Auburn football: Judgement expert sees Lane Kiffin’s time at Ole Miss running out

Lane Kiffin, the head coach commandeering the Rebels this Saturday as they take the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium this coming Saturday opposite Auburn football, has everyone talking about his next move after Ole Miss.

Radio hosts in Mississippi believe he’s a flight risk if the LSU job is offered to him, and others share similar sentiments.

One such example is Keith Smithmier, a contributor on the Paul Finebaum Show, and a man with intimate insider knowledge of the inner workings of the SEC.

Smithmier believes that what Kiffin is chasing isn’t attainable at Ole Miss, prompting him to probably find a more competitive program to achieve his dream…which was inspired by nightmares of when Nick Saban let him go in 2017 as offensive coordinator (transcript via Vols Wire):

"“Whether he goes to LSU, or USC, or anywhere, I can’t imagine that Lane is going to spend the rest of his career, or even 10 years at Ole Miss building a program. I think somewhere in him, is this desire to ultimately overcome Saban. I think the one job that if he were to ever plant and stay for a long time would be if he could get Alabama. My fun kind of hypothetical scenario is Lane gets the LSU job, wins the national championship, and then Saban retires. Lane jilts LSU and goes to Alabama because he ultimately wants to be the guy that sits in Nick Saban’s chair.”"

So by my count, that’s two schools that would get the full ‘Lane experience’ of not seeing the full story through and jumping for the next big opportunity at the soonest possible chance if Smithmier is any bit of a soothsayer.

If Saban is what Kiffin is chasing, perhaps he should have tried harder to be in the mix for the Auburn football head coaching search that concluded in Bryan Harsin’s hiring.

Then again, if his ultimate plan is Alabama, he’d be torching many bridges on the Plains if he ever dare left the Tigers for the Tide.