OXFORD – Despite the fact Saturday’s matchup at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is against a 3-6 team that recently fired its head coach, No. 6 Ole Miss’ matchup with Florida is seemingly carrying some extra weight.
The Gators fired head coach Billy Napier – who defeated Ole Miss last season in Gainesville, Florida to put an end to the Rebels’ playoff hopes – last month and are 0-2 under interim head coach Billy Gonzales. Kiffin has been speculated by national media as a potential candidate for the Gators job, among others.
Kiffin, who is in his sixth season at Ole Miss, is 53-19 with the Rebels and is on the cusp of becoming the first coach in program history with three straight 10-win seasons. Ole Miss (9-1, 5-1 SEC) is in position to earn its first berth in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin’s success at Ole Miss has brought up job rumors seemingly every November, most notably when he chose to stay with the Rebels rather than take the Auburn job in 2022. Florida is looking for its fifth full-time coach since 2010.
As is always the case, Kiffin downplayed the noise surrounding his future Monday. No. 6 Ole Miss hosts Florida on Saturday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
“I haven’t even talked about it to them, and I haven’t had one of them – I think I’m pretty close to the players where, they walk by or they say something like if it was on their mind, they’d make a joke or something. I don’t think it is (a distraction),” Kiffin said at his weekly press conference. “I think they’re very focused on what to do. And I said, it’s a different age nowadays when I addressed it a couple weeks ago, and I certainly don’t think it was a distraction since. … These guys get way more of it than I do. They get calls on Saturday night after games from other coaches, talking about next year and how much money they have for them and their plans for them. … I don’t think it’s that big a deal.”
There are four jobs open in the SEC alone already this coaching carousel – Florida, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas – and the head coaching jobs at Penn State, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State are open as well. While Kiffin noted he is focused on the task at hand, he did provide insight when asked what made for an appealing college football head coaching job.
“I think that’s evolved and changed, and there’s different things in it. … People used to say, OK, when people wanted to hire you or something and interview and what questions do you have, what are your concerns? … People used to say, ‘Facilities. How many practice fields?’ Those things. … I think that’s changed – it’s going to change – it’s going to be, ‘How much NIL do you have?’ … Before this, that was the salary cap, meaning that’s how much money you were going to have.
“ … Just look at professional sports, like baseball, and the payrolls,” Kiffin continued. “And, over time, who wins and who doesn’t win. And somebody may have a year, outlier years every once in a while. So, now that’s a little equaled out, but there’s still, ‘How much are you giving to rev (share) to your football program?’ and then, ‘How much do you have collective-wise?’ I think’s a big question. But people will talk about it’s (being) narrowed, like I heard coach (Nick) Saban say. And some stuff has narrowed … but there’s still things there that you’re going to struggle to beat those (blue blood) guys, because kids are still recruited and they see size of stadiums and tradition and Heismans and national championships, and then your location to talent. I think all those are in there.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
