College football is preparing for one its most chaotic coaching carousels in recent memory with head coach openings at Auburn, Florida, LSU, Penn State and a number of other schools. No name on the coaching market is more popular than Lane Kiffin who is on his way to a fourth 10-win season at Ole Miss and a College Football Playoff appearance.
A new, unique contender emerged to poach Kiffin from his perch atop the Ole Miss program. The New York Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll on Monday after the Giants fell to 2-8 on the 2025-26 season.
Kiffin quickly emerged as a popular name to take over for New York and is the betting favorite to land the job according to at least one sportsbook. BetOnline.ag lists Kiffin as the betting favorite to be the Giants’ new head coach at +500.
The other top betting favorites include Kliff Kingsbury (+600), Klint Kubiak (+800), Joe Brady (+800), Jesse Minter (+900) and Mike Kafka (+900).
There’s one obvious connection for Kiffin to the Giants in quarterback Jaxson Dart. The rookie quarterback has been fantastic since taking over as starting quarterback in week four of the season. Dart makes the Giants’ job attractive and is the top building block for New York.
More From RTI: Tim Banks Thinks This Tennessee Football Freshman Could Be a Star
Dart, of course, played for Kiffin at Ole Miss from 2022-24 where the Rebels posted a 29-10 overall record including an 11-win 2023 season.
The controversial Ole Miss coach has brief NFL experience, serving as the Oakland Raiders head coach in 2007 and 2008. Al Davis fired Kiffin during the 2008 season and Kiffin took over as Tennessee’s head coach the next season.
Kiffin is also a top betting favorite to be the next head coach at Florida and LSU. But Ole Miss is a near lock to make the College Football Playoff and if they make a deep run then the timing would be difficult for another college to hire him away from Ole Miss.
Those issues are not nearly as big a concern for the Giants with the NFL regular season not ending until early January. Ole Miss’ season could be over by then and likely would not continue much longer even if it was still going on.
For now, Kiffin’s focus remains on his Ole Miss program. The Rebels are currently 9-1 with a matchup against Florida this weekend and then a regular season finale at Mississippi State the day after Thanksgiving.
