What Ole Miss AD Keith Carter’s statement means for Lane Kiffin and his future with the Rebels program after the Egg Bowl
The Lane Kiffin head coaching saga will drag on another week, but does that mean he’s leaving for LSU Tigers or Florida Gators?
The Lane Kiffin saga seemingly never ends. The Rebels’ current head coach met with Keith Carter (the Ole Miss athletic director) and university chancellor Glenn Boyce on Friday, but no official answer on Kiffin’s future emerged. Instead, the university decided to release a statement, saying that Kiffin would be announcing his future plans on the Saturday following the Egg Bowl game against Mississippi State.
What does this mean for Ole Miss fans? Is he staying? Leaving? Can we really know?
Lane Kiffin to make announcement on his future following the Egg Bowl
Lane Kiffin (and/or his family and representation) spent much of this past week traveling to and meeting with both the LSU Tigers and Florida Gators. This was no secret. Flights were tracked. Pictures and videos were taken. Reports were confirmed. It was clear that coach Kiffin was at the very least doing his due diligence in deciding whether to leave or stay at Ole Miss for the foreseeable future.
There was supposedly a deadline for a decision to be made by Lane Kiffin (one way or the other) that came from the university, but that was largely denied. We’ll likely never know if that was the case prior to Friday’s meeting with Ole Miss senior leadership, and that decision may have actually already been shared with athletic director Carter and chancellor Boyce. Here is the official statement from Carter and Ole Miss:
“Coach Kiffin and I have had many pointed and positive conversations regarding his future at Ole Miss, including meeting today with Chancellor Boyce. While we discuss next steps, we know we cannot lose sight of what is most important — our sixth-ranked team that is poised to finish the regular season in historic fashion. Despite the outside noise, Coach Kiffin is focused on preparing our team for the Egg Bowl, and together, we want to ensure than our players and coaches can concentrate fully on next Friday’s game. This team is on the cusp of an unprecedented season, and it’s imperative they feel the support of the Ole Miss family in the week ahead. An announcement on Coach Kiffin’s future is expected the Saturday following the game.”
It’s a nice message from Carter, and the Ole Miss Rebels’ 10-1 football team should absolutely focused on winning the university’s most intense and storied rivalry game. Regardless, that attempt to refocus won’t change the fact that the future of Lane Kiffin is all that fans, media, and most likely the players and staff will be thinking about this week. Knowing that, what is actually going to happen?
Stories are already being written, videos are confidently being published, many of which assert with near 100% confidence that this surely means Kiffin is gone, but that’s certainly premature. The argument for Kiffin likely leaving now seems to rely on the university simply asking their head coach to wait a week to make the announcement so the team doesn’t fall apart ahead of a bid for the College Football Playoff. Ole Miss isn’t technically in the bracket just yet after all.
That is a logical line of thinking, but in proper Lane Kiffin fashion (a man who loves his attention), this would be the ultimate opportunity to have his “I’m not leaving!” moment for his players, fans, and the university to rally around amid the greatest season in program history.
Both Kiffin and the university may very well have agreed to a contract already today, but recognize they have the opportunity to control the narrative, build the hype, and continue riding the momentum towards what could legitimately be a national championship season this year.
It’s impossible to know which outcome (if any) already took place today with Lane Kiffin’s coaching decision. He might be headed to LSU. The resources there are among the best in the country. He might be headed to Florida. The personal ties there are strong for Kiffin. However, the counterpoint here is that Kiffin has turned Ole Miss into a monster of a program that is now set up to thrive long-term in this modern era of college football.
Not only that, but Kiffin also recognizes that by leaving (or even announcing his departure) now in the middle of the best season in Ole Miss history he will become the single most hated villain in the entire sport. There will be no close second. Abandoning your team when you could still win a championship, perhaps sitting at 11-1, to go join two programs that have fired multiple coaches in the last five years? That would quite possibly be the most selfish, ridiculous coaching move ever made in the history of college football.
Kiffin talks about how he’s changed. He says he’s happier than he’s ever been. His family is settled in at Oxford and his quarterback recruit of a son is thriving there. Why throw everything away that you’ve been building over the last six years for a mystery box somewhere else? Does he really want to be the most hated man in college football, again? Ole Miss fans have to hope that he doesn’t.
We’ll be back with more Ole Miss Rebels coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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