The Gators' rich history does not hide the dark side of the Florida job

ESPN's Recipe Davis recently caused a stir when he appeared on his College Game Day Podcast that Lane Kiffin has a better job at Ole Miss right now, and taking the Florida job if and when it opens up would be a move in the other direction.

“Not because the job at Ole Miss is better than Florida right now,” Davis said. “It's because they can get players now, they're aligned with their NIL, he makes the decisions, he's in charge. Lane has a better job.”

The Florida crowd will play their greatest hits: National Championships, SEC titles, Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, Tim TebowThe swamp and so on.

It's true. The Gators have a rich and justifiably proud football history.

And that’s exactly what it is: the past.

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Since coming to Ole Miss, Kiffin has won more than 71 percent of his games. Florida has had three straight losing seasons and it looks like he's headed for a fourth losing season as a coach. Billy Napier could go down as one of the shortest-tenured coaches in program history.

Although Napier said at his press conference Monday that he sees a path to a fourth year at Florida “100 percent,” there are some who are surprised he will play a fourth game this season. Fans are desperate to get rid of Napier, who is now 12-16 in his third year and hasn't won more than three SEC games in his first two.

Since the end of Meyer's dominance, Florida has won only 59 percent of its games. It has Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain And Daniel Mullen and now seems ready to fire Napier at any time.

Ole Miss hasn't exactly swept through the SEC in that time, but critics of Davis' statement need to stop rehashing the past and look to the future.

Florida's collective is a mess and no matter what restructuring is done, the group will always be associated with the Jaden Rashada debacle. That's a real challenge that needs to be overcome.

Other than a few talented players who followed Napier from Louisiana and Ricky Pearsall, did the Gators make it in the portal? Napier didn't want to or couldn't pay for portal players when he came to Gainesville, so guess what, not many superstars came through. Ole Miss and Kiffin dominated the portal.

As far as we know, Florida does not have a full-time president or athletic director. Scott Stricklin who is himself on the hot seat. Top recruits being courted by Georgia, Alabama, Miami, Ohio State and Florida State see stable coaching situations. Not in Gainesville.

Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yuracheck recently told the Little Rock Touchdown Club that the Ole Miss football team has about 5,000 members and then asked other Arkansas fans for monetary donations.

The reason I know he said that is walker Jonesformer Under Armour executive who now runs Ole Miss' The Grove Collective pinned the speech on his X-profile.

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If Napier gets fired and Kiffin is the No. 1 target, and Florida fans, tired of mediocrity after years of enjoying a taste of greatness, give him the Brinks truck support, Kiffin might get the job.

The history is there. There's no denying that Florida has a richer football history than Ole Miss.

But Kiffin has got the Rebels going. They're a top-five team, and the Gators are 5.5-point favorites this weekend against Mississippi State, which just lost 41-17 at home to Toledo. It's a surprise they're even considered favorites.

Sure, Florida has a stronger recruiting base, but Mississippi is also loaded with talent, and in today's age of transfer portals, location plays a far smaller role in building a roster than it did when all the players came out of high school.

There have always been rumors that Kiffin is not thrilled about staying at Ole Miss for his entire career. He really wanted the job at Auburn, he really wanted the job at Alabama, as Nick Saban resigned, it was rumored that he was the top candidate for Florida State if Mike Norvell left for the job at Bama.

But his team is absolutely ready to compete for the national championship. Florida is a mess on and (perhaps more importantly) off the field. Kiffin has been tremendously successful in the portal, and the biggest reason for that is that Ole Miss' collective is in great shape and ready to go.

Looking back at the past, Florida is in the better position, but in the current climate, the Gators have a lot of problems to fix. A lot.

Davis was not wrong: Kiffin could receive better job offers because of his success at Ole Miss, but Florida is not one of them.

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