And another shoe drops on the drama surrounding Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. While the Gator fanbase might have finally accepted the fact that Lane Kiffin isn't the team's next head coach, the reason just put fuel right back on the fire.
In a report from CBS Sports on Kiffin's decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU (and not Florida), Stricklin was thrown directly under the bus, and the Florida Gators are upset with their AD all over again.
According to the report, Kiffin had been interested in the Florida job for years, even throwing his hat in the ring in 2021, when the Gators opted to hire Billy Napier instead, and look at how well that turned out.
Scott Stricklin is to blame for Florida missing out on Lane Kiffin
John Talty, the CBS Sports writer who reported on the matter, shared that sources said the reason Kiffin backed away from the Florida position was that his conversation with Strickland was a complete disaster.
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While the Gators didn't necessarily have the biggest opening on the job market this time around, like they were in 2021, there was a huge opportunity for Strickland to land the guy that they needed, and he completely missed.
"There was, frankly, a lot to like about Florida for Kiffin. He was a huge Steve Spurrier fan and wore a visor in honor of the Head Ball Coach," Talty wrote. "His ex-wife Layla's father, John Reaves, was a legendary former Florida quarterback. If the Kiffins all moved to Gainesville, Knox [Kiffin's son], a rising star quarterback at Oxford High School, could even play high school football at the same high school, Buchholz, his mother attended."
Simply put, Kiffin could have been with the Gators, but instead, he is heading to yet another SEC program and not Florida.