Lane Kiffin is emerging as college football top coaching target. With Ole Miss at a 10-1 overall record, 6-1 in the SEC play, and a playoff berth, LSU is pushing hard to lure him. But as reports suggest, there exists in their radar another $4 million coach, who is firmly next in line despite his playoff struggles.

As ESPN’s Matt Moscona hits X with the update, “As the Kiffin-to-LSU talk heats up, a different name now tops the coaching odds in Baton Rouge 👇.” Kenny Dillingham, with a buyout of $4M in year one, who led Arizona State to a breakthrough playoff berth last season, is now the betting favorite for the LSU job despite a step back this year. The Sun Devils sit at 7-3 with only a 6.74% playoff probability, per PFSN, yet Dillingham has surged past both Nick Saban and Kiffin in the latest LSU odds.

That’s an interesting shift, as Tigers athletic director Verge Ausberry made it pretty clear that LSU will be eyeing a coach who’s entering the playoffs with his team. Arizona State, however, fell out of the playoff picture by Week 11. Even if the Sun Devils finish with wins over Colorado and Arizona, a 9-3 score is still low compared to Texas Tech and BYU’s success. Their lone advantage is their head-to-head win over the Red Raiders, but even that may not be enough to boost them back into contention.

Still, Dillingham’s success at Arizona State is hard to ignore. He took Arizona State from 3-9 to 11 wins, delivered their first conference title since 1996, and oversaw an offense that gained more than 100 yards per game than the year before. He also returned 17 starters, showing a clear cultural turnaround. That’s the exact jolt LSU is seeking.

There’s also a practical reason LSU’s focus is shifting. Kiffin just moved his family to Oxford last season, and uprooting again isn’t a simple sell. Florida and Auburn have both taken swings at him, but neither push has gone anywhere. Add in Ole Miss’s 10-1 record and real playoff path, and it’s clear Kiffin has every incentive to stay put. LSU, meanwhile, has to weigh its massive price tag against the $36.6 million they still owe Brian Kelly after the school’s $54 million settlement. That financial reality alone makes Kenny Dillingham a far more workable option.

Kenny Dillingham gets real about his coaching move

Growing up in Scottsdale, Dillingham graduated from Arizona State back in 2013 and started his college coaching career as an assistant for the Sun Devils. Despite having multiple stints at different programs like Memphis, Auburn, Florida State, and Oregon, he returned to Arizona State. So, that’s where his heart lies.

He even made it pretty clear that Arizona State is the only place he wants to be at. “I was never leaving; I never said I was leaving—this is home,” Dillingham said. “You have to continue to push, and my job running the program is to push and push and push until you can’t push anymore. And if I didn’t do that, I’d be cheating my players. I’d be cheating my staff, I’d be cheating the fan base, I’d be cheating everybody in the city, and I’d be cheating the local businesses that feed off of us winning, and then they sell more beer. I’d be cheating everybody.”

Now, with that, LSU might look into other coaches on their list, like Marcus Freeman, Eli Drinkwitz, Jimbo Fisher, and Matt Campbell. As for now, Dillingham is only focused on their next week’s game against Colorado, which might give them a title run.

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