BY MIKE RIFKIN
Well the question everyone in College Football has been asking was answered on Sunday. Lane Kiffin will be leaving Oxford, Mississippi to go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and coach the LSU Tigers. In December of 2019 Kiffin became the coach of the Rebels, leaving Florida Atlantic University. Kiffin signed a four year 16.2 million dollar contract. Kiffin went 55-19 in his six seasons at Ole Miss.
Kiffin has signed a seven year contract at LSU worth 12 million dollars per season. The 12 million make Kiffin the third highest paid coach in the country behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day. The difference is Smart and Day have won National Championships and Kiffin hasn’t. Kiffin will replace Brian Kelly, who was fired a few weeks ago.
On Friday Kiffin and the Rebels beat in state rivals Mississippi State for their 11th win of the season and basically clinching a spot in the CFP. Kiffin will not coach in the CFP.
Look, we get on players when it comes to free agency, or in the case of college players the transfer portal. But we are supposed to be okay when these coaches decide to leave for a higher profile job. And Kiffin can’t say he wasn’t just leaving for the money because both Ole Miss and LSU play in the same division in the same conference. The two teams will be scheduled to play each other in 2026 in Oxford.
I understand that there is very little loyalty in sports now. But the people who get hurt in this situation are the players, who are still kids. Now these Ole Miss players have to answer questions about a situation they shouldn’t be in. Today there are very few Bobby Bowden’s, Mike Krzyzewski, or Jim Boeheim’s. Ole Miss has their best season ever and now the coach leaves to become the third highest paid coach in the country, one thing is for sure LSU at Ole Miss will be must watch next season.
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