Report: Lane Kiffin to be announced as Ole Miss head coach on Monday

Lane Kiffin to Ole Miss looks like it is happening.

Rivals reporter Neal McCready reported on Friday night that Kiffin will be Ole Miss’ next head football coach, though a deal is not officially signed. He says Kiffin will arrive in Oxford on Sunday, a day after FAU’s conference championship game, and be announced as their head coach on Monday.

It's not officially signed, but it's done. Lane Kiffin is Ole Miss' next head football coach. He'll arrive in Oxford Sunday. I expect the Ole Miss band to meet him there. He'll be announced officially on Monday, likely at the Pavilion at Ole Miss. @RivalsChase.

— Neal McCready (@NealMcCready) December 7, 2019

Kiffin is in his third season at Florida Atlantic and has coached them to the Conference USA Championship Game twice.

Kiffin taking this job makes me wonder what he is thinking. He will have to compete with Nick Saban at Alabama, Ed Orgeron at LSU, Gus Malzahn at Auburn, and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M. He could not have picked a more difficult division.

So why did he do it?

Kiffin has never really done the rational thing during his career. He got into it with Al Davis in Oakland and was quickly fired; left Tennessee after just one season; took over at USC while they were under sanction; and couldn’t resist taking a shot a Alabama while their offensive coordinator, which led to his premature ouster.

He seems to revel in being a boat-rocker more than a consistent winner. He probably just has a burning desire to be needle Saban as much as possible and to get a chance to beat him every year. That was probably more appealing for Kiffin than to actually go to a program where he would have a good chance a long-term success.