Since the end of the 2020 season, we’ve watched head coaching positions come open at places like Texas A&M, Nebraska, Florida, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, LSU, Auburn (twice), Tennessee and most recently, Alabama.

At one point or another, you probably saw Lane Kiffin’s name linked to those jobs. Shoot, I’m guilty of it. I’ve lost track of the amount of times that I’ve said/written the words “start the search with Kiffin.”

But here we are in 2024, and Kiffin is still in Oxford.

He’s entering Year 5, and he’ll so do with some well-documented buzz at the beginning of the 12-team Playoff. That much, you already know.

What you might not realize is that in the 16-team SEC, the only coaches who have been at their respective jobs longer than Kiffin are Kirby Smart and Mark Stoops. That’s right. Kiffin is the third-longest tenured coach in the SEC. By the way, Kiffin was technically hired days before Eli Drinkwitz and Sam Pittman in that post-2019 cycle, so he truly is No. 3 among longest-tenured coaches in the conference.

What a time to be alive.

This realization hit me after Nick Saban announced his retirement, which naturally set the wheels in motion for Kiffin to be linked to another potential opening. But again, it didn’t come to fruition. It begs the question.

How many jobs are left that Kiffin would actually leave for?

It’s not something that has a definitive answer because if you had asked someone 2 weeks ago about whether Kiffin would leave Ole Miss for Alabama, they probably would’ve told you he was heading to Tuscaloosa. There was speculation that Alabama AD Greg Byrne didn’t want to replace Saban with a wild card like Kiffin, but make of that what you will. All that we can definitively say is that Kiffin-to-Alabama didn’t happen.

Kiffin will enter Year 5 at the same place for the first time since he was at USC from 2001-06. During his first tenure at USC, Kiffin also got promoted from tight ends coach all the way up to OC/receivers coach. Technically, this is the longest that he’s been at the same job.

Call me crazy, but he’s a different guy than he was 2 decades ago. Shoot, he’s a different guy than he was when he started at Ole Miss.

But back to the question at hand — what are the jobs that Kiffin would leave for?

Timing could be everything. Right now, I don’t believe that there’s a single job that could open up that would attract Kiffin. That includes Michigan.

If and when Jim Harbaugh leaves for the NFL, it could have a domino effect similar to what we saw with Saban. Alternatively, Sherrone Moore could get promoted and everyone else in college football will breathe a sigh of relief.

This season feels like as much of a “win-now” season as any that Ole Miss has had in the past 50 years. That’s based on the returning talent, along with the splashes we’ve seen in the transfer portal. If this ends up being an 8-4 year in which Ole Miss is smashed by the elite competition — something I don’t think will happen — that timing could be right for Kiffin to find his next opportunity.

I know, Ole Miss fans. You’re sick of hearing that. I don’t blame you. You watched your program beef up its collective efforts and pay a head coach $9 million per season. That’s big-boy stuff.

But think about this — if Kiffin gets Ole Miss a Playoff win or 2 and it plays in a semifinal game, that could have a different impact on his future. Like, in the modern world of college football, Kiffin’s combination of development/recruiting can lead to historic success and maybe a title is realistic at Ole Miss.

To be fair, Kiffin has already led Ole Miss to historic success. Eleven wins had never happened until 2023. Getting the program a seat at the 12-team Playoff table would add another historic feat to his Ole Miss résumé. If he still feels that his team isn’t capable of winning a title, sure, he could seek another destination.

My guess is that the job Kiffin could be linked to most is Florida. If Billy Napier can’t navigate that daunting schedule in Year 3, that search list will be far and wide. Given Kiffin’s ties to the state from his time at FAU, those dots will be connected.

You could argue that Florida’s struggles to sustain success in the modern era should prevent it from being considered one of the elite jobs in the sport. Who knows how much Michigan’s 2023 season will inject hope into programs like that.

It’s hard to picture Kiffin in any job that’s a plane ride away from a beach, but there’s one to keep in mind. It’s arguably the best job in America that would have even more appeal than Florida. Also unlike Florida, it essentially had 1 true coaching search in the last 2 decades.

What about Ohio State?

If Ryan Day, with a team that returned gobs of talent, cannot get it done and it loses his 4th straight game to Michigan in a 9-3 season … could he be canned? Absolutely. That’d be a tough phone call for Kiffin to decline. Like, the toughest phone call to turn down north of the Mason-Dixon Line to decline.

It’d be tougher to turn down than Penn State if James Franklin ever left or finally fell out of favor with the folks cutting checks. And while I don’t believe this job is opening anytime soon, I can’t imagine Kiffin ever wanting to take his pro-portal approach to a place like Notre Dame.

So is that really all that’s left on the list? Florida and Ohio State? Never say never. For all we know, the Kalen DeBoer era at Alabama will last 3 years and instead of replacing Saban, Kiffin will get the opportunity to replace Saban’s successor.

Or maybe it’ll eventually be Brian Kelly that’s coveted by potential northern openings and Kiffin-to-LSU debates will heat up again.

We don’t know. Predicting what this sport will look like in 4 years is next to impossible. Case in point, go back to 4 years ago.

What if I told you that by 2024, Kiffin would be one of the SEC’s elder statesmen and his team would be looking at potentially its best preseason ranking since the Richard Nixon administration? You would’ve called me a liar, and maybe even a crook.

But here we are.