Pat McAfee weighs in on Lane Kiffin’s decision, shares what he would do
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Pat McAfee knows Lane Kiffin is going through a deep thought process these days because his future is in the balance and where he decides to coach in 2026 could shape the rest of his career on the sidelines.
It’s a huge decision, and that wasn’t lost on the ESPN host as he spoke about the Kiffin saga during College GameDay on Saturday morning from Eugene, Ore. McAfee not only has a firm grip on the sport as an analyst at ESPN, he was once a college player, too, starring for West Virginia as a kicker from 2005-08. There was the whole Rich Rodriguez experience for McAfee back then as a player, and now there’s the Kiffin situation that McAfee is looking at from a distance.
So, McAfee spoke from experience on Kiffin, who is the head coach at Ole Miss right now but could very well be the head coach at LSU or even Florida very soon. He knows Kiffin’s decision won’t be easy, but he had some advice for the Rebels’ coach on Saturday morning — stay put in Oxford.
“All Ole Miss fans want to hear is that he’s going to be back,” McAfee said. “It’s quite a quagmire for all this. You’re allowed to be happy and content, brother. You’re allowed to build a place from scratch.”
That’s what Kiffin has done, and McAfee believes he should continue to build what he’s started in Oxford.
“Lane Kiffin is the only one who knows what he’s going to do, and I don’t think he has a clue at this point,” McAfee said. “You’re allowed to be happy, dude.”
McAfee also detailed Kiffin’s wonderful routine he’s got going as the Ole Miss coach, and he wondered if Kiffin really wanted to interrupt all that, pick up and leave.
Here is McAfee’s entire rant on the Kiffin saga on Saturday morning:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
