As of September 18, Florida head coach Billy Napier is still in a job. It looks like he will be on the sidelines for the Week 4 road game against Mississippi State. After that, it does feel like a matter of when unless Napier can orchestrate some kind of revival in Gainesville.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is one name that continues to be linked to the potential opening. One ESPN analyst believes that it would be a backward step for Kiffin to leave Ole Miss for the Gators.
ESPN analyst Rece Davis thinks Lane Kiffin should stay in Oxford
One college football analyst and nearly every Ole Miss fan believe Lane Kiffin has a better job at Ole Miss than if he left for Florida. Rece Davis of ESPN said that with NIL and the ability to recruit from the transfer portal, he believed the Rebels are a better spot for Kiffin.
""In the current state of football – college football – and the way player acquisitions go and the way alignment goes and the way the coach likes to be in charge and have things his way, Lane Kiffin has a better job right now. He is … at best making a lateral move.""Rece Davis on ESPN College GameDay Pod
Nobody is disputing how big the Florida job is in stature. However, Lane Kiffin has put the Ole Miss program on the map, and with the transfer portal as it is, he has been able to put together a playoff-caliber team and could do that for years to come.
Florida is at least two seasons behind Ole Miss if they can put together several good recruiting classes and mainly attack the transfer portal for experienced players. After building his reputation back up, would Kiffin put it on the line by entering a situation that looks to have hit rock bottom?
"At this moment in time – alignment, money, power, meddling – he has a better job. He has a better team and a better job.”"Davis on Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss
It's pretty darn hard to predict the future of college football, and though I am confident Kiffin will be staying with Ole Miss, you can never be 100% sure. The evidence we have is that from the outside looking in, Kiffin seems settled in Oxford with all his close family around him.