Recent intel suggests that General manager Mike Borgonzi and the Tennessee Titans' front office are seemingly casting a wide net to find Brian Callahan's successor. They're scouring the NFL landscape to poach an assistant from another staff to become their next head coach. However, an interesting candidate from the collegiate ranks could reportedly emerge: Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin is currently in his sixth season calling the shots at Ole Miss. His role overseeing the Rebels' program has garnered attention around the league, with the Titans ostensibly taking notice.
The Athletic's Bruce Feldman revealed that a little birdie told him Kiffin is on the Titans' radar during. This would certainly profile as an outside-the-box hire, albeit one with a notable connection to the Volunteer State.
Titans surprisingly linked to Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin as potential HC candidate
New-age fans may be too young to remember, but Kiffin was the head coach of Tennessee's Division I football squad in 2009. He guided them to a Chick-fil-A Bowl (AKA the Peach Bowl) appearance in his lone campaign before jettisoning for USC's vacancy roughly two weeks later. With that in mind, not everyone may have fond memories of him, though that apparently doesn't bother Borgonzi and Co.
"One industry source said there was at least a modicum of interest in [Lane] Kiffin among decision-makers with the Tennessee Titans," Feldman wrote ($).
It's worth mentioning that Feldman prefaced Kiffin's reported ties to the Titans' vacancy by higlighting that Ole Miss is likely to retain its sideline general. The former pointed out that the latter's family is "all settled in Oxford," so this is far from a foregone conclusion.
Nevertheless, Kiffin is perhaps the most shocking candidate to emerge among the rumored names the Titans might be eyeing. His nearly three decades of coaching experience in various roles are valuable. Yet, he has just three years in the pros, two of which were quite forgetful.
Before leading the Volunteers, Kiffin was a defensive quality control assistant for the Jacksonville Jagaurs in 2000. He also had a brief stint as the Las Vegas (then Oakland) Raiders' head coach, getting fired just 20 months after being hired. Be that as it may, his success at Ole Miss (53-19 record) may be enough to give him another chance.