Report: If Lane Kiffin leaves, Joe Judge will "likely" be Ole Miss interim head coach

Bill Belichick won't be coaching in a bowl game this year. One of his former lieutenants may be coaching in the College Football Playoff.

Via Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com, current Ole Miss quarterbacks coach Joe Judge would be the “likely” interim coach for the upcoming postseason run, if Lane Kiffin leaves.

Judge, 43, spent eight years in New England with Belichick before getting the Giants' head-coaching job in 2020. His disastrous run in New York ended with a 10-23 record.

He returned to New England as an offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach for 2022. He served as assistant head coach in 2023, Belichick's last year with the team.

Judge landed with Kiffin in 2024 as a senior analyst. He became the quarterbacks coach this year.

It's unclear whether Judge would be a viable candidate for the permanent job. Much of that surely depends on how far he takes the Rebels in the playoffs.