Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is being courted by several of the biggest college football programs in the country, but his attachment to Oxford, MS, might be too much to lure him away.
Just a day before his Rebels face off against the Florida Gators – rumored to be heavily interested in Kiffin – the Ole Miss coach admitted his current life in Oxford is “like a move” as he watches Friday night high school football games in town where his son is the starting quarterback and attends sorority events at Ole Miss where his daughter is a junior.
“It’s like this movie, an amazing movie,” he told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. “What you thought you wanted and what you always pictured may not be what you eventually want when we get older and we change. We think this is, ‘We want more action and the city and things to do!’ Well, maybe it just all came together here.”
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Despite interest from programs like Florida and LSU, Kiffin revealed he believes a championship-winning roster can be built at Ole Miss – a stark change from before the NIL era.
“It’s already changed,” Kiffin said. “Now, the top teams can’t collect [all the great talent like they used to]. They can’t collect them all because people can move and not sit. You’ll still have the advantage of blue bloods and traditions and why a kid chooses. If the money is all the same, those are still going to win out because, a lot of times, it’s close to where they are living. That still matters — your recruiting base.”
As he prepares to face off against Florida with a potential College Football Playoff berth on the line for the Rebels, Kiffin hinted Oxford might be his final chapter.
“I grew up picturing I’d be at one of the elite blue bloods where you can sign top-five classes every year because of your in-state talent and facilities and tradition,” he said. “I wasn’t raised to think it was a program like Ole Miss, but I’ve also changed a lot over the years. I didn’t grow up thinking this was the final chapter of the story. Maybe it is.”
Ole Miss and Florida kick off at 7 p.m. ET.
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