Report: Lane Kiffin 'Not in the Mix' for Oregon HC Job After New Ole Miss Contract

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Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin is "not in the mix" for Oregon's head-coaching vacancy, according to John Canzano of the Oregonian. 

Kiffin and the Rebels agreed to a contract extension last week. Chris Low and Harry Lyles Jr. of ESPN reported the deal would pay him around $7.5 million per year. 

"We are committed to winning championships at Ole Miss, and Coach Kiffin is the person to lead us to those heights," the school's vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics, Keith Carter, said in a statement after the agreement. "With his winning edge, offensive vision and recruiting prowess, he has quickly cemented our team among the best in the nation, and this is just the start.

"With major facility projects on the horizon, we are investing in this program like never before and look forward to building on the foundation that Coach Kiffin has established."

Kiffin, 46, has led the Rebels to a 10-2 mark in 2021—the school's first 10-win regular season in program history—and a 15-7 record across two seasons. The Rebels are heading to a New Year's Six bowl game this season.

Kiffin's journey has been a fascinating one. He held a number of assistant jobs early in his career, including as a Jacksonville Jaguars quality control assistant (2000) and an assistant under Pete Carroll at USC (2001-06), where he took over as offensive coordinator for his final season. 

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The Oakland Raiders then hired him as head coach, though he went just 5-15 and was fired four games into his second season in 2008.

He resurfaced with the Tennessee Volunteers, taking over as head coach in 2009 and leading the team to a 7-6 record before being hired as USC's head coach in 2010. After just a 28-15 record in four seasons and one 10-win season, however, the Trojans fired him midway through the 2013 campaign. 

A pattern had seemed to emerge for the young Kiffin—he was given high-profile jobs but failed to get results. He spent the next three seasons under Nick Saban as the offensive coordinator at Alabama, which helped rehab his reputation as one of the bright young offensive minds in the game, before taking over as Florida Atlantic's head coach in 2017.

In three seasons, he led the Owls to a 27-13 record and two bowl game appearances. 

As for Oregon, the football program is looking to replace Mario Cristobal, who left the school to take over as the Miami Hurricanes head coach. Pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon is serving as the team's interim head coach.