Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin “intends” to leave the Rebels’ program and coach LSU next season, according to a report from On3 Sports’ Pete Nakos, Chris Low, and Brett McMurphy.
The news was expected to come sometime on Saturday, following the Rebels’ regular-season finale win over Mississippi State on Friday, but things have dragged out until Sunday. On3’s report suggests that Kiffin is trending toward the Bayou Bengals, but that there’s one big holdup that’s slowing down the matter on the Ole Miss side.
Nakos, Low, and McMurphy’s reporting states that the ongoing delay in an official decision comes from “Kiffin’s desire to continue coaching Ole Miss throughout the playoff, which Ole Miss officials had told him he would not be allowed to do if he took another job.”
The report does very clearly state that despite “growing confidence” from people around the LSU program, no contract had officially been signed when the report went live just before 2:00 a.m. ET on On3 Sports’ site.
Lane Kiffin’s expected departure from Ole Miss continued to dominate the post-Thanksgiving news wire in the sport of college football. Kiffin’s Rebels clobbered rival Mississippi State on Friday afternoon to finish the season at a program-best 11-1 record. Still, though, the main talking point after the game in Starkville was about Kiffin’s future with the program and what would come on Saturday.
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On Friday, Nov. 21, Ole Miss AD Keith Carter set Saturday as the deadline for Kiffin’s decision, citing the need for the Rebels’ players to be focused on the Egg Bowl and the subsequent playoffs. Kiffin had the college football world’s attention all day on Saturday, which coincided with rivalry weekend, but no decision had come by the time that most people went to bed.
On3 Sports’ report states that Ole Miss officials are holding a team meeting that is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday morning, which could perhaps lead to a more concrete resolution. In the meantime, though, it looks as though things are trending toward the way of the LSU Tigers, but nothing is official at the time of this publication.
Kiffin has spent six seasons with Ole Miss after joining the program before the 2020 season. He has an overall record of 55-19 with the Rebels during that stretch, and has cranked out 10 or more wins in four out of his last five seasons. Kiffin’s Ole Miss resume also includes an Outback Bowl win, a Peach Bowl win, a Gator Bowl win, a Sugar Bowl appearance, and a Texas Bowl appearance. This season would have been his first playoff appearance as a head coach.
