Florida coaching search: Greg McElroy names backup options if Lane Kiffin passes

As the Florida coaching search rages on, all eyes are on Oxford, Miss., where coach Lane Kiffin is wrapping up a playoff-caliber regular season. The anticipation is that he’s the most sought-after target for the Gators.

But what if he slips away? That’s a scenario ESPN analyst Greg McElroy entertained on the Always College Football podcast.

He sees Kiffin heading to LSU. But first he described the backdrop for Florida.

“Their entire focus has been on Lane Kiffin,” McElroy said. “That’s been their No. 1 goal. There are a lot of similarities from a personality standpoint between Lane Kiffin and Steve Spurrier. And every Florida fan in the country continues to feel very, very fond of the era that was the 1990s, when Steve Spurrier wasn’t just beating folks but he was scoring 50 on everybody he played as well. Now people kind of forget that that Florida team in the ’90s was pretty danged good on defense, too. But they really have an appeal and an appreciation for high-volume offense. They want to score. They want to win. They want it to look good. And they want it to be an exciting brand of football.

“Which means it feels like if you’re Florida probably going to lean toward offensive-minded head coaches, which is why Lane Kiffin is such a desirable candidate. And Lane Kiffin would be perfect for Florida. And it would get Kiffin back to the state of Florida, that he’s very fond of. He’s very fond of having spent time as a kid in Tampa. His wife is an alumnus of the Florida Gators. So I think there’s a lot of appeal for Lane to consider the Gators. But I ultimately, like I said, I think he will probably end up at LSU, if I were to guess at this point.”

So if things play out that way and Florida misses on Lane Kiffin, where’s the pivot? Well, McElroy had a simple answer.

It’s one that might be a bit divisive in the Gator Nation, even with some ties to the program in the past for the coach that McElroy sees getting the next call. He explained.

“So if it’s not Lane Kiffin, where does Florida go?” McElroy said. “I think Florida will go after Jedd Fisch, who is the head coach currently at Washington. He’s been at Florida in the past. He had a very impressive turnaround at Arizona, did a great job there in winning double-digit games. Has now gone to Washington and has had a very respectable two-year run.

“While last year not great, but if you look at all that was lost off the team that finished as the runner-up to the national championship winning Michigan Wolverines, a lot was lost off that roster. Still got them to be somewhat competitive in a very difficult Big Ten. This year he’s done a pretty good job with his quarterback. They’ve done a good job with their offense and they’ve taken a significant step forward.”

One thing that could help for Fisch would be even more winning. What better way to get over Lane Kiffin than seeing another target record a huge win?

“It feels like Washington, they might even get a win this weekend against Oregon,” McElroy said. “It’s very possible, and if they do, that’s a really good year for Jedd Fisch in Year 2.

“But I think Jedd Fisch is a guy that is universally respected in the coaching profession and would do really impressive things at Florida if given the opportunity. So I would think their sights would go toward him. And if they don’t go towards him they’ll likely go towards Eli Drinkwitz, who we already documented when talking about the LSU job.”