The Lane Kiffin era at Ole Miss is over.
Kiffin, who kept the college football world guessing about his status with the Rebels, announced on Sunday that he’ll leave the school for a new job as head coach at LSU.
For LSU, it’s a solid pickup in the wake of Brian Kelly getting fired and the fallout from it. For Kiffin, who wants a national championship, it marks a major step into a program that has one of Kiffin’s heroes in its coaching ranks: former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.
Kiffin met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter on Saturday before announcing his decision. There have been plenty of rumors online regarding Kiffin’s job status.
A report on Saturday morning indicated that if Kiffin leaves Ole Miss, Joe Judge would take over the Rebels on an interim basis. But a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Sunday indicated that defensive coordinator Pete Golding has been elevated to the permanent head coaching position.
How did Kiffin start his Saturday? OutKick-FOX college sports reporter Trey Wallace had a rundown that he posted on X.
On Saturday morning, though, Kiffin appeared to have Friday’s Egg Bowl game still on his mind. He posted this on X around 12:10 p.m. Eastern. He put a post on X referencing the on-field fight between Ole Miss and Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Friday, but ended up deleting that post.
Kiffin seemed a little prickly at times when talking with reporters after Ole Miss dominated Mississippi State 38-19 on Friday in Starkville, Miss.
In going to LSU, Kiffin has quite a background in college and NFL coaching. He spent time working as Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama. As a head college football coach, Kiffin has made stops at Florida Atlantic, USC, and Tennessee.
Kiffin coached the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders in the NFL, too, for two seasons but had a 5-15 record.
Consider what Kiffin has done at Ole Miss. In six seasons with the Rebels, Kiffin has gone 55-19 with two 11-win seasons during his tenure. He was the head coach of the Volunteers for one season, four seasons at USC, three seasons at Florida Athletic, and now at Ole Miss.
Besides LSU, Florida was also in the running for Kiffin’s services. On Friday, though, news got out that Florida has now moved along from Kiffin as a potential replacement for Billy Napier, who was fired earlier this season.
Florida officials, according to reports, indicated that the school’s communication with Kiffin had grown spotty and the school didn’t feel comfortable with what they were (or were not) hearing from Kiffin.
The Gators are now eyeing Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall as their new head coach, reports indicated on Saturday.
Leading into Sunday’s decision, Kiffin admitted on ESPN after Friday’s victory that he still had not made a final decision. Kiffin said that he had a lot to pray and think about in the coming hours.
Late Friday night-early Saturday morning, Kiffin posted a photo on X of him in his Ole Miss office.
He’s admitted he wished his late father, longtime college and NFL coach Monte Kiffin, were around to help him with his decision-making.
For now, Kiffin will jump over from Mississippi to Louisiana and take over that state’s premier college football program.
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