Florida needs Lane Kiffin a whole lot more than he needs the Gators

AI-assisted summary
• Lane Kiffin is considered an ideal candidate to coach the Florida Gators due to his entertaining personality and offensive coaching style.
• Despite past interest, Kiffin may no longer desire the Florida job as he has found success and stability at Ole Miss.
• Kiffin has transformed Ole Miss into a College Football Playoff contender, a status Florida currently lacks.

There once was a time when Lane Kiffin would have crawl-stroked through a canal full of alligators to become Florida’s football coach. He’s suited to the job.

Southern California once ranked as Kiffin’s “dream job,” but coaching the Gators would be the dream fit of program and personality.

Florida fans don’t just want to win. They want to be entertained. Steve Spurrier, with his Fun ‘N’ Gun offense and his epic zingers, spoiled them that way.

Kiffin idolized Spurrier, and, shoot, they both look good in a visor.

Since Spurrier left the Gators sideline, Florida’s been in this never-ending quest to replace him. Urban Meyer answered the bell for a spell, but the Head Ball Coach remains the gold standard in Gainesville.

With Spurrier retired, who’s more entertaining in this era of college football than Kiffin? He’s one part troll, one part “Portal King,” and another part offensive genius.

Kiffin’s the ideal candidate for Florida, after the Gators fired Billy Napier. He could breathe an instant turnaround into a languishing program.

Kiffin’s career is soaring at Mississippi. His Rebels are College Football Playoff contenders, even after a loss at Georgia. That playoff pursuit would complicate Kiffin’s exit, and it further incentivizes him to stay put. But, you’d be kidding yourself if you think he’s never cast a wistful eye at floundering Florida and fancied how he could do that job so much better than it’s been done these past several seasons.

Nowadays, Kiffin wouldn’t need to swim through gator-infested waters to coach Florida. He might only need to answer his phone.

The question I’m wondering: Does Kiffin still want this job? I’m not so sure he does. I’m not so sure he should.

The salty truth of the matter is, Florida needs Kiffin a whole lot more than he needs the Gators.

Lane Kiffin makes Ole Miss into what Florida should be

Kiffin’s winning at a rate and with a consistency level he’s never before experienced. He’s toned down his hijinks, and he’s found peace and stability in Oxford. He’s built Ole Miss into what Florida should be. He’s pumping out good quarterbacks.

Before he arrived at Ole Miss, Kiffin’s career had been anything but a smooth ride.

He became persona non-grata with Al Davis and the Raiders. He became a traitor to Tennessee. He got fired from Southern California in an office off the LAX tarmac. He subjected himself to Nick Saban’s butt-chewings.

The turbulence leveled out at Ole Miss.

Maybe, it’s the wisdom of age. Maybe, it’s all that hot yoga he does. Maybe, it was his decision to get sober. Maybe, it’s those rocking chairs Kiffin placed on his front porch to signify his acceptance and embrace of Mississippi’s slower pace of life. Maybe, it’s how he’s reunited with his family. Maybe, it was the death of his dad, Monte, and hearing from people far and wide about Monte’s impact on their life, which forced Kiffin to ponder his desire for his own legacy.

Whatever the case, Kiffin appears to be living his best life. He calls this his quest to be the higher version of himself, and it’s coinciding with the highest version of Kiffin’s coaching career.

Lane Kiffin: ‘I look at life completely different.’

Before the season, Kiffin and I talked at length about what he wants out of life, and how his desires have changed.

“The earlier version of me was like, ‘I want a statue’” Kiffin told me in April. “I wouldn’t have said that publicly, but it was like, ‘I want to win enough where they build a statue of you.’ Like, at Alabama, there are statues of the coaches. That means you made it in life.”

“I don’t even think that way anymore,” he continued. “Now, I just want to be a really good neighbor, dad, brother, coworker, boss. I look at life completely different, and a lot of that had to do with growth and my personal growth — losing my dad, seeing his legacy. He’s someone who had both those, championships and treated people (well), and just realizing which one is a lot more important.”

I’m wondering whether a guy who says all that would swim through an alligator-filled canal to get to Florida. I wonder whether this visor-wearing coach still wants to coach Florida at all, when he’s found so much rhythm and success and adoration at Ole Miss.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.