The Athletic posts an article on the history of Lane Kiffin's job changes

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Every time Kiffin changes jobs, it's a whole scene

Ole Miss (10-1) is in line for its first Playoff bid, and at the same time, its head coach is the top target for both the Florida and LSU gigs. In most situations, that would mean a lot is going on. But for Lane Kiffin, this amount of stuff has been going on for almost two decades now.

Here's a very brief timeline of Kiffin the attention sponge, as told only by his job changes, and not even by his million other antics, scandals and inspirational posts that read like quotes on the wall in your aunt's kitchen. It all starts shortly after Kiffin left USC after the 2006 season to become the Raiders' head coach, and was replaced by Steve Sarkisian as Pete Carroll's OC:

In 2008, Raiders owner Al Davis aired Kiffin out while firing the 33-year-old head coach after only 20 games. "He conned me." "Professional liar." "Disgrace." Other than the Urban Meyer debacle in Jacksonville, an NFL owner blasting a fired employee is quite rare. Granted, Davis being an enormous personality was at least half of the equation, but the point is: Whenever Kiffin changes jobs, it will not be normal.

Fourteen months later, Kiffin left Tennessee for another stint at USC, this time as head coach. The move was quite arguably messier than Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma for USC or Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU. Did students in South Bend set a mattress on fire? UT students did.

Do you know what a firings legend you have to be to get an oral history of just one of your firings? In 2013, USC fired Kiffin on or very near the tarmac. Sarkisian replaced him again.

In 2017, Nick Saban ended Kiffin's extremely up-and-down run as Alabama's OC ... seven days before the national title game. (Up on the scoreboard, down in Saban's dog house, usually at the same time.) Kiffin had taken the FAU head-coaching job, but planned to do both gigs at once, as former Bama DC Kirby Smart and former Ohio State OC Tom Herman had before him. But at some point, he got on Saban's last nerve. Sarkisian replaced him again, again.

During Kiffin's three-year FAU run, he found his calling as an internet poster, playing a nuanced character perhaps best described as Saban's prodigal son ruthlessly trolling Saban by sincerely emulating him. So when he took the Ole Miss job in 2020, he arrived with a personal Bama rivalry heavy on internet lore. Not normal.

Since then: Kiffin refuted a 2022 report that he was leaving for Auburn by making up his own report about the reporter, because when it comes to Kiffin's jobs, even his non-changes are abnormal.

That brings us to the current situation, in which Kiffin is an interstate political issue. Mississippi's actual secretary of state is posting pleas for the coach to pledge himself to Ole Miss while Louisiana's actual governor either is or isn't claiming to have personally courted that same coach. Kiffin, meanwhile, is going on TV to not talk about it (and post inspirational quotes about "a soft place to land," which you can interpret if you want).

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