All of the sudden, the state of Mississippi has become one of the most interesting places in college football, filled with intrigue and excitement for recruiting and the next college football season.
That’s because of two names: Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach.
Kiffin was hired in early December after Ole Miss fired Matt Luke and he’s been busy the last few weeks putting together his coaching staff.
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CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
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The Rebels have not had a winning season in four years despite having elite talent especially at wide receiver and their 10-win campaign in 2015 was the program’s first since 2003. None of Ole Miss’ last four coaches - Ed Orgeron, Houston Nutt, Hugh Freeze or Luke - lasted longer than five seasons in Oxford.
On Thursday, it was reported that Leach would be leaving Washington State for the Mississippi State job, long the chatter in college football circles after he reportedly interviewed for the job in recent days. Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and others were also reportedly high on the list.
Leach is an offensive mastermind who is certainly quirky and it will be interesting to see how his system - and his recruiting efforts - come together in the cutthroat SEC West.
With the Cougars, Leach took a moribund program with limited success for years and made them a competitive team that finished 11-2 in 2018. It was the first time Washington State won 11 games in program history and the first time since 2003 that the Cougars had double-digit wins.
In the last several recruiting classes, Ole Miss and Mississippi State have flip-flopped as to which team leads in the team recruiting rankings, both settling toward the middle or bottom of the SEC.
FARRELL'S TAKE
We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell whether Kiffin or Leach can make Ole Miss or Mississippi State relevant on the national stage again and to make a prediction on five years from now, will Kiffin or Leach be more successful at their respective schools?
“The five-year prediction is a tough one because by all accounts in the SEC West you’d assume both coaches could be gone by then. That’s how cutthroat it is in that division. Both will have a level of success at their respective programs and will inject life into the state and the recruiting battles will be fun to watch. If I had to guess who will have more success, it would be Kiffin at Ole Miss because he’ll bring more talent. No matter what happens, this is going to be fun.”
