From the moment news broke that LSU football was going to fire head coach Brian Kelly, there's been plenty of focus on a shortlist of potential candidates. Lane Kiffin, Joe Brady and Jon Sumrall are the ones that are standing out, but it seems like plenty of Tigers fans are ready to go all-in on Kiffin.
He has Ole Miss looking like one of the top teams in the country and the vibes are fun for the Rebels following the impressive road win against Oklahoma this past weekend. Still, there's a sense that if the right offer comes in from a program like LSU or Florida, maybe, just maybe Kiffin would jump ship.
LSU surprisingly adds WR flip commit despite coaching chaos with Brian Kelly
On Monday afternoon, the popular coach jumped on ESPN with Pat McAfee and he was of course asked about his name being linked to the LSU job, plus Florida and others. Kiffin had a chance to tell everyone in Oxford that he's not going anywhere, but he didn't quite do that:
"This is just the world that we live in and these rumors have happened before..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 27, 2025
Guys on our roster are familiar with it but I wanted to address it with the new players that are here"@Lane_Kiffin #PMSLive https://t.co/Ut4MFMOKbj pic.twitter.com/YCbAPhfpk5
Lane Kiffin was asked by Pat McAfee about the new LSU rumors flying around
"Yeah, I usually don't talk about it with the team," Kiffin said in response to the rumors coming up. "We've dealt with this for a number of years because our players have performed really well and won games here. This attention has come with that. I just thought last week it was important late in the week to address it on Friday just because we have so many new players, so they haven't been here last year or the year before that where these job rumors would come up. I just told them, 'hey this is a product of how you guys play. They see the way that you play and so fans say they want that system and they say coach.' Really, it's the system of the players and assistant coaches and what a good job they do."
Kiffin went on to add that his players likely deal with similar things all the time, as after a big game a coach from a different team might show interest and dangle more NIL money in front of them. Yes, that's the case, but Kiffin's interview with McAfee wasn't convincing at all that he plans to stay at Ole Miss for the long haul.
Could this ultimately lead to good news for LSU? We don't have to tell you that athletic director Scott Woodward needs to make a big-time hire to replace Kelly. Woodward is now becoming known for giving coaches ridiculous buyouts, with Texas A&M fans still livid with him over the Jimbo Fisher debacle.
As for his time in Baton Rouge, he'll make a lot of people forget about what happened with Kelly if he can nail this next hire. Again, Kiffin is at the top of the list for a lot of people. Can you imagine what he'd be able to get done with the Tigers with all of the LSU resources available to him? We're not saying the Tigers are going to hire him, but they've at least got to make a serious push to do so.