The coaching carousel didn’t need to spin this weekend to send ripples across college football. No pink slips were handed out, and no blockbuster hires were announced. But chaos was still humming beneath the surface. As LSU’s Brian Kelly faces an uncomfortable spotlight, Florida’s job remains wide open, and whispers from every corner are dragging familiar names back into the rumor mill, starting with Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian.

On October 26, Front Office Sports dropped an update on X. “Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian both publicly addressed reports connecting them to other head coaching jobs. Kiffin said he spoke to his Ole Miss team about the Florida job, and Sarkisian says The Athletic’s report about his interest in NFL jobs ‘really pisses me off.’” For a weekend that was supposed to be about wins, it somehow became about resumes.

Ahead of Ole Miss’s 34–26 victory at Oklahoma, which shot the Rebels up to No. 7 in the AP Poll, Lane Kiffin found himself juggling rumors that Florida had him on their wish list. He addressed it head-on with his locker room. “That’s a product of having a program with a lot of players and coaches doing a really good job,” he said. “And I wouldn’t even mention it because they’ve been through this every year—probably four years in a row.” 

But rumor or not, UF insiders like Buddy Martin fanned the flames, claiming the Gators were ready to shell out a six-year, $81 million deal, $13.5 million per season, to lure the Rebels HC. For reference, that’s more than what even Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney currently make. But Saturday’s win came with its own reward. Lane Kiffin’s contract automatically extended through 2031, bumping his pay to $9 million. 

Meanwhile, in Austin, Steve Sarkisian was playing damage control of his own. After Texas clawed back from a 17-point deficit to stun Mississippi State 45–38 in overtime, the Longhorns HC’s postgame mood was irritated. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini had reported that his agents were gauging NFL interest, including with the Titans. Sark didn’t mince words. “It really pisses me off that one person can make a report that, in turn, the entire media and sports world runs with as factual,” he said, visibly frustrated.

CAA, his agency, even broke its usual silence, calling the report “patently false and wildly inaccurate.” Steve Sarkisian, who once called plays for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL, is making $10.8 million this season and doesn’t seem in a hurry to chase that life again especially now that Texas sits at 6–2 and climbing back to No. 20. And while the headlines focus on contracts and rumors, it’s easy to forget how much grit it took for both of these coaches to climb back from the lowest points of their careers.

From rock bottom to the summit 

What makes this saga richer is that it’s about redemption. Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin share more than a conference. They share scars. They go way back to Alabama, when Sark was trying to rebuild his life and career, and Kiffin had just clawed his way back from his own fall from grace. Sarkisian told reporters at SEC Media Days last July, “We worked together. We fought together. We fought against each other. We’ve coached against one another. And when I went to Alabama as an analyst, he was the OC. It’s just a lot of this. And Lane’s done a great job at Ole Miss. I can’t give him enough credit.”

Lane Kiffin, in turn, once called Steve Sarkisian’s rise an “awesome story.” And he would know. When Sark hit “rock bottom” at USC amid personal struggles and a messy exit, it was Lane Kiffin who extended the first hand, offering him a fresh start at Alabama in 2016 as an analyst. A year later, Sark was calling plays in the national championship game. “Not to put words in his mouth but something like the rock bottom from a professional standpoint and retaining himself,” the Rebels HC said. “Now, to be the head coach of Texas. Recruiting at the highest level, a top-10 team. Going in to play Alabama is really an awesome story for all people.”

Now, years later, both men stand at the top of college football again, earning eight-figure salaries, coaching blueblood programs, and still answering to the same rumors. Funny how the carousel always spins back to where the ride began.