Mississippi head coach Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin is, in many ways, so much better and more thoughtful as a college football coach than the man who swept through Knoxville, Tennessee, and then flamed out at USC.

Kiffin is about to take Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff. That's no small feat. However, Kiffin is still a restless, impatient, goofy troll. He can't help himself. If we know this, Ole Miss has to know it, too. With the Florida and LSU jobs open, Lane Kiffin is target No. 1. Ole Miss knows Kiffin is a major flight risk.

What should the Rebels do? That's our focus here.

Coaching tenures are fleeting

It really is striking how schools and athletic departments panic at the thought of a quality coach leaving. It's as though they don't really appreciate what is obvious to everyone else: Coaches are hired, coaches are fired, and coaches leave for bigger jobs. Why don't schools seem to grasp this?

Days of Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are long gone

We don't see football lifers stay for 20 or more years at programs the way they used to. Add Tom Osborne of Nebraska and Terry Donahue of UCLA to the list. Kirk Ferentz of Iowa is the one exception that proves the rule. We are in a new era of extreme fluidity and mobility among college football coaches. Yet again, ADs and schools don't seem to realize this.

Buyout madness

Agents continue to make bank for themselves and their clients by negotiating high buyout figures ... and watching ADs consent. Athletic directors could do something entirely different. They could draw up contracts heavy with lucrative incentives for hitting performance targets and go light on the buyout figures. Schools just haven't yet arrived at the realization that creating school-friendly contracts should be a cornerstone component of hiring football coaches. If a quality candidate has an agent who isn't willing to bend, schools should move along.

How Lane Kiffin fits into this picture

Lane Kiffin potentially leaving for Florida or LSU isn't a buyout-centric story, but the larger point of illustrating the buyout topic is that schools institutionally fear good coaches leaving. They shouldn't. They should simply be ready to hire the next Curt Cignetti. Get the right guy, watch him win big, and then hand him all the money as Indiana AD Scott Dolson has done. That's the way to handle football. If Indiana can do it, Ole Miss certainly can. Don't desperately cling to Lane Kiffin; just be prepared to hire another great coach. This is life. This is sports. This is how the coaching industry works.

Ole Miss football in context

This is neither a criticism nor an insult: Ole Miss is not Alabama, Florida, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, or other blue-blood programs. The Rebels do not exist at the top of the food chain. When Florida, LSU, Penn State, and other top-tier jobs come open, the Ole Miss coach -- if viewed to be elite -- is likely to leave. Ole Miss has to be at peace with this. Fuming about Kiffin's possible exit instead of being prepared to find his replacement doesn't help.

Lane Kiffin soap opera

Lane Kiffin denied being given an ultimatum by Ole Miss, a story that broke on Tuesday. Whether you believe Kiffin or not, there's a lot of noise and chatter, which reflects strategic leaks and attempts to leverage the situation on both sides. That's what Ole Miss needs to quiet down. Yes, Lane Kiffin loves to stir the pot. Ole Miss could get frustrated -- reality tells us it already is -- but the disciplined and correct response is to give Kiffin a longer leash and leave him alone, as annoying as that might be.

Special opportunity

Ole Miss -- which, as we said above, is not Alabama, Ohio State, or another blue-blood program -- doesn't get to play in the CFP all the time. Ole Miss is not a school where the playoff is an annual expectation. The school and the fan base need to allow themselves to enjoy this run, this experience. It might not come around again for some time. If Lane Kiffin is going to be his immature, trollish self, so be it. Don't let that get in the way of rooting for the school and the players to win a playoff game and make a run at the national championship.

One month

In one month at minimum, seven weeks at most, Lane Kiffin's playoff run at Ole Miss will likely end. One month, in the bigger picture of a whole life, is small. It's really important for Ole Miss to make this one month (or more) count. Allowing Lane Kiffin to overshadow the 2025 team only helps Kiffin. It doesn't help the players who are doing the work on the field.

Being an adult

You don't have to like or approve of Lane Kiffin's behavior. I don't approve of it myself, so I'm not implying that what Kiffin and his camp are doing is fine. Sometimes, however, being a mature adult means allowing a "volatile genius" such as Lane Kiffin -- the kind of person who is very talented but whose behavior is erratic and off-putting -- to act out and still do his thing on the field when the lights come on. Lane Kiffin isn't committing crimes; he's just flirting with Florida. Ole Miss doesn't have to approve of any of this ... but the most important thing is enjoying this run on the gridiron and making sure players get the fun, satisfying experience they deserve.

Lane Kiffin can obviously do his part

Lane Kiffin, in backstage moments, should be telling his players the truth: Yes, I'm considering the Florida job. Don't lie, don't evade. Players can respect that. Kiffin should then tell his players that he's with them all the way through the playoff and will give his very best to them. Kiffin needs to calm the waters. Ole Miss can then meet him halfway and do the same.

Players first

Just let Ole Miss football players enjoy a special season that doesn't come along every year in Oxford. Lane Kiffin and school administrators both need to make that happen.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Amid smoke, speculation and rumors, Ole Miss really does need to let Lane Kiffin breathe

Reporting by Matt Zemek, College Sports Wire / College Sports Wire

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