Coaching changes have become common in modern college football, but Lane Kiffin’s jump from Ole Miss to LSU is the kind of move that will dominate the news cycle for a while. The Rebels have punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff and are chasing their first national title since 1962.
However, Kiffin exited Ole Miss after elevating the program to a level other coaches had spent years trying to reach.
Urban Meyer Reveals the Truth Behind Lane Kiffin’s Playoff Confidence at Ole Miss
Despite heading to LSU, Kiffin originally asked to remain with Ole Miss and guide the squad through the playoffs, but the Rebels’ athletic director, Keith Carter, shut that down. Meanwhile, Kiffin reportedly tried to lure some Ole Miss staff members to join him, and his standing with the program appears to be getting more strained by the day.
On Tuesday’s episode of “The Triple Option” podcast with Mark Ingram and Rob Stone, co-host Urban Meyer was asked by Stone whether Ole Miss made the right call by refusing to let Kiffin coach his former team in the postseason.
“You know what you’re seeing, two lane right now in North Texas,” Meyer answered (18:20). “They’re allowing their coaches to come back and coach in the conference championships. I had that experience when I was in Utah. We were the first non-BCS to go to the BCS bowl. They allowed me to come back.
“He wanted to finish what he started. And here’s what someone brought up to me with the transition of players, that there’s at times 40 to 50 new players every year now. Dan Mullen took over UNLV. He had set, I think, 70 new players, and they went 10 and 2. So do you allow the coach to finish because that’s going to be a new team anyway next year with the transfer portal and all that?”
When a head coach walks away from his team before a playoff run, his commitment is always going to be questioned. Ole Miss is now under new head coach Pete Golding, but the program remains in a tough spot as it risks losing even more key players to the transfer portal.
Ole Miss sits at No. 6 with an 11-1 record in the current College Football Playoff standings, and it also holds the No. 7 spot in the PFSN College Football Playoff Ranking.
Though Kiffin can’t coach Ole Miss in the postseason, former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. will return to lead the Rebels through the College Football Playoff, even after joining LSU’s staff under Kiffin. This gives Weis the chance to finish what he started in Oxford before stepping into his new offensive coordinator role with the Tigers.
