Steve Spurrier declares Lane Kiffin 'without a doubt the hottest name out there' in coaching searches

After a fairly quiet coaching carousel a season ago, the 2025 coaching carousel looks like it could be one of the most chaotic in recent memory. Already three jobs are open in the SEC, including multiple jobs that have now been link to sitting Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.

Both Florida and LSU have been extensively linked to Kiffin since opening up. This comes at a time when the Rebels are fighting for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, Ole Miss is going to do everything it can to try and retain its head coach.

A former coach who’s taken notice of the attention Lane Kiffin is getting is Steve Spurrier. During a recent appearance on Another Dooley Noted Podcast, Spurrier called out how much attention he’s getting while praising how Kiffin has handled the attention.

“He’s without a doubt the hottest name out there right now,” Steve Spurrier said. “See how it all plays out, but I think he’s done an excellent job of putting it away right now. Just tell his team, ‘You guys are the reason I get a lot of attention right now, but I don’t plan on going anywhere. Let’s try to have as big a year as is possible this year.'”

One major question that all coaching searches deal with his how to handle coaches who are trying to make runs in the College Football Playoff. After all, the first National Signing Day comes before the CFP begins. The Transfer Portal then opens before the National Championship Game. So, given that calendar, it would be difficult for teams to wait for their coach to leave a previous school. It would also put a team in the CFP in a bad position if the coach were to leave.

“And they do have a chance because they can score. They score better than anybody, I think,” Spurrier said. “And that’s why I picked them to beat Oklahoma.”

Of course, Steve Spurrier isn’t the only one who’s noticed all the attention on Lane Kiffin. ESPN’s Pete Thamel also recently emphasized the attention he’s getting.

“Well, it’s going to be The Lane Kiffin Show from here on in until a decision is made. He’s a target at LSU. He’s a target at Florida. And, the competition between those two athletic departments for Lane Kiffin is going to be one of the things that hangs over the rest of this season,” Thamel said.

“A fascinating wrinkle to all this, of course, is that Ole Miss is headed to the playoff. They have a high percentage chance of going there, especially after beating Oklahoma on Saturday on the road like they did. The regular season in college football ends in late November. The playoff starts on December 19th. It is going to be a high-wire act. It is possible, but, if you are a Playoff coach and you are going to take a job? It is going to be a high-wire act to do that, especially if you win games in the playoff and it extends… The timing does not line up for an easy transition.”

Lane Kiffin opens up on how he handles job links at Florida, LSU, others during season

It would be impossible for Lane Kiffin not to notice the noise about outside jobs this season. So, he needs to find an approach to dealing with the gossip and rumors.

“I usually don’t talk about it with the team, because we’ve dealt with this for a number of years, because our players have performed really well and won a lot of games here, and so this attention has come with that. I just thought last week, it was important late in the week to address it on Friday, just because we have so many new players so they hadn’t been here, you know, last year or the year before that, where, you know, these, these job rumors and stuff would come up,” Kiffin said.

“And so I just told them, ‘Hey, this is a product of how you guys play.’ So then people are like, fans (say) ‘we want that system.’ And they say, ‘coach,’ but really it’s the system of the players and the assistant coaches, and what a good job they do. So I just told them, that’s a compliment to them… So I don’t think it’s a big deal to them.”

Regardless of where Kiffin might end up, the focus for now is on this season. That starts with getting ready for South Carolina next weekend.