Lane Kiffin has quickly turned around his reputation from one-time pariah after stints at Tennessee and USC to one of college football’s favorite head coaches on Twitter. He’s not afraid to mix things up with his old boss Nick Saban and has successfully turned around his Florida Atlantic program to the point where the Owls are favorites for a second straight league title in 2018.
Despite checking off a lot of boxes though, getting a bigger job and being a hot name on the coaching carousel does not appear to be in the cards for the still-young head coach. In a poll of 15 athletic directors, Yahoo! Sports found that 11 would not consider hiring Kiffin and the other four were evenly split between yes and maybe.
Of course it takes just one to say yes to the Lane Train but the comments were not exactly encouraging:One source in the college sports industry summed up Kiffin’s reality this way: “Can he get a job? Sure. He’s a world-class play caller, knows the game and can recruit. Do I think we’re at a moment in time with off-field issues and the FBI probe that people are less apt to take that risk? Yes.”
Said a second: “Not a chance. Too much smoke/drama around him. And he’ll probably think he’s Vince Lombardi if he wins another season.”Many laughed when Kiffin signed a 10 year contract with FAU this offseason but maybe him sticking around Boca for a decade isn’t so far-fetched after all.