Is Lane Kiffin coming to coach Florida football? Swampcast discusses Lane Train, UF vs Ole Miss matchup
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In this week’s Swampcast, Kevin Brockway and Noah Ram discuss the Florida football vs No. 7 Ole Miss and the pros and cons of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin possibly leaving Oxford, Miss., and taking the UF coaching job.
The Florida Gators (3-6, 2-4 SEC), coming off a disheartening 38-7 loss at Kentucky, need to win their final three games to remain bowl eligible under interim coach Billy Gonzales, who is 0-2 since replacing Billy Napier, who was fired on Oct. 19.
But the game itself will be overshadowed by the speculation surrounding Kiffin, who has yet to confirm whether he’s returning the Ole Miss next season. Brockway wonders whether the 50-year-old Kiffin would jeopardize the happiness he’s created at Ole Miss, where he’s gone 53-19 in five-plus seasons and has the Rebels (9-1, 5-1 SEC) on the verge of their first College Football Playoff appearance in program history.
The timing, if Ole Miss makes the College Football Playoff, Brockway said, could present another issue.
“Do you wait, do you have Billy Gonzales run signing day, or just wait this thing out, or does Lane somehow announce something before the College Football Playoff,” Brockway said, “I just can’t see him doing that..”
Ram wonders if Kiffin is sure a successful hire as Florida fans perceive him to be.
“You’re turning a lot of chips at the table,” Ram said. “This isn’t Nick Saban you are trying to hire, for a guy that’s never really won at the highest level, and, again, I still think it’s a risk you take but again I don’t really know what certainty you get from him.”
Later Brockway and Ram were joined by Sam Hutchens of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, who thinks Kiffin hasn’t signed an in-season extension with Ole Miss yet because is comfortable with drama.
“It may be, he even thrives off it,” Hutchens said. “I mean, look at, he was the youngest head coach in the NFL, he signed up to deal with Al Davis, he went to USC at the height of his powers, he went to ‘Bama where he was joking around Nick Saban and so, I think there’s an element to this where, maybe he doesn’t thrive off it, but maybe Kiffin tolerates it in a way that (Indiana’s Curt) Cignetti doesn’t or all these other coaches who have signed extensions.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Swampcast previews Florida football vs No. 7 Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin buzz to UF
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