Is the Lane Kiffin hype setting Florida and LSU up for failure?

Lane Kiffin has been the biggest topic in college football over the last month, and it has very little to do with the fact that he’s leading Ole Miss to potentially its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance. Instead, it has everything to do with which premier program is going to land him at the end of this season, as he’s been the primary candidate for both the LSU and Florida jobs.

It’s been reported that LSU has a $90 million offer on the table for Kiffin, who will reportedly make his decision after the 2025 installment of The Egg Bowl.

Don’t get me wrong: Kiffin is a good coach. But does he deserve all of this hype? What has Kiffin done to deserve that kind of money at this point in his career? Sure, Ole Miss has been made newly relevant since he took over in 2020, but has he accumulated enough of a resume to warrant being the most expensive coach in college football? 

Florida and LSU clearly aren’t learning from past mistakes in pursuit of Lane Kiffin

You think LSU would have learned a valuable lesson about paying a coach an exorbitant amount of money for mediocre results. Brian Kelly was fired earlier this year, and honestly his resume was better than Kiffin’s when he arrived from Notre Dame. So why would Tigers brass put themselves in the same position they were just in? With a massive contract comes an even more expensive buyout, and the whole point of hiring a new coach is to avoid the same situation you just left. 

Considering Kiffin is just 50 years old, he has a lot of experience as a head coach. That said, he has relatively little national success to show for it: His best finish as a head coach was in 2011, when USC finished ranked No. 6 in the country. He has just three bowl wins and one New Year’s Six bowl win, which came back in 2023. 

Kiffin has accomplished a lot, from Florida Atlantic to Ole Miss. But why would Florida or LSU want to put themselves in the same situation they just left — or worse, the sort of quagmire Florida State is in? The lesson they should have learned is to make the next coach earn the money they feel they deserve, not just throw it at them. Swaying Kiffing away from Ole Miss will take more than just money. 

What he’s built in Oxford can’t be quantified, so the fact that nearly $100 million could be on the table for Kiffin is setting themselves up for disappointment. Florida ended a frustrating tenure with Billy Napier. Like LSU, it would be a mistake to bite off more than they can chew with their next hire. 

Is Lane Kiffin the best option for LSU or Florida or is he just a big name?

Kiffin has proven he can win in the SEC, but he hasn’t played in an SEC title game and still, technically, needs a CFP appearance to prove he’s ready to take that next step. When you look at Florida and LSU, they’re fractured in their own ways , and to think that Kiffin is going to fix either program is an overestimation of his ability.

At Ole Miss, Kiffin was afforded time to build the Rebels to a respectable level. With Florida or LSU, it’s basically championship or bust in year one. Why would Kiffin want that pressure, and why would Florida or LSU want to cough up that much money knowing that firing Kiffin will inevitably be on the table too? It’s a lot safer (and cheaper, too) to find another option. That, or they need to adjust the expectations.

Building a program takes time, and Kiffin has a history of doing just that. But he’s also already reaching his ceiling at Ole Miss. If this season is the best he’ll ever be, Florida and LSU have to decide if it’s worth the money knowing it still potentially leaves them without a championship.