Roman Harper discusses Lane Kiffin to Oregon rumors, Ole Miss contract extension

As the coaching carousel keeps moving, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s name is coming up in rumors. SEC Network analyst Roman Harper shed some interesting insight on why Kiffin would maybe want to leave so soon.

During an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show this week, Finebaum asked Harper if he could see Kiffin taking the job if offered. Finebaum cited a report from Jon Wilner saying “Pac-12 sources” told him Oregon was interested in hiring Kiffin away from Ole Miss.

“If he would’ve been on the Lane Train sooner, I’m pretty sure Lane was listening to everybody,” Harper said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “He was fielding calls from everybody. I think he wanted the Miami job, Miami wanted Cristobal, they got Cristobal late. … I do think Lane would be very, very intrigued in going anywhere else but where he is now at Ole Miss.

“That’s my personal opinion that Lane is very interested in always dating somebody, being [at] a school for four or five years and then moving on to the next. It’s really hard to actually be able to sustain success for five, 10-plus years and actually build a program to where it’s now self-sustaining and running without you.”

Ole Miss is 15-7 over the last two years under Kiffin, including a 10-2 mark this season. The Rebels are gearing up to play in the Sugar Bowl.

Harper: ‘It doesn’t even matter’ that Lane Kiffin’s only been at Ole Miss for two years

Finebaum was quick to point out that Kiffin has only been at Ole Miss for two years. Harper countered by pointing to how good the Rebels have been during that time.

“They’ve really been successful, though,” Harper said. “And it really just brought in a burst of energy, a sense of belonging with Matt Corral and all the success that they’ve had in this short period of time. Now, he just re-signed, what’d he do, a four-year deal? It doesn’t even matter. … It doesn’t matter in college sports, and that’s the thing that’s crazy to me is for all these years, we’ve all heard, ‘Oh, well, they don’t have the money? How are they going to afford to do this? Why would they pay players? They shouldn’t be able to do that.’ I’m like, ‘Well, look at all the dead money that all these coaches get.’

“They pay coaches and everybody else all this money year after year after year, and it doesn’t matter as long as they try and come in and do what’s best for winning programs while winning football games. They’ll spend whatever it takes, and it doesn’t matter, and nobody gets mad at the ADs. Nobody gets mad at anybody else. It’s all about winning at any cost.”