There is a chaos scenario where Lane Kiffin doesn't choose the Ole Miss Rebels, LSU Tigers, or Florida Gators, but instead, the Alabama Crimson Tide. That same scenario would see Kalen DeBoer open that job up by bolting north for the Penn State Nittany Lions job.
AL.com's Joseph Goodman offered the off-the-wall option in the event the Auburn Tigers upset the Tide in the Iron Bowl, something that isn't being written off even by Alabama's fanbase because of the shakiness from a Week 12 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Goodman shared the belief that auburn could make DeBoer the next Ray Perkins in Tuscaloosa, which is to say, the next lame duck head coach on the hot seat indefinitely.
"If the rumors are true, and Ole Miss has given Kiffin a deadline to make a decision, then Kiffin should call the university’s bluff. Kiffin doesn’t have to make a choice until he wants to make a choice. If Alabama loses to Auburn, then maybe that changes things," Goodman wrote.
"With a loss to Auburn, DeBoer would officially be labeled Tuscaloosa’s modern-day Ray Perkins. That’s tough to overcome.
"If Alabama loses the Iron Bowl, and DeBoer doesn’t like sitting on the Tide’s hot seat, then leaving for Penn State could suddenly be an option."
On3's Chris Low didn't substantiate the rumors, but didn't write them off either.
“I talked to somebody pretty close to Kalen last night, and they said, 'No,'” Low said. “I know there were a couple reports yesterday that he was right at the top of the list or somebody they had been considered from the outset. Somebody I talked to who was close to Kalen, I have not talked to Caitlin, said that that was not accurate. But you know what, things change. You guys know that the coaching carousel’s cycle. There’s a lot of fluidity to it, but my information last night, I talked to somebody close to him that know that that’s not gonna happen.”
AU holds the keys to this offseason taken a dramatic detour. ESPN typically cheers for Alabama in the Iron Bowl, but this year they could benefit from the speculation of a second Crimson Tide coaching search in three years.