[Cactus Jack]

Lanning has a huge buyout at $22 million. That's a lot, even for Alabama.

DeBoer is a great coach, but he has no experience in the South, and that's a pretty big deal when it comes to recruiting, etc. Washington has the most beautiful campus I have ever seen and there's plenty of Microsoft/tech money around. He also now has more influence in-state with Washington State being in a "lesser" conference. Even in the Big 10, he's in a situation where he's probably going to be strongly considered for the playoff by winning his division (read: beating Oregon). I can see why he would leave, but can also see why he'd stay.

I don't know that the Alabama job is as attractive as people may think. Tough conference/division that will only get tougher. More than that, you never want to be the person following the legend.

Dabo is interesting because they just had a terrible year, and their conference is in limbo. I think there's a very slim chance that the next best geographic fit (SEC) lets them in. As nice as it'd to see North Carolina and Virginia join, if anyone is added, it's probably going to be North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, or Florida State. I think he's done all that he can at Clemson and sees the uncertainty of their future and bolts for his alma mater (where he was also an assistant). I'm not a huge Dabo fan but he checks tons of boxes, including having beaten prime Saban with a lesser program in the national championship game twice.

If not Dabo, then if you can get past the optics of it, Lane Kiffin makes a lot of sense. I don't know that Ole Miss is ever going to be the type of program that you could win a championship with; if ever, you probably aren't winning more than one. Competition is too tough, their state is too poor (endowment & NIL), and it's too tough to recruit when you look at the whole Rebels/racism things & the fact that you aren't a big state but also have to fight Mississippi State.

If I'm Lane, I'm probably realizing that I have taken the program about as far as I can and gaming/strategizing whether it's best to leave and be in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best situation in the West (1. Texas, 2. LSU/Alabama/Oklahoma/Texas A&M) or stay at Ole Miss and hope that Alabama falls hard enough that you can take their or Texas A&M's spot at #4.

If you are Lane, the worst case scenario is bombing at Alabama, getting fired, taking a year off, then walking right back into a situation where a school similar to Ole Miss hires you with the understanding that it'll take a couple of years to rebuild.

Best case scenario is going back to a familiar situation and modernizing the offense while staying out of your own way long enough to not set everything that Saban built on fire. If he has early success (or does enough to show them that he's as good as anyone they could realistically replace him with), he's looking at settling into a job that gives him the opportunity to be a legitimate contender most years and to win multiple national championships before he decides to retire on his own terms or leave for the NFL.

Bottom line: jobs like Ole Miss, Arkansas, Michigan State, and Texas A&M will be open every year, but there's only so many chances that you'll ever get at jobs on the level that an Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas, or Ohio State is on right now. Lane makes sense, but Dabo makes so much more.