Lane Kiffin will no longer coach Ole Miss after being formally hired by LSU
Lane Kiffin’s announcement on Twitter that he was leaving Ole Miss for LSU on Sunday afternoon put an end to weeks of rumors and conjecture about his future coaching plans.
The 50-year-old Kiffin has led the Rebels to an 11-1 record and a probable berth in this season’s 12-team College Football Playoff. Kiffin clarified in his statement that he will not be coaching Ole Miss in the playoffs, despite several stories citing his desire to coach the Rebels during what is anticipated to be a playoff run as a complicating factor in his departure.
“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” the statement stated in part. By leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, taking advantage of the team’s extraordinary success and their resolve to finish strong, and putting everything into a playoff run with safeguards in place to protect the program in any areas of concern, I was hoping to finish a historic six-season run with this year’s squad.
“The team also asked (Ole Miss athletic director) Keith Carter to let me continue coaching them so they could better sustain their high level of performance, but he turned down my request to do so. Regretfully, that means my final Rebels game as coach was Friday’s Egg Bowl.
Since head coach Brian Kelly was fired in October, Kiffin has been associated with LSU and Florida, another SEC program. It became evident in the last several days that LSU was now the top candidate to hire him. According to ESPN, the school is now reportedly offering Kiffin a seven-year contract worth about $12 million annually plus possible bonuses.
According to the USA Today coaches’ salary database, Kiffin currently makes $9 million, but the extension would put his income close to that of Georgia’s Kirby Smart, the highest-paid college coach at $13.3 million annually.
“We are extremely happy to have Coach Kiffin as the next head coach of the LSU football program,” said Verge Ausberry, the athletic director at LSU. “We shared when we began this search that LSU would secure the best coach in the country and Lane Kiffin is just that.”
Since taking over in 2020, Kiffin has led Ole Miss to five consecutive bowl games, including victories in the Outback Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Gator Bowl, with a 55-19 record (.743).
Prior to that, Kiffin worked as Nick Saban’s assistant at Alabama from 2014–16, rehabilitating his career after turbulent stints with Southern Cal (28–15) and Tennessee (7–6). As a result, from 2017 to 2019, he returned to a leading position with Florida Atlantic, going 27–13.
Kelly finished 34-14 at LSU and has a 200-76 record over 22 seasons (.725) after having productive stints at Central Michigan, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame. (.688) Kiffin is 117-53.
