Pete Thamel labels coaching carousel as 'The Lane Kiffin Show' amid interest from Florida, LSU

Lane Kiffin has already had his name said a lot in the middle of what’s going to continue to be an insane coaching carousel. ESPN’s Pete Thamel says we should expect for that continue too until Ole Miss’ head coach makes a decision, which could even go on for another two months or so.

Thamel updated where things stand as far as coaching decisions, namely following the firing of Brian Kelly on Sunday, while appearing on SportsCenter on Monday afternoon. He deemed this year’s coaching searches as ‘The Lane Kiffin Show’ as college football waits to see whether he’s back at Ole Miss, ends up at one of either Florida or LSU, or even does something else.

“Well, it’s going to be The Lane Kiffin Show from here on in until a decision is made,” said Thamel. “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.”

Again, Kiffin has come up more than often, but especially so in the past week since Florida fired Billy Napier. LSU then firing Kelly this weekend only adds more intrigue into his potential as a candidate elsewhere this offseason.

However, Thamel also was the latest to note how complicated this could get for any of the programs who may pursue Kiffin. Ole Miss being at 7-1 (4-1) after Saturday’s win in Norman has them right in the mix to be in the College Football Playoff, whether after playing in or winning the SEC Championship or being an at-large team in the CFP. Any playoff appearance by the Rebels would make Kiffin unavailable beyond the end of the regular season on November 29th, with the CFP beginning on December 19th and going all the way until the national title game on January 19th. That also applies to other coaching candidates who could take their current teams to the playoff, which is something that the programs now with openings will have to considering during their respective searches.

“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,” said Thamel. “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. How that unfolds will be a fascinating facet of this playoff, for coaches like Lane Kiffin, maybe Brent Key, maybe Jon Sumrall or Alex Golesh. The timing does not line up for an easy transition.”

Hiring Kiffin, assuming he would leave Ole Miss, could be pretty complicated by the time it happens for any of the possible programs this offseason. That said, with the recent success he had in becoming one of the top names on the board as far as all of these searches, that wait may be worth it to more than one of them in the end.