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Mark Schlabach
OXFORD, Miss. — Final month, as a few of the largest school soccer manufacturers pursued Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, a employees member polled the group’s assistant coaches about the place they wished to be within the 2026 season.
The coaches mentioned 4 choices: Stay at Ole Miss, the place that they had constructed a authentic School Soccer Playoff contender; go away for SEC rivals Florida or LSU; or take over Florida State, which based on individuals with data of the search, was making a stealth transfer to poach Kiffin.
The complete defensive teaching employees, led by coordinator Pete Golding, most popular to remain at Ole Miss, which was on the verge of its first 11-win common season and CFP look, two sources advised ESPN.
All however one offensive assistant wished to depart for both Florida or LSU, which traditionally had loved extra success than Ole Miss however had fired their coaches after their groups struggled this season.
That assembly was indicative of the divided loyalties and uncertainty that outlined one of the compelling teaching searches in school soccer historical past, which threatened to not solely derail the Rebels’ historic season but in addition captivated followers on three SEC campuses and across the nation.
On Sunday, after days of mounting rigidity and uncertainty, Kiffin lastly agreed to become LSU’s coach, abandoning an Ole Miss group that’s 11-1 and holds the No. 6 spot within the CFP choice committee’s newest rankings.
Even worse for a lot of Ole Miss followers, Kiffin departed for a program they take into account its fiercest rival within the SEC.
“You are not leaving to educate the Giants or the Dolphins or the Buckeyes,” a supply acquainted with the state of affairs advised ESPN. “You are speaking about going to a spot that we’ll play [each of the next four seasons].”
BY THE TIME the Rebels traveled to play rival Mississippi State within the Egg Bowl on Friday, a pall had settled over the Ole Miss program.
Florida and LSU had ramped up their courtships of Kiffin, who had reworked Ole Miss from a midtier SEC program to top-of-the-line within the FBS. The Rebels had gone 54-19 underneath Kiffin, successful 10 or extra video games in 4 of the previous 5 seasons. Solely blue bloods Alabama and Georgia had extra success within the league since Kiffin arrived.
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin interviewed Kiffin in Oxford in early November — a daring transfer behind enemy strains to get an edge on probably the most coveted candidate within the teaching carousel, two Florida sources advised ESPN. Gators followers, who had watched their group limp to shedding data in 4 of the previous 5 seasons, clearly favored Kiffin.
Years in the past, Kiffin wished Florida, however Stricklin employed Billy Napier, then the coach at Louisiana, in November 2021. Kiffin’s off-field conduct made Napier the safer choice, regardless of the Rebels’ 10-3 marketing campaign that season, through which they defeated nationally ranked Arkansas and Texas A&M.
The Gators went 22-23 in three-plus seasons underneath Napier, and he was fired Oct. 19 after they struggled to a 3-4 begin.
It wasn’t the primary time Kiffin had been rebuffed by the Gators. After Kiffin was fired as USC‘s coach 5 video games into the 2013 season — the Trojans dismissed him in a personal terminal at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport following an unpleasant 62-41 loss at Arizona State — then-Florida coach Will Muschamp sought to rent Kiffin as his offensive coordinator the subsequent season. Nevertheless, Muschamp was advised by UF officers that the SEC workplace would not permit him to usher in Kiffin, based on two individuals acquainted with the state of affairs, and Alabama’s Nick Saban employed Kiffin a few weeks later.
Early on, Ole Miss officers believed Florida is likely to be the largest menace to lure Kiffin away due to his household’s connection to the Gators. His ex-wife, Layla, had moved to Oxford earlier this yr to be nearer to 2 of her youngsters: Knox, a sophomore at Oxford Excessive College, and Landry, a junior at Ole Miss. Layla Kiffin’s father, John Reaves, was a star quarterback for the Gators from 1969 to 1971 and was later an assistant underneath legendary coach Steve Spurrier.
Nevertheless, the Florida opening grew to become Kiffin’s second selection, sources near him advised ESPN, as soon as LSU fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26, a day after the Tigers misplaced to Texas A&M 49-25 at dwelling. Whereas Kiffin was reportedly turned off by Stricklin’s involvement within the Florida program, he did not appear overly involved in regards to the political surroundings at LSU.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was extremely important of athletic director Scott Woodward for leaving LSU on the hook for a $54 million buyout when Kelly was fired. Woodward resigned underneath stress Oct. 30 and was changed by longtime LSU administrator Verge Ausberry.
Throughout his introductory information convention Monday, Kiffin revealed he had a “distinctive, nice name with Governor Landry” throughout LSU’s recruitment of him.
“I might really feel his ardour and vitality for the state of Louisiana and for LSU soccer,” Kiffin stated.
LSU grew to become extra enticing to Kiffin as soon as Ausberry was promoted, sources advised ESPN. Saban, who guided the Tigers to the 2003 nationwide championship and helped Kiffin resurrect his profession when he introduced him on as Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016, was complementary of Ausberry.
LSU brass interviewed Kiffin someday in mid-November. On Monday, Ausberry stated the preliminary interview with Kiffin lasted lower than 90 minutes. When Ausberry referred to as different LSU officers to choose him up, they have been like, “Y’all end, already?”
“It wasn’t a three- or four-hour assembly,” Ausberry stated. “[Former LSU baseball coach and athletic director] Skip Bertman taught me that. Nick Saban taught me that you do not ask nice coaches, ‘What you gonna do on third-and-8? Inform me about your offensive recreation plan, inform me about your protection, inform me about who you are gonna rent.’
“Right here, it is like, ‘What do it’s worthwhile to achieve success? We would like you to be our coach right here. What do you anticipate from me as athletic director? What do you anticipate from LSU, and do you wish to be at LSU?’ And that was just about the dialog.”
Ausberry recalled working underneath Bertman when the Tigers employed Oklahoma State‘s Les Miles earlier than the 2005 soccer season. Bertman’s groups gained 5 School World Sequence titles and 7 SEC championships throughout his 18 seasons as coach from 1984 to 2001.
“Hiring the soccer coach at LSU is the largest factor within the state of Louisiana,” Ausberry advised Bertman. “It is the largest job. I stated, ‘For those who rent the flawed one, Coach Bertman, all of your nationwide championships, all of your nice baseball packages, that is going to be your legacy.’
“So, I assumed that this is able to be my legacy at LSU, and that I’ve to get the best individual to be the pinnacle coach of LSU.”
On the similar time, Florida State athletic director Michael Alford additionally was wooing Kiffin behind the scenes, sources acquainted with the search advised ESPN. Kiffin and Alford had labored collectively at USC — Alford because the Trojans’ affiliate AD from 2000 to 2003 and Kiffin as Pete Carroll’s tight ends/vast receivers coach from 2001 to 2003. However Florida State hadn’t fired embattled coach Mike Norvell, whose program had slipped dramatically after going 13-1 and successful an ACC title in 2023. The Seminoles cratered final season, going 2-10, adopted by a 5-7 mark this yr.
The Seminoles would have owed Norvell about $54 million in the event that they fired him with out trigger, plus one other $18 million to repay his assistants.
Hiring Kiffin, the most well liked coach in the marketplace, might need allowed Alford to justify spending $72 million to dismiss Norvell and his employees. The Seminoles’ recruitment of Kiffin continued into the center of November, based on the sources. However after it grew to become clear Kiffin wasn’t coming, FSU introduced Nov. 23 that Norvell would return for a seventh season.
Ausberry stated he labored tirelessly to maintain LSU’s courtship of Kiffin underneath wraps, although there was loads of hypothesis that the Tigers wished him.
On Nov. 17, followers utilizing on-line flight trackers found that LSU had flown a jet to Oxford and again. Layla Kiffin and different relations visited Baton Rouge that day. She visited Gainesville, Florida, the day earlier than together with her son and Lane’s brother Chris’ son.
“They needed to actually see Baton Rouge,” Ausberry stated. “That was one of many massive issues, as a result of her father was an All-American on the College of Florida, and a coach [and] nice NFL participant, and people are issues that we have been somewhat afraid of. That is that pull of Gainesville, after which she got here to Baton Rouge.”
Kiffin’s household visits to rival SEC campuses — and the truth that they grew to become so public — have been like a slap within the face to many Ole Miss followers, who believed their coach was trolling them.
Kiffin was upset about what Rebels followers have been saying about him, however an Ole Miss supply described the event as a “self-inflicted wound.”
“What do you anticipate when your loved ones flies to go to two of our opponents?” the Ole Miss supply stated.
A WEEK BEFORE the Egg Bowl, Kiffin met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce, as stress was reaching a tipping level between the edges. Carter and Boyce wished Kiffin to decide and signal a prolonged contract extension that may have made him one of many highest-paid coaches within the sport.
Ole Miss officers had assured Kiffin it might match something Florida and LSU have been providing by way of income sharing and NIL, not less than underneath present NCAA guidelines.
Kiffin wasn’t able to commit, nonetheless, and knowledgeable Boyce and Carter that he hadn’t made up his thoughts. Kiffin did not assume it was honest that he needed to determine at that time as a result of Ole Miss hadn’t even completed the common season, sources near the coach advised ESPN.
“That is what’s flawed with the entire system,” a supply near Kiffin advised ESPN. “As a result of that is one other instance of how no person’s been accountable for something in school soccer. As a result of if it was the NFL, you could not speak to anyone till after the playoffs. It is a horrible system.”
Boyce and Carter explored potential methods to maintain him from teaching within the Egg Bowl — and so they made it clear that he would not coach within the CFP if he accepted a job at Florida or LSU, Ole Miss sources advised ESPN.
Cooler heads prevailed, and the edges agreed that the Rebels wanted to concentrate on beating Mississippi State and doubtlessly securing a CFP first-round dwelling recreation, which might be profitable for each Ole Miss and Oxford.
“[Kiffin] was on the lookout for a cause to depart,” an Ole Miss supply advised ESPN. “When Keith type of put him on the clock, I believe that type of modified the narrative, modified the panorama somewhat bit.”
Carter launched an announcement Nov. 21 saying he’d had “many pointed and constructive conversations” with Kiffin concerning his future at Ole Miss and that he anticipated a choice from his coach the day after the Egg Bowl.
By that time, many Ole Miss followers have been fed up with the drama. One outstanding booster advised ESPN this week he’d already knowledgeable the athletic division that if Kiffin returned, he would not proceed contributing cash to this system.
“The fan base went from wanting to construct a statue for him to desirous to run him out of city,” the booster stated.
WHEN THE EGG BOWL lastly arrived Friday, there was an awesome sense that Kiffin was teaching his final recreation at Ole Miss. There was loads of drama off the sector, as nicely.
Earlier than kickoff in Starkville, Kiffin advised ESPN that Mississippi State college students broke into the Rebels locker room at Davis Wade Stadium, stealing the jerseys of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and different gamers.
Mississippi State officers had promised to place safety guards exterior the locker room however failed to take action, and the thieves broke in once more, Kiffin stated. The Rebels had captured the thefts on hidden cameras and turned the video over to police.
The Rebels ran away from the Bulldogs within the second half of a 38-19 victory. As Kiffin celebrated with gamers for the final time, Mississippi State officers blared the hit music from The Conflict, “Ought to I Keep or Ought to I Go,” over the stadium audio system.
As Kiffin walked off the sector, he embraced Boyce. Then he turned his consideration to Ben Garrett, a reporter for On3. Kiffin confronted Garrett for utilizing lyrics from a rap music to explain his unwillingness to decide to Ole Miss throughout a podcast: “Cannot flip a h- right into a housewife. H-s do not act proper.”
Their argument continued in Kiffin’s postgame information convention, with Kiffin calling Garrett’s actions “bush league.”
“I do not even know your title,” Kiffin advised the reporter, a tactic he generally makes use of with employees members when he is upset.
Garrett advised ESPN that Kiffin referred to as him the subsequent day to apologize — and referred to as him by his title. Just a few hours later, Kiffin texted Garrett a meme of Kiffin carrying a yellow-and-purple hat with the phrase “h-” on it.
AS COLLEGE FOOTBALL followers turned their consideration to Saturday’s rivalry video games, the Ole Miss campus was largely quiet. College students have been away for the Thanksgiving break, and Kiffin spent the morning along with his household at a scorching yoga class.
At one level, he assembled his teaching employees on the Manning Heart to overview movie of Georgia, in case Alabama misplaced to Auburn within the Iron Bowl, which might have put the Rebels within the SEC championship recreation.
Round 6 p.m. ET, Kiffin met with Carter on the chancellor’s dwelling on campus. Throughout the almost two-hour assembly, Kiffin broke the information that he was leaving for LSU. Nevertheless, Kiffin continued to foyer his AD to permit him to educate the Rebels within the CFP.
“[Kiffin] had a possibility to educate within the playoff, and that may have been to remain at Ole Miss, and he selected not to try this,” Carter advised ESPN. “That is his selection, and I respect that selection. However then we had to choose, and speaking with the group and spending time with them, I believe they know they want coaches to make a playoff run.
“I believe they have been very involved about their place coaches and people varieties of issues. However I believe they understood when somebody takes a job at one other place — and never solely one other place however certainly one of our rivals and a group that can be enjoying in our stadium subsequent yr — I believe that that is one thing that no person feels snug with.”
Carter advised ESPN that he’d been weighing whether or not to permit Kiffin to educate within the SEC championship recreation due to the quick turnaround. When it grew to become obvious that Boyce and Carter weren’t going to budge on their place in regards to the CFP, based on Ole Miss sources, Kiffin threatened to take his total offensive teaching employees with him to LSU.
It was his final leverage chip in a tense standoff to educate within the postseason. Ole Miss employees members confirmed to ESPN that Kiffin advised his assistants that in the event that they did not go to LSU with him on Sunday, they would not have a job with him sooner or later.
By the point LSU directors landed in Baton Rouge following the Tigers’ 17-13 loss at Oklahoma on Saturday, Kiffin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, had been frantically making an attempt to achieve Ausberry. When the boys lastly linked, Sexton delivered the information that Kiffin was able to take the LSU job.
The end result of the Iron Bowl might need decided whether or not the Tigers must wait one other week to introduce their new coach. Auburn rallied to tie the rating late within the fourth quarter, however Alabama went forward 27-20 with 3:50 to play.
After Alabama recovered a fumble at its 20-yard line with 33 seconds left, Kiffin’s tenure at Ole Miss was over.
“It is a robust state of affairs,” Ausberry stated. “He liked that place. We have been eager about that timeline. Additionally, I received type of nervous the night time when Auburn tied Alabama in that recreation. Now, it’d push us again every week, however we have been snug.”
In reality, Ausberry stated LSU did not have an issue with Kiffin teaching the Rebels within the CFP, so long as he signed his contract with the Tigers. Kiffin stated in an announcement saying his departure that Carter would not permit him to educate, and he added that he was prepared to place guardrails in place to guard Ole Miss however did not specify what they’d be.
“It is nice,” Ausberry stated. “It is nice publicity for our establishment. You will have a coach, teaching on the market, teaching [in the] playoff, enjoying for a nationwide championship, and being the subsequent coach of LSU, so we had no issues with that.”
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Lane Kiffin respects Ole Miss’ resolution to not have him coach in CFP
New LSU coach Lane Kiffin displays on the method that led to Ole Miss not permitting him to educate the Rebels within the School Soccer Playoff.
That was precisely the state of affairs Ole Miss officers wished to keep away from — its historic CFP run turning into a monthlong infomercial for LSU’s subsequent coach. Additionally they did not need Kiffin teaching their gamers as soon as he left. The switch portal opens Jan. 2, and it could have given Kiffin extra time to doubtlessly recruit the Rebels’ greatest gamers.
“The gamers have been involved about dedication and people varieties of issues,” Carter stated. “[With] this playoff run, we plan on this being a four-, five-, six-week factor. There’s simply no approach that that is doable. I do know that the scheduling and the timing and all that stuff is part of the equation. However I am simply undecided there was any plan that was going to work that may permit the pinnacle coach of a rival college to be in your constructing and training your guys. We needed to arise for our program and what we thought was greatest.”
Late Saturday night time, ESPN reported that Kiffin was signing a seven-year contract with LSU. A group assembly was scheduled for 10 a.m. ET Sunday, when Kiffin would handle the Rebels for the ultimate time.
ON SUNDAY, the assembly was pushed again to 2 p.m. ET, as Ole Miss officers scrambled to determine which assistants have been leaving and staying. The Rebels additionally have been working to call an interim coach. Pete Golding would find yourself being employed as Kiffin’s everlasting substitute earlier than the group assembly.
“I received again to the workplace and stated, ‘You realize what? We have a fantastic answer to all this. Any person that is proper right here underneath our nostril, that is going to be the subsequent nice coach. He may help us maintain this employees collectively,'” Carter stated.
Kiffin inspired Carter to satisfy with the group’s management council, based on Ole Miss sources, telling him that he wasn’t going to love what he would hear. However as a substitute of telling Carter the group wished Kiffin to educate within the CFP, the gamers stated they have been extra nervous about their place coaches staying and had grown bored with the drama surrounding Kiffin.
After the 30-minute assembly with Carter, the management council additionally met with Kiffin, Ole Miss sources advised ESPN.
In response to the assertion Kiffin issued saying his resolution, through which he claimed the gamers wished him “to maintain teaching them,” Rebels beginning heart Brycen Sanders, a member of the management council, posted on X on Tuesday: “I believe everybody that was in that room would disagree.”
Linebacker Suntarine Perkins, one other member of the council, added on X: “That was not the message you stated within the assembly room. Everyone that was in there can vouch on this.”
In the meantime, Layla Kiffin drove a white Mercedes into the parking zone behind the constructing about an hour earlier than the scheduled group assembly. Golding paced on a sidewalk, speaking on a cellphone for greater than quarter-hour.
Lane Kiffin was escorted out of the Manning Heart 10 minutes earlier than Ole Miss gamers met with Carter, Boyce and Golding.
There have been a couple of dozen followers and reporters gathered exterior the constructing. Officers in three police cruisers have been parked close by, in case issues received out of hand, as they did when Kiffin left Tennessee after just one season in January 2010. UT college students burned couches and almost rioted the night time of his beautiful departure.
As Kiffin and his son drove out of the parking zone round 1:45 p.m. ET, an Ole Miss pupil approached his black SUV and made an obscene gesture. It wasn’t the final one Kiffin would see that day.
A couple of minutes later, Ole Miss gamers began to file out of the Manning Heart. Certainly one of them yelled, “It is the Pete Golding period!”
By then, two planes owned by an LSU booster had been dispatched to choose up Kiffin, his household and the employees members who have been becoming a member of him in Baton Rouge. The unique rendezvous level was Tupelo, Mississippi, which is greater than 50 miles from the Ole Miss campus.
On the way in which to Mississippi, somebody advised Ausberry that the flight was being diverted to Oxford’s airport.
“We’re going the place? Oxford?” Ausberry stated. “They will be capturing missiles at us.”
Just a few hundred Ole Miss followers lined the fences of the runway of College-Oxford Airport when the 2 planes landed. They booed the pilots, who might solely chortle and wave. When somebody requested Ausberry if he wanted to make use of the restroom within the airport terminal, he stated, “That is OK, I am going to maintain it.”
One after the other, the Ole Miss assistants who have been becoming a member of Kiffin arrived on the airport and have been escorted to the planes in a black SUV. The followers booed their disapproval at offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., passing recreation coordinator/receivers coach George McDonald and co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Joe Cox, amongst others. (LSU introduced Tuesday that Weis will return to Ole Miss for the CFP.)
Layla Kiffin was booed loudly when she drove her Mercedes onto the runway.
“He’s what we thought he was,” Ole Miss graduate Taylor Cauthen stated of Lane Kiffin whereas standing alongside a fence. “He was gonna win, and we knew how he was gonna go away. I imply, it is not shocking to anyone with any sense.
“He was gonna win video games, and he was gonna go away, and it was gonna be unhealthy.”
Cauthen, who moved again to Oxford in July, stated Kiffin hijacked the Rebels’ historic season and turned it right into a cleaning soap opera about him.
“He is taken it from us,” Cauthen stated. “He made all of it about him. I believe he wakes up each morning, appears to be like at himself within the mirror and tells himself he loves him. I believe that is who he cares about most. I believe he cares about himself greater than something on this earth, together with his household.”
Joe Ignatius, an Ole Miss baseball participant from 1992 to 1996, watched in disbelief as Kiffin and his assistants left Oxford like diplomats fleeing a overseas nation.
“I really feel naive pondering it would not occur to us,” Ignatius stated. “It simply did not need to go this fashion. It might have been six nice years going your approach, thanks for what you probably did. However leopards do not change their spots. And I received fooled, so not what I anticipated.”
Ignatius stated he felt the worst for his son, Bodacious, an eighth grader who grew to like the Ole Miss soccer group.
Kiffin, alongside along with his son, was the final individual to reach on the airport. By then, police have been turning away followers as a result of the parking tons have been full. Kiffin used an auxiliary entrance, which had fireplace vans and firefighters blocking the highway to maintain followers away. He was escorted down the runway by a state trooper and one other emergency automobile.
As soon as Kiffin pulled his SUV subsequent to the airplane, the Ole Miss followers gave him a full-throated send-off. He was embraced by Ausberry, who was carrying a purple shirt, and climbed the jet’s stairs. There was no farewell wave to the followers.
“He received on that airplane and was like, ‘Let’s go. I am prepared,'” Ausberry stated.
Just a few hours later, defensive deal with Lamar Brown of Baton Rouge, an LSU commit and the No. 1 participant within the 2026 class based on ESPN’s recruiting rankings, posted a photograph with Kiffin on X with the caption, “Welcome dwelling.”
Throughout a information convention at LSU on Monday, Kiffin stated he wasn’t stunned by the response of Ole Miss followers when he left.
“They ain’t going to the airport and driving from throughout, OK, to say these issues and yell these issues and attempt to run you off the highway when you have been doing unhealthy,” Kiffin stated. “Time heals lots of issues, and having gone by means of this on this convention earlier than, I positive hope that occurs.”
Kiffin will not have to attend lengthy to seek out out. The Tigers are scheduled to open SEC play at Ole Miss subsequent season.
On Monday on the Po-Boy Categorical in Baton Rouge, LSU fan Remi Brignac, his son Beau and their good friend Jay Olinde have been discussing this system’s future with Kiffin.
“We’re optimistic for change,” Remi stated. “Lastly received an offensive thoughts.”
Olinde, in the meantime, is not anticipating a long-term marriage.
“I imagine that he’ll convey this system again to the place we anticipate it to be in Baton Rouge,” Olinde stated. “However I additionally imagine that as quickly as he will get that achieved, he’ll go away for the NFL, teaching the Dallas Cowboys.”
ESPN’s Dave Wilson contributed to this report
