Kiffin to Gators would be dumb. And he’s not dumb.

Lane Kiffin is funny. Lane Kiffin is eccentric. Lane Kiffin is unpredictable. But Lane Kiffin is also smart. And he’s not dumb enough to take over this Florida Gators mess.

A rumor was somehow started that the Ole Miss coach would be interested in the Gators job when it opens. Billy Napier is a dead man walking and has been a colossal failure in Gainesville and a new coach will be in place to start the 2025 season. But it won’t be Kiffin. He’s not an idiot.

Kiffin has bounced around and has the reputation of someone who will bolt. Leaving Knoxville in the middle of the night helped this reputation but it’s actually not accurate. Kiffin is one of those coaches rumored to be in play for every open job and last year he flirted with Auburn. But Kiffin decided to stay at Ole Miss and why? He knew despite the money that Auburn is the most toxic head coaching job in the SEC. Booster involvement and erratic administration has made that an unattractive job. The second most toxic job in the SEC? The head coach of the Florida Gators.

Since Urban Meyer left after leading the Gators to two national titles, the fan base and boosters have been impatient. Will Muschamp was hired and was 28-21 as the head coach. After a 11-2 season in 2012 he went 4-8 and 6-5 and deserved to be canned. Recruiting was solid, especially on the defensive side, but Muschamp couldn’t get it done on offense and deserved to be let go.

Then it gets interesting. Jim McElwain was hired and went 10-4 and 9-4 in his first two seasons with two appearances in the SEC title game. Despite the success, fans and boosters weren’t happy. McElwain eluded to death threats from fans and he was a dead man walking from there. Despite a 22-12 record, McElwain was set to be fired for cause (lying about death threats) before he forcibly resigned. This one was botched. McElwain was over his head a bit as a head coach in the SEC who couldn’t handle criticism (the naked shark pic thing didn’t help) but the fan base turned on him despite his success and he folded.

Next up was Dan Mullen . After a successful and long stint at Mississippi State, the Gators landed an experienced head coach who could handle the SEC pressure. Mullen went 10-3 and 11-2 his first two seasons and won the SEC East in 2020 at 8-4. However, fans and boosters wanted him fired after consecutive losses to LSU, Georgia and South Carolina the very next season and he didn’t make it until the end. Like McElwain, SEC title games weren’t enough for the fans, boosters and administration. Mullen finished 34-15 and everyone accused him of giving up on the program and failing to recruit.

The Gators settled on Group of Five Napier for many reasons, one of them being that the job had become labeled toxic by many experienced head coaches. The bar of success that Meyer set was ridiculously high and fan patience ended with the first loss. Napier wasn’t a rock star hire and here we are.

So tell me this. Why on earth would Kiffin leave Ole Miss? Gators fans claim theirs is a better job and that’s not a horrible argument based on overall tradition and history. And they claim that Florida will back up the Brinks Truck for Kiffin and can pay better than Ole Miss. That could be true as well. But Kiffin, who is 36-15 with a very similar record to Mullen at Florida, is safe as safe can be in Oxford. He makes nearly $9 million a year and has a good thing going. Despite his reputation as a job hopper, he leverages the interest in him for higher wages and that’s all. To leave for Florida, where the coach has averaged around three seasons since Meyer left, and head into that pressure cooker would be stupid. And Lane Kiffin isn’t stupid.

The Gators have a proud fan base. They have a storied history. But they also have a problem. Urban Meyer left them spoiled and nothing but national titles seems to appease. An argument can easily be made that Kiffin has as much of a chance, or better, of winning it all at Ole Miss than at Florida. The transfer portal and NIL have changed it all and the massive recruiting advantage of being in the Sunshine State is no longer as big a deal. So Gators fans and boosters dream all you want about Kiffin being your next coach. Dreams are great. But it’s nothing more than that.