Lane Kiffinleading candidate 2025 college football coaching carousel, has decided to leave Ole Miss at LSU and will not coach in the College Football Playoff, he announced Sunday after a days-long saga.
“After much prayer and time spent with my family, I have made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU.” Kiffin announced this on social media..
Kiffin leaves Ole Miss after six seasons and a 55–19 record. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding will be named the school's new coach, sources told CBS Sports Matt Zenitz, as the Rebels look to prevent a mass exodus with the school's first appearance on the horizon.
Kiffin released a statement around 2:00 pm local time on Sunday, blaming athletics director Keith Carter for his early departure.
I was hoping to complete a historic six-season streak with this year's team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team's incredible success and desire to finish strong, and putting everything into the playoffs with the guardrails in place to protect the program in all areas of concern. My request for this was denied by Keith Carter, despite the team also asking him to allow me to continue coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of play.
Unfortunately, this means that Friday's Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.
While I look forward to a fresh start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will always cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will root hard for the team to fulfill its mission of bringing a championship to Oxford.
Kiffin expected a decision Saturday after meeting with athletic director Keith Carter and university administrators, but both sides left the meeting without a public decision. The team's meeting was scheduled for 9 a.m. local time Sunday but was later moved to 1 p.m. as the football world scrambled to fill in the gaps in Kiffin's decision and Ole Miss's next move.
One of college football's most prominent coaches since joining the Rebels in 2020, Kiffin has led the program to four 10-win seasons and three finishes No. 11 or better in the AP Top 25. His tenure marked the most successful period at Ole Miss since integration.
However, at LSU, Kiffin has a chance to improve his resume. Three of Baton Rouge's last four coaches have won national titles, which have been elusive for Kiffin. Additionally, Brian Kelly won the SEC West division championship in 2022 before the league switched to a non-division format.
Kelly was fired in just his fourth season after the program invested heavily in his roster. The Tigers limped off to a 5-3 start, including a 49-25 loss at the hands of Texas A&M. Kiffin defeated Kelly 24-19 in what appeared to be a signature bout in Oxford, Mississippi, but the Tigers ultimately fell from No. 4 to unranked.
Although Kiffin is one of college football's most widely traveled coaches, he has never coached in the state of Louisiana. However, he worked under former Tigers coach Nick Saban in Alabamaand Pete Carroll in LSU. Kiffin previously served as head coach Tennessee (2009), USC (2010-13) and with the Oakland Raiders (2007-08).
At LSU, Kiffin is tasked with returning the Tigers to national contention. The program has not won a national or SEC championship since firing coach Ed Orgeron after the 2020 season.
What's next for Ole Miss?
The timing of Kiffin's decision really couldn't have been worse for the Rebels, who secured the program's first College Football Playoff appearance Friday with a 38-19 win over their opponent. Mississippi in an egg bowl.
Carter hopes to keep the current formula intact with Golding, 41, who got his first big break as defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach in UTSA and parlayed it into his role as defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2018-22, where he coached under Nick Saban.
Golding left for Ole Miss in January 2023. In August, Ole Miss made Golding the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the SEC with a three-year contract extension worth about $2.61 million per year.
How will leaving affect Kiffin's legacy?
On one hand, Ole Miss fans should be grateful for Kiffin's time in Oxford. He had some of the best seasons in program history and single-handedly improved the Rebels' SEC prospects. Even talking about Ole Miss as a consistent national contender in the modern era is a testament to Kiffin's efforts.
Ole Miss fans also have every right to be outraged. A coach leaving school for a better opportunity stings, but it's not unheard of; But a coach leaving a school on the cusp of its first College Football Playoff game is unprecedented and smacks of betrayal.
It's reminiscent of the time, just under 16 years ago, when Kiffin abruptly left Tennessee after spending one season with the Vols to replace Pete Carroll at USC. Kiffin's decision hastened Tennessee's decline into a decade of irrelevance.
It's unknown if the same thing will happen at Ole Miss, but this move may be worse to begin with. Kiffin coached the Rebels for six seasons, the longest he's ever stayed in one job as a coach. He has taken the program to heights it hasn't seen since Johnny Vaught patrolled the sidelines.
In an era where sustained success is more difficult than ever, Kiffin has more than acclimated himself – he has thrived and turned Ole Miss into a model buyout program. Now he could use the same tactics to take the Ole Miss stars to Baton Rouge, which would drive the dagger even deeper.
An offseason campaign pointing to Kiffin's growth – at least professionally – rings hollow. It's fair to wonder if he's motivated by anything other than the almighty dollar, since winning and resources clearly weren't issues at Ole Miss.
What will Kiffin inherit from LSU?
Kiffin inherits an LSU roster that could look very different next year. The Tigers did everything they could to build a roster designed to compete for a championship this offseason, which meant adding a lot of veterans through the transfer portal and investing significant capital in retaining top talent.
LSU's depth chart lists 18 seniors or draft-eligible juniors/redshirt sophomores. This includes prominent names such as defender Garrett Nussmeierdefender Mansour Delaney and safety AJ Halsey. Kiffin might be able to convince some of LSU's impact players eligible to return, but there will still be a lot of turnover.
Not that that's necessarily a problem for Kiffin, who touts the well-earned nickname “King of the Portals.” For him, lineup changes are nothing new; Kiffin relied heavily on the transfer portal to fill Ole Miss' roster with talent each year.
The Rebels have had a top-five transfer class in every cycle since 2022. 247Sports begins ranking transfer earnings – and 2025. That's about the same thing you'd expect from a place like LSU, which hasn't shied away from attracting talent in recent years.
