What would it take for Lane Kiffin to leave FAU for another job? A lot, he says
It didn't take Lane Kiffin long to put FAU football on the map.
In just his first season in Boca Raton, Kiffin guided the Owls to an 11-3 record, their first conference championship and their first bowl game since 2008.
But with that immediate success brought the inevitable question: How quickly will Kiffin jump at an opportunity to coach at a Power 5 school?
Well, if you listen to what Kiffin told ESPN recently, don't expect him to leave the Sunshine State just yet.
"Ten years ago, when you're younger, the mindset is, how fast can you get the big job? How much money can you make? How big a house can you get?" Kiffin told ESPN's Andrea Adelson in a story that published Monday. "Then you get to a point where you've had all that stuff, so you think differently. Am I saying I'd never go? No, I'm not saying that, but it would have to be a really special situation where I would look at things differently now."
Kiffin has gone through his share of ridicule during his coaching tenure. He was fired after just 20 games as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. He left the University of Tennessee in 2009 after one season to become the head coach at USC only to be fired midway through his fourth season. He then served as Alabama's offensive coordinator for three years under Nick Saban, but was fired before the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
So what fuels Kiffin now? In his terms: Watching a mentor and former colleague competing against each other for a national title while he watches from a distance.
"The only drive is when you do see [Georgia head coach] Kirby [Smart], you see Coach Saban walk out on that field before the game, the national championship, holding that trophy," Kiffin said. "It's the drive of, OK, I get to play against the best, let's see if I can beat the best. It's different. That would not be what I would have answered even five years ago. Because your ego — once you get rid of that, you have different motivations."
Getting to that level, to that stage, will be tough at FAU. The College Football Playoff committee has looked down on non-Power 5 teams when making their rankings since the inception of the playoffs three years ago (just ask UCF how it feels).
But for now, Kiffin says he has no qualms with staying where he is. He agreed to a 10-year contract deal back in December that would keep him in Boca through the 2027 season, although details about the contract have yet to be released.
"You're making sure it's the right place you can really win at, because as you get older, you realize how important it is. That's why I took this job," Kiffin told ESPN. "This president is 100 percent about football and doing what it takes to win. Gave us the highest assistant coach pool in the conference. That's a big deal."
You can read the full ESPN story here.
This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 10:24 AM with the headline "What would it take for Lane Kiffin to leave FAU for another job? A lot, he says."