Lane Kiffin Ole Miss, LSU decision expected soon: Live updates, latest news, analysis and reaction

All that glitters is not gold. LSU and Florida want Lane Kiffin to come and lead their program to the College Football Playoff and a shot at national championships … something Kiffin is already doing at Ole Miss.

The easy argument is that the ceiling is higher at places like LSU and Florida, where the dream of a championship is more attainable than at Ole Miss. Which, maybe? The Tigers and Gators have won titles much more recently than the Rebels, but it’s a new dawn in college football, when the support and resources (and autonomy) Kiffin has in Oxford could outweigh the bigger, bluer-blooded legacies in Baton Rouge and Gainesville. Look no further than the current CFP rankings, where LSU and Florida are nowhere to be found.

The Rebels are 55-19 in the nearly six seasons since Kiffin was hired. LSU is 47-27 over that same stretch; the Gators are 36-38. At the very least, Kiffin has a nice head start if he sticks with Ole Miss.

It’s more than history and trophy cases, too. Kiffin has talked ad nauseam about how much he loves living in Oxford and coaching at Ole Miss — how it brought him closer to his family and bettered his lifestyle, hot yoga and all. Hubris and ambition may be tugging him elsewhere, in the same way those forces have helped fuel his current success. But he doesn’t have to leave to chase greatness. Or happiness.

If he goes to LSU or Florida, Kiffin will be expected to win and win big, on an increasingly shortened timeline. Or he can stay put — for similar financial rewards, with some established equity — while continuing to build a legacy at a place that will appreciate him in a way those other schools never could.