Ole Miss fans, players, coaches, students, professors and everyone else will have to balance their excitement of a possible playoff trip with the constant speculation about its head coach.
Or do they?
The Rebels are in a great position to advance to the 12-team College Football Playoff and that’s a large reason why coach Lane Kiffin’s name is attached to every open head coaching job.
Kiffin has ushered in an era of success in Oxford that it hasn’t seen since Archie Manning’s playing days. Naturally, schools like LSU and Florida would be attracted to bring Kiffin to their school.
But if Ole Miss really wanted to put an end to all of the speculation it can. The blueprint for doing so is already out there.
Penn State fired James Franklin the day after its loss to Northwestern and immediately one name became widely talked about: Indiana’s Curt Cignetti.
Cignetti turned the Hoosiers into a top five team in less than two seasons. If it was in basketball, it’s no surprise. But in football, a sport the Hoosiers haven’t had much success in, turning it into the No. 2 team in the nation is a miracle.
So, when a blue blood program in the Big Ten fired its coach, Cignetti’s name came to the top of the list. Almost instantly questions were jokingly asked about how much money Penn State would need to put in the Brinks truck for Cignetti.
But all of those questions were silenced three days after Franklin’s firing when Indiana gave Cignetti an eight-year contract with an $11.6 million annual salary.
That’s how Ole Miss can end the speculation around Kiffin.
Yes, Kiffin’s contract received an automatic one-year extension after the Rebels defeated Oklahoma last Saturday. Per USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz, the added year is worth $9 million.
That clearly hasn’t silenced any speculation and it’s also not the level of commitment like Indiana gave to Cignetti.
Short of Kiffin stating at a press conference he’s not interested in leaving Ole Miss for any other job (which why would he do that?), a massive contract extension will be the only way to end the speculation.
