Lane Kiffin officially announces exit from Ole Miss, takes shot at AD Keith Carter
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LSU has its next head coach.
The Tigers are hiring Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss to serve as the school’s 28th head football coach. Kiffin will join LSU after 6 seasons at Ole Miss, where he put together one of the best stretches in program history.
Kiffin made it official with a statement on Sunday afternoon. He also took a jab at Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter in his final statement, expressing disappointment that he won’t be able to remain with the program through its College Football Playoff run.
Here’s the statement from Kiffin:
Kiffin went 55-19 as the coach of the Rebels. His winning percentage (.743) ranks second all-time, behind only John Vaught, who went 190-61-12 (.745).
The Rebels won at least 10 games in 4 of Kiffin’s final 5 seasons with the program. Friday’s win over Mississippi State secured the school’s first-ever 11-win regular season just 2 years after Kiffin led Ole Miss to a then-program record 11 wins.
Ole Miss’s 50 total wins (and counting) since the start of the 2021 season represent the most during any 5-year stretch in program history. Kiffin is also the first Ole Miss coach ever to win double-digit games in 3 consecutive seasons.
He’ll join the Tigers looking to do what neither he could at Ole Miss or his predecessor could with LSU — win a national championship. Despite his successes, Ole Miss has not yet made the College Football Playoff under Kiffin.
Of course, that will likely soon change, with Ole Miss sitting sixth in the latest CFP Top 25. It’s unclear if Kiffin will stay to coach the team throughout its Playoff run. If not, Kiffin’s departure could reportedly impact the Rebels’ seeding in the field.
But LSU couldn’t wait forever. The Early Signing Period opens on Dec. 3 and runs through Dec. 5. The winter transfer portal window opens on Jan. 2. Landing Kiffin before the calendar flips away from November ensures he’ll have time to put together a staff and chart a course for putting together his first LSU roster.
Kiffin has employed a portal-heavy approach at Ole Miss, where recruiting high-end blue-chippers from the high school level has proven difficult. At LSU, landing elite high school talent shouldn’t be an issue. LSU has signed a top-10 high school class in 3 straight seasons. It has signed at least 1 Composite 5-star recruit every year since 2013.
However, that steady stream of talent hasn’t led to commensurate results of late.
The Tigers took a 7-4 record into the final week of the regular season. They peaked at No. 3 in the AP poll earlier this season after winning a high-profile season-opener at Clemson. The Tigers lost to Kiffin and his Rebels on Sept. 27, a result that kicked off a string of 4 losses in 5 games for LSU.
After a noncompetitive home loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 25, Brian Kelly was fired by the school. He went 34-14 across his 4 seasons with the program. While he went 3-0 in bowl games and helped Jayden Daniels capture the Heisman Trophy in 2023, Kelly failed to get LSU to the Playoff.
When he left Notre Dame after the 2021 season, he did so hoping to chase a national title. Before Kelly, each of LSU’s 3 previous head coaches captured national championships at some point throughout their tenure.
Kelly’s failure to do so has been attributed to several factors, perhaps the most polarizing of which were the hires he made to his assistant coaching staff.
A report last week suggested that Kiffin could bring Ed Orgeron back to Baton Rouge to coach on his staff as an assistant. It’s unclear what kind of role Orgeron would have, if that move materialized. Orgeron previously worked for Kiffin for 1 season at Tennessee, serving as the Vols’ associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, and defensive line coach.
Kiffin has handled the offense throughout his career. The defensive coordinator he hires now becomes the center of attention for LSU.
Current LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker was the highest-paid assistant in the FBS last season, at $2.5 million. Kiffin’s defensive coordinator at Ole Miss, Pete Golding, inked an extension this past August that upped his salary to $2.55 million. It’s not immediately clear if Kiffin will retain Baker, try to bring Golding with him to Baton Rouge, or look elsewhere.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
