LSU head coach Lane Kiffin addresses whether he’s disliked more by Ole Miss Rebels fans or Tennessee Vols fans
LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has managed to anger multiple SEC fan bases, but perhaps none more so than the Tennessee Vols or Ole Miss Rebels, two schools where he previously coached.
LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has managed to anger nearly every fan base in the SEC at some point.
But two schools, specifically, have a bigger reason to dislike Kiffin than any other programs: the Tennessee Vols and the Ole Miss Rebels.
Kiffin was the head coach at Tennessee in 2009 before resigning to take the USC Trojans job (which he was fired from in 2013).
He was also the head coach at Ole Miss from 2020 to 2025 (when he quit on his team in the middle of a College Football Playoff run to take the LSU job).
Kiffin’s exits from Tennessee and Ole Miss were similarly chaotic — he didn’t leave either school on good terms — but he thinks one fan base dislikes him much more than the other.
Lane Kiffin believes he’s more disliked by Ole Miss fans than Tennessee fans
Kiffin told USA Today this week that he believes he’s more disliked by Ole Miss fans than by Tennessee fans.
The reason Kiffin says the hate is on a “way different level” is because he was at Ole Miss significantly longer than he was at Tennessee.
“It’s kind of like if you broke up with somebody. In this case, these are pretty big. They’re more like a divorce,” said Kiffin. “And, you leave by choice, but everything is going good on their end, they love it, and one person just leaves the relationship. There’s a lot of hatred. There’s a lot of villainizing, and that’s OK.”
While Kiffin acknowledges that Ole Miss fans dislike him more than Tennessee fans, he thinks his trip to Oxford this fall when LSU takes on the Rebels won’t be too bad because Vaught Hemingway Stadium seats 35,000 fewer people than Neyland Stadium.
“The only good thing is there’s definitely not near as many (fans) as a lot of stadiums, so it’s not like there will be 100,000, like Tennessee, hating you,” said Kiffin.
The hate from Tennessee fans in early 2010 when Kiffin left was real. But now that it’s been 16 years, Vols fans are like the ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend who got out of a toxic relationship early and now just sit back and say, “I told you so” as Kiffin continues to burn every bridge he’s crossed.
Kiffin, by the way, will visit Neyland this fall when LSU plays Tennessee in November.