\u2014 Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) November 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n How do you know what to do next? \u2026 You make two lists, the positives and the negatives, and you weigh them.<\/p>\n Good idea. We made the case for (and in some cases against) some of his options as we wait for an official announcement, expected by Saturday<\/a>. Because it\u2019s Kiffin, we included a few wild-card scenarios \u2026 just in case.<\/p>\n Let us know what you think Kiffin should do in the comments.<\/p>\n LSU<\/p>\n Kiffin is chasing a national championship, and there is no better place for him to do that than LSU. He almost certainly knows this.<\/p>\n Three of the Tigers\u2019 past four head coaches have brought a national title to Baton Rouge, and the only one who didn\u2019t in that span \u2014 Brian Kelly \u2014 was never a culture fit<\/a>. Kiffin will be. Sure, the governor getting involved in the coaching search<\/a> and the administration\u2019s instability is annoying, but Kiffin has already coached through some ridiculous situations, and the Tigers\u2019 pluses outweigh their potential minuses<\/a>. LSU will give its football coach every resource he could possibly need, and Kiffin can build the best rosters of his career here. The Tigers aren\u2019t afraid to invest when it comes to both transfer portal and high school prospects, including the Louisiana kids who grow up dreaming of<\/a> playing for the only Power 4 program in their state. This year alone, two of the top 30 prospects in the class, including the nation\u2019s No. 2 player \u2014 defensive lineman Lamar Brown \u2014 would be right in Kiffin\u2019s backyard. The portal king would be all but a lock to land the best players in his state.<\/p>\n And have you seen this fan base? The Tigers create one of the best environments in college football, especially for night games at Death Valley<\/a>, which was voted The Athletic staff\u2019s No. 1 stadium<\/a>. At Ole Miss, Kiffin has pleaded with fans to show up on time and stay for entire games instead of camping out at their tailgates all day.<\/p>\n LSU will embrace Kiffin, who knows the league as well as anyone, and will give him all of the support he needs to bring another title back to Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n \u2014 Grace Raynor<\/p>\n \n Lane Kiffin could replace Brian Kelly, the first LSU coach to not win a national title since the 1990s. (Jonathan Bachman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Florida<\/p>\n If Kiffin wants to go to the place that offers him the highest personal ceiling, it\u2019s Florida.<\/p>\n Despite the increase in parity across the sport, the factors needed to win a national title haven\u2019t changed. Proximity to talent, elite resources, rich tradition and a strong fan base are still requirements, which explains why the sport hasn\u2019t had a first-time national champion since \u2026 Florida in 1996. The Gators still check every box and have advantages Ole Miss can\u2019t match.<\/p>\n Although Florida isn\u2019t the best job on this list \u2014 LSU is \u2014 that\u2019s only part of the equation with Kiffin. The Gators offer him a brighter spotlight (just in case he cares about such things).<\/p>\n Florida fans don\u2019t just want to win. They want to win with offense and style points, the way Steve Spurrier once did. The Gators\u2019 latest hires<\/a> either didn\u2019t understand that expectation (Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain) or couldn\u2019t accomplish it (Billy Napier, late-stage Dan Mullen). But Kiffin? That\u2019s him, down to the visor, which is why Florida fans were clamoring for him<\/a> before Napier was even fired.<\/p>\n If Kiffin wins a national title at LSU, he\u2019ll be like three of his four immediate predecessors there. Cool. But what if he does that at Florida, which has been irrelevant for most of the past 15 years? And what if he does it while continuing to field elite, entertaining offenses and cracking one-liners? In that scenario, he won\u2019t only be remembered as a program savior who made the Gators great again; he\u2019ll be a beloved, iconic Florida figure alongside Spurrier. That potential connection is something no other program can offer.<\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Baker<\/p>\n Ole Miss<\/p>\n All that glitters is not gold. LSU and Florida want Kiffin to come and lead their program to the College Football Playoff<\/a> and a shot at national championships \u2026 something Kiffin is already doing at Ole Miss.<\/p>\n The easy argument is that the ceiling is higher at places like LSU and Florida, where the dream of a championship is more attainable than at Ole Miss. Which, maybe? The Tigers and Gators have won titles much more recently than the Rebels, but it\u2019s a new dawn in college football, when the support and resources (and autonomy) Kiffin has in Oxford could outweigh the bigger, bluer-blooded legacies in Baton Rouge and Gainesville. Look no further than the current CFP rankings, where LSU and Florida are nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n The Rebels are 54-19 in the nearly six seasons since Kiffin was hired. LSU is 47-27 over that same stretch; the Gators are 36-38. At the very least, Kiffin has a nice head start if he sticks with Ole Miss.<\/p>\n It\u2019s more than history and trophy cases, too. Kiffin has talked ad nauseam about how much he loves living in Oxford and coaching at Ole Miss \u2014 how it brought him closer to his family and bettered his lifestyle, hot yoga and all. Hubris and ambition may be tugging him elsewhere, in the same way those forces have helped fuel his current success. But he doesn\u2019t have to leave to chase greatness. Or happiness.<\/p>\n If he goes to LSU or Florida, Kiffin will be expected to win and win big, on an increasingly shortened timeline. Or he can stay put \u2014\u00a0for similar financial rewards, with some established equity \u2014 while continuing to build a legacy at a place that will appreciate him in a way those other schools never could.<\/p>\n \u2014 Justin Williams<\/p>\n Penn State<\/p>\n In a state described as Philadelphia on one side and Pittsburgh on the other with a cold Mississippi in the middle, Kiffin could find himself right at home in central Pennsylvania. Despite Penn State\u2019s 5-6 record, five of its losses have come by a combined 16 points. The Nittany Lions just need an offensive spark and an infusion of perimeter talent. Kiffin is good for both in directing the SEC\u2019s top offense (493.8 yards per game) with a top-three SEC passing offense in five of the past six seasons.<\/p>\n In the bicoastal Big Ten, Kiffin can recruit everywhere to a Penn State program that has a regional base and a national profile. We know he would spice up Penn State\u2019s non-rivalry rivalries with Ohio State and Michigan with snarky comments and subtle jabs. It would spill over to the football field (when they actually play) and we\u2019d all reap the benefits of the weekly drama. Scott Frost tweaked coaches when he landed at Nebraska in 2017, but that\u2019s nothing compared to the rise Kiffin would get from his Big Ten colleagues.<\/p>\n Even more, most coaches tend to fall in line behind the conference leadership, especially in the Big Ten. But if Lane disagrees with commissioner Tony Petitti, we\u2019ll need a live \u201cKiffin Cam\u201d to capture his facial expressions and knee-jerk reactions in league meetings<\/p>\n Seriously, James Franklin brought plenty of energy to Penn State, but his squad couldn\u2019t meet the program\u2019s high expectations. Kiffin has yet to attain Franklin\u2019s consistency despite winning a head-to-head battle two years ago in the Peach Bowl, but there\u2019s a feeling he could at a place like Penn State. If it happens, the road to victory in Happy Valley would become known as Life in the Fast Lane.<\/p>\n \u2014 Scott Dochterman<\/p>\n \n Lane Kiffin coached Tennessee in 2009 before abruptly leaving for USC. (Joe Murphy \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Tennessee Titans<\/p>\n Lane Kiffin\u2019s departure from a job rarely has happened in what one would call a normal fashion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Late Raiders owner Al Davis called him a liar on the way out the door. He was fired upon arrival at the airport after a road game by USC. His time as Alabama offensive coordinator came to an end the week before the Crimson Tide played a national title game.<\/p>\n But no ending was as volatile as his time as Tennessee\u2019s head coach. Kiffin left in the middle of the night after one season to replace Pete Carroll at USC. Bolting set off protesters that included burning T-shirts and a mattress. He left as a villain. A traitor.<\/p>\n So why not go back?<\/p>\n Not to the Volunteers, but to Nashville to coach the Titans?<\/p>\n The hapless NFL team has had an opening for more than a month. As we noted, Kiffin has NFL experience. He was hired to coach the Raiders at the age of 31, making him one of the youngest coaches in league history.<\/p>\n It did not end well. He was 5-15 in two seasons.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1435646196-scaled.jpg\")
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