The next domino to fall in the college football coaching world shall be on Black Friday. With Ole Miss taking on arch rival Mississippi State in Starkville for the Egg Bowl, all eyes will be on Rebels head coach Lane Kiffn and what he wants to do moving forward. He is the biggest target in the coaching profession. He has Ole Miss on the verge of a playoff berth, but he may have the team at its ceiling.
It is why two traditional powers in the SEC with head-coaching vacancies such as Florida and LSU have thrown their hat into the fray. Kiffin has coached in Florida before at Florida Atlantic, while he would be turning heel to coach at Ole Miss' Magnolia Bowl rival LSU if he were to go there. It is all going to come down to money and a matter of preference for Kiffin. So where is he going to go to?
On3's Brett McMurphy, Pete Nakos and Chris Low reported on the $13 million annual offers for Kiffin.
Florida, LSU and Ole Miss are all prepared to offer at least $25 million in NIL roster investment for Lane Kiffin. https://t.co/tHkpGnSqyE
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) November 22, 2025
While his annual salary was always going to be in this range, Nakos added that all three schools in question are willing to put at least $25 million of NIL roster investment into whatever program Kiffin ultimately decides to go to. It may been more likely that he sticks at Ole Miss or turns heel to LSU, but it is certainly interesting to see that Florida is not backing down from being a serious player for Kiffin.
Florida may have other candidates in mind, whereas LSU seems to be Kiffin or bust at this juncture.
Florida not backing down in its pursuit of Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
From an unbiased standpoint, it is only a good thing for Florida to be in on Kiffin this late into the sweepstakes. Even if Florida does not come up with Kiffin, as he either stays put at Ole Miss or decides to turn heel and go to LSU, Florida will have shown to the rest of the college football world that it is serious about getting its head-coaching position right. This means they will be big spenders.
Whether it is somebody like Eliah Drinkwitz out of Missouri, Jon Sumrall out of Tulane, or even Alex Golesh out of South Florida, any head-coaching candidate coming into Gainesville should expect a bit more resources than what Billy Napier had at his disposal. It may not result in any of these other candidates getting Kiffin-level money, but it will surely be an upgrade over what they are making now.
Overall, we are getting to the point of silly season arriving a few weeks early. Week 13 is only the penultimate weekend of the regular season. This may be getting more traction because of the nature of the beast that is cupcake week. Ole Miss is on a bye ahead of them Egg Bowl. If logic prevails, he will stay at Ole Miss to continue building up what he already has. Kiffin is of a different breed, though.
In the end, Florida still being in the mix for him only has positive ancillary effects for the program.