Lane Kiffin will probably hear his name come up in many high-profile coaching searches over the next few years, but his current employer is intent on keeping him.
Florida Atlantic president John Kelly confirmed to ESPN’s Chris Low on Tuesday that the university has signed Kiffin to a new 10-year contract.
“This is further proof of FAU’s unbridled ambition,” Kelly said.
Kiffin’s Owls are 10-3 in his first season with the program and have won nine consecutive games. They are set to take on Akron in the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl Tuesday night after they won the Conference USA championship in convincing fashion earlier in the month.
“We are grateful that the president and university are this excited about what we are doing here at FAU and into the future, although our focus remains completely on the team and this historic season finale tonight on ESPN,” Kiffin said Tuesday.
Kiffin said recently that he has enjoyed coaching “hungry” players who don’t have a sense of entitlement, and he insists he has not had any thoughts about leaving to coach a bigger program. It probably helps that his current boss gives him the freedom to mercilessly troll his former boss as much as he pleases.
FAU has been an FBS school for 13 years, and their 10 wins this season are the most in the program’s history since making the jump up. Kiffin inherited a team that had gone 3-9 in each of its previous three seasons.
