Why Lane Kiffin will crank up heat on Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, as Ole Miss hums | Toppmeyer

Alabama fans are of two minds on the hire of Kalen DeBoer.

In one camp are crimson faithful who love this hire. They’re in no small number, and they think athletic director Greg Byrne nailed it. One fan who called “The Paul Finebaum Show” after the hire even suggested that DeBoer could be better than Nick Saban, who won six national championships at Alabama. So much for manageable expectations.

In the other camp are fans who think Alabama should have hired Lane Kiffin. I understand their mentality. Dance with the coach you know, and Alabama knows Kiffin. DeBoer is an outsider. Kiffin is a well-traveled fixture of the SEC. He modernized Saban’s offense nearly a decade ago, he’s got Ole Miss humming at heights it hasn’t seen for 60 years, and he’s spent the last few years playing kissy-face with Alabama on social media.

The feelings weren’t mutual from Alabama brass, and so Kiffin rides on at Ole Miss, where the “Portal King” has assembled his best roster, entering his fifth season.

Kiffin’s success will apply extra pressure on DeBoer, as if he needed any more of that. If the Rebels make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff and Alabama misses it – this is plausible – expect blowback from Alabama fans who wanted Kiffin. Forget about DeBoer being the next Saban. He needs to be better than Kiffin. That won't be easy, especially in the short-term.

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Following the SEC’s elimination of divisions, Alabama and Ole Miss won’t play this year for the first time since 1991. That’s good for DeBoer. Alabama’s schedule is stiff enough, and DeBoer needs a loss to Kiffin like he needs spoiled sushi.

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Alabama-Ole Miss being left off the schedule works well for Kiffin, too. The Rebels’ schedule sets up nicely for a playoff run. Their three toughest games are against LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia. Win even one of those three and take care of business elsewhere, and Ole Miss would be sitting pretty for a playoff berth. Kiffin could celebrate by firing off winking emojis toward Alabama.

Did Lane Kiffin want to replace Nick Saban?

Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter’s hire of Kiffin four years ago ranks among the best SEC coaching hires of the past decade. It’s one thing to hire Kiffin. It’s another challenge to retain him.

Ole Miss’ plan with Kiffin has been to work diligently to fend off covetous programs, while knowing a fish too big to rebuff might eventually pry him loose.

Auburn came closest, in 2022. Ole Miss ponied up, Kiffin stayed put, and the Rebels kept the good times rollin’.

“We try to show Coach that we want him here,” Carter told me before the 2022 season. “I feel like from a compensation standpoint, we’re obviously very competitive.”

Since Carter said that, Kiffin’s Ole Miss deal sweetened. His $9 million salary last season ranked in the top 10 nationally for coaches at public universities.

“Can we keep him for the next 20 years? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not, but I think we feel like we have a good thing with him,” Carter told me during that 2022 conversation, “and honestly I think he feels like he’s got a good thing here.”

Carter specifically mentioned the possibility of Alabama pirating Kiffin.

“He might be the guy at Alabama,” Carter told me then.

Byrne had another idea.

Kalen DeBoer at Alabama makes sense; so does Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss

Put me in the camp that likes Alabama’s hire of DeBoer. No one truly can replace Saban, but DeBoer’s winning track record and demeanor fit the job. Year 1 growing pains will be a bitter pill for a fan base spoiled by Saban’s success, but offer DeBoer a short runway of grace, and I think he’ll succeed.

Whether Kiffin feels disappointment in not being tapped as Saban’s heir depends on whether he listens to his own advice.

When I visited with Kiffin in Oxford before the 2022 season, I floated to him the idea of replacing Saban. Here’s what he said: “What could you possibly do right if you don’t win the national championship every year? ‘You’re going to follow Nick Saban at Alabama?’ No, that would not be a good decision for anyone.”

In a previous life, Kiffin wasn’t shy about replacing legends. He followed Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee. Kiffin left before anyone learned whether he could do it. He followed his mentor, Pete Carroll, at Southern Cal. He got fired. Part of Kiffin might always wonder "what-if" about Alabama. Part of me thinks Alabama and Kiffin dodged a bullet.

Forget Kiffin’s hijinks. He’s a thinker. Usually, that’s a good quality, but as he once admitted after a game, “I probably overthink things.” The pressure of replacing Saban while the GOAT lingered in the shadows, working in an office a mile away, might have caused Kiffin to crawl too deep inside his own brain. The pressure could have crushed all the work Kiffin did to restore his career.

As Kiffin once told me, following Saban “would be the dumbest follow ever.”

Better to chase the playoff at Ole Miss, while applying extra heat on Saban’s heir.

Also, better to succeed Florida’s floundering fish, Billy Napier. I’ll put a pin in that idea for now. Check back next fall.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

If you enjoy Blake’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or access exclusive columns via the SEC Unfilterednewsletter.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lane Kiffin will turn up heat on Alabama, Kalen DeBoer as Ole Miss hums