Who will Florida football hire as its next coach? Swampcast discusses?
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway, Andrew Abadie and Noah Ram break down the aftermath of Billy Napier’s firing and the search for a new Florida football coach.
It has been less than a week since Florida football fired Billy Napier, and now one of the more notable coaches linked to replace him is addressing rumors with his current team.
According to a report from ESPN’s Molly McGrath on Friday, Oct. 24, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is set address rumors centering around his link to the Florida program ahead of the Rebels’ game at Oklahoma on Saturday, Oct. 25.
“Lane Kiffin told me he usually doesn’t address those kind of coaching rumors in-season, because there’s so much more football to play, and there’s so many bigger things to focus on. But he’s actually going to do things differently today in their team meeting, he is going to address those (Florida) rumors with his players,” McGrath reported on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Oct. 24.
“He’s going to talk to them about it and say, ‘Hey, this is what happens when you win. This is a compliment to our players, our staff and our entire program.’ He wants to talk to his players about it because there’s so many new guys on their team this year that haven’t dealt with it before.”
McGrath, who is on the broadcast crew for the Rebels’ road game at Oklahoma, also mentioned that Kiffin told her that he will not “make decisions based on money” and instead “on everyday happiness” when pressed further about his name being thrown into job searches.
“And you can tell he’s really trying to prioritize his family and his kids in this one. But I will say, Kiffin really idolizes legendary former Gators coach Steve Spurrier,” McGrath said. “And when I covered Ole Miss’ game at Florida last year, Kiffin pulled me aside and said, ‘This is a really special place for me and my family.’ It’s where he had his first date with his children’s mother, so (Gainesville) is a nostalgic place for the Kiffin family.
“Perhaps that will play a role into it. But right now they’re just focusing on Ole Miss and the Rebels, and their players telling me they wouldn’t be able to tell (if Kiffin was distracted), so it seems as if Kiffin is in Oxford to stay as far as his communication with them.”
Kiffin, in his sixth season at Ole Miss, is considered one of the top candidates to replace Napier in Gainesville, per The Gainesville Sun’s and USA TODAY Sports’ coaching boards. He is 50-19 in those seasons in Oxford with the Rebels, has three seasons of 10 wins or more with the Rebels and holds a 112-53 overall record as a head coach.
Kiffin, 50, received praise from Spurrier this week when the 80-year-old coach spoke with USA TODAY Sports’ Blake Toppmeyer about the Florida job opening and Kiffin’s name being among the candidates mentioned.
“I firmly think he is a very good coach,” Spurrier told Toppmeyer this week. “There’s no question about that. I like him.”
Regardless of whether Kiffin takes the job, Florida is looking for its fifth head coach since Urban Meyer left in 2010.
