The Lane Kiffin coaching tour is a modern marvel; is he chasing Lou Saban? | KEN WILLIS

As this is written, Two Men & A Truck might already be eastbound on Interstate 22 with Lane Kiffin’s stuff.

Kiffin’s Ole Miss squad finished its regular season Thursday night against Mississippi State, and all indications say Kiffin is now off to Auburn for the next mini-chapter of his coaching bio.

Yes, mini-chapter. This guy doesn’t do long-form. The Kiffin Coaching Tour is one of the most unique in football history. Maybe in the top two, and more on that shortly, but let’s run down the Kiffin itinerary (so far):

Fresno State, Colorado State and the Jacksonville Jags as an assistant from 1997-2000 — yes, three stops in four season, which isn't uncommon in the assistant world.

Next came his longest run, six seasons as an assistant at Southern Cal before, at age 32, the Oakland Raiders hired him as head coach. It didn’t stick, and after less than two seasons he returned to the college game to begin a whirlwind tour.

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Tennessee for a year, a stay cut short when Southern Cal whispered in his ear.

Southern Cal for nearly four seasons before he was fired at 3 a.m. just off a tarmac at LAX, where Nick Saban scooped him off the "Arrivals" curb. So to speak.

He spent three seasons as a “rescue” under Saban at Alabama, where he rebuilt his reputation as offensive coordinator and QB coach, loosening Saban’s vest and making him aware of a quality passing game's advantages.

From Nick Saban to Boca Raton

Next, instead of retiring to Boca Raton, as is custom, Kiffin headed there to resuscitate his head-coaching career at Florida Atlantic.

Go to a place like that and overachieve, as Kiffin did for three seasons, you might end up back in the big-time, as Kiffin also did — next came his three-year run of goodness at Ole Miss. Before Thursday, he was 23-10 at a school that had gone 15-21 in the three seasons before his arrival.

As you kept reading about the Kiffin-Auburn rumors, and perhaps pondered his unique trail of whistle stops, you might’ve been tempted to go to Kiffin’s bio and double-check things. Yep, it’s true, he’s still only 47.

Just 47, and he’s packed all this into his portfolio. First head-coaching gig was in the NFL, then two college bluebloods, then the discard pile before launching into an upward trajectory. At this pace, and with this trend, we can only guess what’s next.

Notre Dame, host of the Tonight Show, Dallas Cowboys, Secretary of State. In some to-be-determined order.

Alas, he’s no Lou Saban.

Lane Kiffin chasing the ghost of Lou Saban

If the Auburn stories are true, Kiffin will have his sixth head-coaching job at 47. Saban was on his seventh at that age, having coached in D3, the Big Ten and AFL. But it was after leaving that seventh job, with the Denver Broncos, that he really turned up the heat.

From 1972 to 2002, Lou Saban had 13 different head-coaching jobs, from the NFL to arena leagues to colleges (Army, Miami, UCF) and a three-year window (1987-89) when he coached three different high schools.

Oh, between all that, he mixed in a two-year stint as president of the New York Yankees. There was little tread, and zero moss, on Lou’s shoes.

Kiffin has a lot of work to do and a lot of boxes to pack if he’s ever gonna keep up with that pace. So far, so good, however.

Lou Saban, by the way, isn’t directly related to Nick — perhaps a very distant cousin. But Lane Kiffin is the son of Monte, who’s packed 16 stops into a 57-year career that continues, at 82, as a member of his son’s staff at FAU and then Ole Miss.

And maybe Auburn.

The Picks: Tide, Buckeyes, Irish, 'Noles ... but not Wartburg?

Gather ’round, between this week and next, we have to cobble together a plan to make things very difficult on the playoff committee. The end goal is making them toss and turn and sweat as they try to avoid having three SEC teams among the four-team playoff field.

Yes, a few things have to happen, both this week and in next week’s conference championship games. In the end, it won’t be cut and dry; some subjectivity will come into play.

But it begins this week …

’Bama beats Auburn.

Ohio State big over Michigan.

Notre Dame by 6 over USC.

• Elsewhere: FSU over Florida; Texas beats Baylor; N.C. over N.C. State; Dawgs by just 30 over Tech; Clemson holds off S. Carolina; Purdue beats Indiana for the Bucket; LSU big over Jimbo; UCF by a bunch over USF; Tennessee survives Vandy; Pitt over Miami; K-State beats Kansas; and smack-dab in the middle of Minnesota, the Saint John’s Johnnies, at home, over the Knights of Wartburg.

BTW: Yes, there are sexier names to put on your officially licensed game-day hoodie than Wartburg. Yet the backstory ain’t too shabby.

The Iowa college, a private Lutheran school in Waverly, traces its roots to Michigan and a Bavarian’s desire to train German immigrants to become pastors.

Between its German heritage and Lutheran beliefs, we get Wartburg, which was the name of the German castle where Martin Luther —. the Luther of Lutheran fame — was safely housed and protected during the 1520s, back when coloring outside the lines, even a tad, could get you on that era’s ultimate no-fly list.

So, next time you see a Wartburg shirt or cap, don’t snicker.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Lane Kiffin, rescued by Nick Saban, now chasing Lou Saban; Buckeyes win