What we’re hearing on Lane Kiffin, Brian Daboll, Virginia Tech and more entering CFB’s Week 12 – The New York Times

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Week 12
Is the situation with Mike Norvell at Florida State influencing James Franklin's process? John Fisher / Getty
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is the main character in what is shaping up to be a busy and chaotic hiring and firing season in college football.
Kiffin is considered to be the No. 1 choice for Florida and is likely to be targeted by LSU, too. An industry source told The Athletic those schools won’t necessarily be driving up the price for Kiffin. Ole Miss has been willing to say yes to just about anything Kiffin asks for in Oxford. It’s ultimately more about where he wants to be.
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This isn’t new ground for Ole Miss and Kiffin. Just three years ago, when Auburn opened up, Kiffin was a target and it didn’t go so well.
Kiffin struggled with the decision, weighing family needs and his career. The situation produced angst and frustration with Ole Miss administrators, and worst of all, the team tanked down the stretch. The 2022 Rebels lost four of their last five regular-season games after starting 7-0.
Kiffin ended up signing a six-year extension that December, with some fans wondering if it was worth stepping up to keep him. Turns out it was: Ole Miss has gone 30-6 since and heads into Saturday’s game against Florida at home in great shape to make the College Football Playoff for the first time.
The Gators come to town with a head coaching vacancy after Billy Napier was fired a few weeks ago.
Florida also feels as though it has other strong options in Washington coach Jedd Fisch, a Gators alumnus, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and perhaps Louisville’s Jeff Brohm.
While it’s still unclear what Kiffin will do, industry sources say the situation in Oxford seems less volatile than in 2022. Lines of communication are good between Kiffin and the administration.
Kiffin’s family and his younger brother Chris’ family have all settled in Oxford. Chris Kiffin is in his seventh year on staff with the Rebels, currently as an analyst. Lane Kiffin’s son, Knox, is a sophomore quarterback at Oxford High School.
The Rebels have an open date after playing Florida and before the season finale at Mississippi State. Open dates late in the season can be a great time to get a contract extension done and announced. That timeline would certainly work for Ole Miss.
This situation seems to be trending in a positive direction for Rebels fans who would like to keep their coach, but one note of caution: One industry source said there was at least a modicum of interest in Kiffin among decision-makers with the Tennessee Titans.
We’ve heard Penn State is exploring a lot of options, including Georgia Tech’s Brent Key and James Madison’s Bob Chesney. Only two seasons removed from coaching at FCS Holy Cross, the 48-year-old Chesney is viewed inside the coaching world as someone with big upside.
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There has been a lot of speculation about Penn State having interest in Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, but at this point, that seems to be just that — speculation.
Industry sources have also said Penn State has vetted some top assistants, such as Oregon’s Will Stein and Ohio State’s Brian Hartline.
Another name to know is former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who we hear has some strong supporters in Happy Valley. Fitzgerald was fired after an investigation found hazing in his program, but he recently settled a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit with the school.
Fitzgerald won more and more consistently at Northwestern than any coach in decades. The former Wildcats linebacker led his alma mater to three 10-win seasons and only its second top-10 finish in 75 years in 2020. On the downside, his 7-2 record in 2020 was surrounded by three seasons in which his teams went 3-24 in Big Ten play and 7-29 overall.
Fitzgerald would also seem to be a good personality fit with Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft, himself a former Big Ten linebacker at Indiana.
One wild card in the mix is former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, who was the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017 and helped lead the Tide to a national title. The 50-year-old is believed to have an interest in the job and is expected to get some consideration in Happy Valley. We’ve heard some former NFL players with strong ties to Penn State have pushed for Daboll to get in the mix.
Penn State also has some interest in former Nittany Lion tight end Al Golden, now the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator. The 56-year-old Golden turned around a downtrodden Temple program two decades ago and later took the Miami job, but struggled to gain traction there. Before returning to the NFL this year, Golden spent three seasons at Notre Dame and helped Marcus Freeman get the Fighting Irish to the title game last season.
Mike Locksley’s seat at Maryland has heated up, with the Terrapins fading again in the second half of the season. The Terps have lost five straight, four of those against unranked opponents. We’ve been hearing that Locksley needs to get to six wins. Losing last week at Rutgers was a gut punch; now Maryland either needs to pull off an upset this week at Illinois or next week against No. 18 Michigan and then beat a hapless Michigan State team to get to six wins.
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Working in Locksley’s favor is the Terps’ talented freshman class. Quarterback Malik Washington is the most obvious standout, but there are also some playmakers on defense. Maryland also has five-star edge rusher Zion Elee committed as part of its 2026 recruiting class. A coaching change probably means that the Maryland roster gets picked apart. New athletic director Jim Smith, who had been an executive with the Atlanta Braves, isn’t itching to do a coaching search. Locksley also has a buyout of roughly $13 million.
• Chesney is also drawing interest from Virginia Tech, but that school has been primarily focused on trying to land former Penn State head coach James Franklin, who is highly motivated to jump back in … while also waiting to see what other jobs open. The situation at Florida State, where Mike Norvell is trying to close strong and give his bosses a reason to save $55 million on his buyout, could influence Franklin’s next move. Industry sources indicate that Virginia Tech seems ready to move on from waiting for Franklin.
• OC Collin Klein isn’t the only Texas A&M assistant coach who is getting consideration for FBS head coaching vacancies. Holmon Wiggins, the Aggies’ 45-year-old co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach, has impressed folks in the search process and is in play for Group of 5 jobs. Before coaching in College Station, Wiggins spent five seasons working for Nick Saban at Alabama.
• Sitting head coaches who are in demand try to isolate themselves from all of the dialogue, with their agents acting as shields, but there is only so much they can do to focus solely on their teams and the important games to be played. That pressure tends to be even higher for coaches in the Group of 5, because Power 4 schools take the approach that candidates at that level should be more receptive to the possibility of a “promotion.” This dynamic adds an interesting twist to the American Conference race with Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, USF coach Alex Golesh, North Texas coach Eric Morris and Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield all drawing interest from P4 schools while trying to lead their teams to a championship — and very possibly a Playoff spot.
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