Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has a big game upcoming in Week 9, as the No. 8 Rebels get set to travel to play No. 13 Oklahoma in a contest that could help decide the SEC championship race and the College Football Playoff bracket.
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While Kiffin is trying to chase a national championship at Ole Miss, his name has been heavily linked to Florida this week after the Gators fired head coach Billy Napier on Sunday.
Kiffin is taking an uncommon approach amid the rumors, choosing to address the difficult situation with his team.
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During an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Friday, Molly McGrath said that Kiffin plans to have an honest conversation about his candidacy for the Florida job during a team meeting with his players.
“Lane Kiffin told me he usually doesn’t address those kind of coaching rumors in-season, because there’s so much more football to play, and there’s so many bigger things to focus on,” McGrath said via a transcription by On3. “But he’s actually going to do things differently today in their team meeting – he is going to address those (Florida) rumors with his players.
‘He’s going to talk to them about it and say: ‘Hey, this is what happens when you win. This is a compliment to our players, our staff and our entire program.’ He wants to talk to his players about it because there’s so many new guys on their team this year that haven’t dealt with it before.”
The Rebels are 6-1, and looking to put their Week 8 loss to Georgia behind them when they play Oklahoma on Saturday. Ole Miss is in good shape as a program, and Kiffin told McGrath that he plans to make his decision on where to coach next year based on “everyday happiness” instead of what school can cut the largest check.
“And you can tell he’s really trying to prioritize his family and his kids in this one,” McGrath said.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Ole Miss players and Kiffin perform on Saturday after the team meeting. Kiffin will have to choose his words carefully for the difficult conversation. The Rebels still have five games remaining in the regular season and then a possible run in the CFP.
Regardless of the team meeting, Kiffin’s candidacy will cause a distraction for players in the locker room. They will need to decide on their own football careers as their head coach decides whether to stay at Ole Miss or move to Gainesville.
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