’s buzz around the program. I think as a leader and the person who oversees this department, my job is to be proactive, be forward thinking on things like that.“We’ve been in some discussions kind of behind the scenes and we’ll continue to do that. I think when you’ve got somebody like Coach Kiffin, who is going to do a great job, he’s going to win games, he’s energetic, he brings so much brand equity to you and those type of things…on not only a local and regional level but a national level…we’re probably going to deal with this. He’s going to be involved in these discussions and these rumors and these type of things about job openings."

It’s going to be tough for Ole Miss to keep Kiffin. This isn’t necessarily going to be about the money.

I think Kiffin knows that winning a national championship at Ole Miss is extremely unlikely. It’s just too difficult to get the talent at Ole Miss that a program needs to compete with Alabama and Georgia in the SEC.

But Kiffin could get that talent at LSU or Florida (especially at LSU).

It’s hard to imagine Kiffin turning down either of those programs.

Of course, one of those programs has to come calling.

Kiffin isn’t without his faults. He’s been fired twice in his career (Raiders and USC). He left Tennessee in a mess in early 2010. And he sometimes doesn’t know when to stay off social media.

Would LSU want to get involved with that type of coach?

That’s up for debate.

We’ll see how this plays out. But I’d expect a lot of noise around Kiffin’s name in the coming weeks.