College football’s leading voices predict Lane Kiffin’s next job

The courtship of Lane Kiffin has been a long and winding process, but the end is finally in sight. With Kiffin’s Ole Miss decision day lingering ahead on Saturday, On3’s Brett McMurphy had the idea of asking 85 of college football’s leading writers and personalities where they thought Kiffin would wind up coaching. The results offer some significant insight.

The LSU Tigers have generally been perceived as the favorites in the Kiffin race and McMurphy’s poll did nothing to chance that trend. A full 59 of the 85 respondents (just under 70%) picked the Tigers as Kiffin’s ultimate destination. The combination of LSU’s prestige and resources was apparently too much to turn down for most of McMurphy’s voters.

Among the rolls of pro-LSU picks were: ESPN personalities Paul Finebaum, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard, FOX analysts Josh Pate and Joe Klatt, broadcaster Gus Johnson, and writers Andy Staples and Ross Dellenger. While some local LSU media members took the Tigers, plenty of national personalities and media members joined the pack.

The second-leading option for McMurphy’s voters was a return to Ole Miss. 17 of the 85 voters (exactly 20%) think the better angels of Kiffin’s nature prevail and keep him sticking around in Ole Miss for a seventh season and beyond.

Among the notable picks for the Rebels were: McMurphy himself, FOX Sports’ Tim Brando, CBS’s Gary Danielson, Barstool and FOX personality Dave Portnoy, and the Governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves. Ole Miss is expected to have made whatever financial concessions it can offer to keep the coach who is about to lead the Rebels to their first-ever College Football Playoff berth (barring something wildly unexpected).

Far less popular was Florida. Despite repeated assurances that the Gators remain part of Kiffin’s job hunt, just five of the 85 respondents (6%) picked Florida. The full list was ESPN personality Matt Barrie, Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi, SEC Network personality and former UF player Chris Doering, Gators Online On3 writer Keith Niebuhr, and VSIN writer Matt Youmans.

Given that most of the Florida picks are from those connected with the Gator program, it’s safe to read the picks as indicating a lack of national traction for the Gators.

Four picks deserve special attention. A pair of picks, from Outkick’s Trey Wallace and CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli, chose the Tennessee Titans. That would likely involve a scenario even more complex than the one currently unfolding. That fact times ten is true for writer/podcaster Steven Godfrey’s prediction of Alabama, which requires Kalen DeBoer to make a move before Kiffin makes his.

Perhaps the most honest pick out there goes to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt who indicated in regard to the question about Kiffin’s next destination “no clue.” For the majority of the college football nation, Van Pelt’s pick could probably be seconded.