Hostile homecomings: Lane Kiffin vs. Ole Miss and the 7 most hate-filled coaching returns ever

Hostile homecomings: Lane Kiffin vs. Ole Miss and the 7 most hate-filled coaching returns ever

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Hostile homecomings: Lane Kiffin vs. Ole Miss and the 7 most hate-filled coaching returns ever

Hostile homecomings: Lane Kiffin vs. Ole Miss and the 7 most hate-filled coaching returns ever originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

In sports, and especially within collegiate athletics, allegiances run deep. That extends to everyone associated with fans' respective teams, especially head coaches.

Just ask Lane Kiffin, who went from being a hero to the most hated man in Mississippi overnight. On Saturday night in Oxford, Kiffin makes his first-ever return to Ole Miss since leaving for LSU nine months ago.

For the occasion, there will already be heightened security for LSU and Kiffin's arrival to Oxford in what is expected to be a hostile crowd. While his return feels like one of the biggest in terms of coaches returning to play against their former teams, there have been several hostile returns before.

Let's run through the most hostile coaching returns in college sports and how it might compare to Kiffin's on Saturday.

MORE: Lane Kiffin's full timeline of controversial exits from jobs

7. 2006: Steve Spurrier returns to Florida

Steve Spurrier built the Florida football program into a powerhouse, virtually from when he arrived in 1990 until he left in 2001. He was beloved since his arrival in Gainesville, playing at Florida from 1964-1966 and winning the school's first Heisman in 1966.

Spurrier got started as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Bandits and at Duke before arriving in Gainesville. As both a player and coach, the Ol' Ball Coach is perhaps the most beloved figure in Florida athletics history.

During Spurrier's first season in 1990, he led the Gators to a 9-2 finish and a first-place finish in the SEC. NCAA sanctions stemming from violations under former Florida coach Galen Hall prevented the Gators from playing for an SEC title or bowl game.

Across his 12 seasons at Florida, he finished with a 122-27 overall record, and is the Gators' winningest head coach. He led Florida to its first-ever national championship in 1996, and six SEC Championships, including four straight.

But after the 2001 season, Spurrier abruptly resigned from Florida.

"Other than simply wanting to coach in the NFL someday, I also believed that 12 years at Florida was probably long enough," Spurrier said in a statement. "Many people in football believe that around 10 [to] 12 years in the same job is about the maximum time a coach should stay."

The decision made more sense as two weeks later, he accepted the head coaching job at Washington in the NFL. He was awarded a four-year, $25 million contract, which doubled his salary at UF. Most Florida fans were saddened that he left so suddenly, but grateful for everything he accomplished at the program.

His time in the NFL lasted just two seasons, as he finished 12-20 over two years. In 2005, he returned to college to coach at South Carolina, one of Florida's SEC East rivals. He got the best of Florida in 2005 in Columbia, but made his first return trip to the program he built in 2006, taking on Urban Meyer and the Gators.

Coming out of the tunnel, the South Carolina players were met with boos that turned into cheers when the Head Ball Coach emerged:

Florida won 17-16 over Spurrier's Gamecocks, and the HBC finished 5-5 against the Gators when he was in Columbia. He got his first win over Florida in Gainesville in 2014, winning 23-20.  

Spurrier has since admitted that he regrets leaving Florida:

“I wish I would have stayed at Florida longer,” Spurrier told Paul Finebaum on his SEC Network radio show in 2016.

"I went to the team that offered the most money instead of the best situation," Spurrier said.

MORE: Why an LSU player was served court papers related to an Ole Miss lawsuit

6. 2018: Dan Mullen returns to Mississippi State  

Speaking of winningest head coaches, Dan Mullen left Mississippi State as the school's second-winningest head coach, just six wins behind Jackie Sherrill, who had 74 career wins. Mullen coached with Urban Meyer as an assistant at Utah and Florida from 2003-2008, helping the Gators win two national titles in 2006 and 2008.

In 2009, he was hired as the head coach at Mississippi State, which was looking to establish a consistent winner like Sherrill, who left in 2003.

Across Mullen's nine seasons in Starkville, he finished 69-46, with two 9-4 seasons in 2010 and 2015. His best season there came in 2014, when he led the Bulldogs to their third 10-win season in school history and a first-ever No. 1 overall ranking. He also molded quarterback Dak Prescott into an SEC star, who went on to get drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Mullen left MSU in November 2017 to take the Florida job just months after signing a four-year contract extension with the school that would have gone through the 2021 season.

Florida fired Jim McElwain for cause in October 2017, as claims he made about his family receiving death threats while he was at Florida turned out to be untrue. Mullen was almost immediately linked to the Florida job, although he initially denied reports of him leaving:

The exit was made messier when news of Mullen going to Florida was leaked to the public before he could meet with his players.

"Mine was misunderstood, Mullen told The Sporting News of his departure for Florida."

"I had a team meeting before I left, and I didn't then allow Florida to announce anything," Mullen continued. "I met with them., So the first people that knew were our [Mississippi State] players to let them know I was going to do that. "And then I immediately handed that like a press statement to Mississippi State. 'Hey, can you release this statement for me?' I came to find out 72 hours later they buried the statement and it [Mullen taking the Florida job] actually leaked."

A report from The Athletic in 2018 confirmed Mullen sending a statement to MSU before his hire was announced. Mullen and his wife ended up taking a full page ad in The Clarion-Ledger with the statement he initially wanted to be released. 

Mullen didn't have to wait too long to face his former team, as the Gators faced the Bulldogs in Starkville his first season with Florida in 2018. Mullen was met with boos and cowbells coming out of the tunnel, and several MSU fans wearing t-shirts that read "Dan Who?"

Florida's team got him a 13-6 victory in his first trip back. 

MORE: Lane Kiffin's full family tree including his daughters and ex-wife

5. John Calipari returns to Kentucky

John Calipari was hired by Kentucky ahead of the 2009 season, spending previous college stints at UMass and Memphis, where he led the Tigers to six NCAA Tournaments and a Final Four berth in 2007-08. 

At Kentucky, he led the Wildcats to 11 combined SEC regular-season and SEC Tournament championships, including four NCAA Final Fours in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He led Kentucky to their first national championship in 2012, the first since 1998. 

But towards the end of his tenure in Lexington, the cracks began to show. Calipari's Wildcat teams got upset in the first-round of the tournament in 2022 and 2024 by the likes of mid-majors Oakland and St. Peters. 

Calipari's relationship also reportedly soured with UK athletic director over the years Mitch Barnhart. Various reports also suggested at the end of the 2024 season that Calipari was "miserable" in Lexington.

Calipari then was approached by Arkansas, who lost head coach Eric Musselman to USC. Despite Calipari giving Kentucky the opportunity to match the Razorbacks' offer, he was named Arkansas' head coach in early April. 

Arkansas was scheduled to play Kentucky in Rupp Arena during Coach Cal's first season with the Razorbacks, in early February.

"You get booed. I’ve done this so long," Calipari told reporters of his impending return to Rupp Arena. "I tell you I got bazooka holes in my body. So, when you shoot arrows, it doesn’t even hit skin, it just goes through one of those bazooka holes."

Calipari's prediction was right, as he was met with mostly boos in his return, even as the coach was seen shaking hands with several people associated with UK:  

But his Arkansas team upset then-No. 12 Kentucky 89-79. 

"I called them in together, and I said, 'Are you guys OK going back here? Are you going to be OK?'"  Calipari said after the game. "And they all said, 'We're fine, Coach. We're worried about you.' That's the kind of team I have; that's the kind of players they are. They were worried about me."

He led the Razorbacks to the Sweet 16 during his first season in Fayetteville. 

MORE: Lane Kiffin, Pat McAfee bond over being two of the 'most hated' people in college football

4. 2001: Rick Pitino returns to Kenucky

Speaking of Kentucky, Rick Pitino was the Wildcats' head coach from 1989-1997. He led the Wildcats to a national championship in 1996. But just one year later, he left Lexington to accept the head coaching job with the Boston Celtics.

His time in Boston lasted just four seasons, and he resigned midseason during the 2000-01 season. He finished with a 102-146 overall record. He returned to college to coach Kentucky's biggest rival, Louisville, in 2001. He downplayed facing his former team when his team played at Rupp Arena, during which he was met with heavy boos.

Kentucky spoiled Pitino's return, winning 82-62. 

“I didn’t pay any attention to that,” Pitino said of the crowd. “I’m the Louisville coach. They’re not supposed to cheer me.

“I get cheered in Freedom Hall. If they start booing me there, then I’m in trouble.”

Pitino coached at Louisville through 2017, and the rivalry between the two Bluegrass schools remained heated with the arrival of Calipari. In fact, Pitino was seen giving UK fans the bird after his team lost at Rupp in 2015.

He last returned to Rupp Arena in 2024, where he was cheered loudly by UK fans, and Pitino was visibly emotional.

3. 2000: Tommy Tuberville returns to Ole Miss 

Head coach Tommy Tuberville, now a United States senator, got his first head coaching job with Ole Miss in 1995. He led the Rebels to a 25-20 record across four seasons.

Toward the end of the 1998 season, there were rumors linking him to the open Auburn job. After beating Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl in 1998, Tuberville infamously declared that to leave Oxford "they'll have to carry me out of a pine box."

He did, indeed, accept the Auburn job a mere two days later.

In 2000, Ole Miss played Auburn in Oxford. Tuberville tried to downplay the matchup leading up to it.

"This will be tough emotionally for our coaches, because we know a lot of people, got a lot of friends," Tuberville said before the game. "Recruited a lot of those players. It's just one of those things you go through.

"When you get out there and get past warm-ups and kick the ball off, it's the white team versus the team in the dark colors."

Tuberville's Auburn team got the best of Ole Miss, winning 35-27 in front of a record crowd. During Ole Miss' game at Auburn in 1999, roughly 8,000 Rebel fans reportedly showed up to the game wearing shirts that read "Liar Liar" with his face on it.  

Tuberville resigned from Auburn in 2008, and infamously ditched Texas Tech recruits at dinner when he accepted the Cincinnati job. 

2. 2008: Nick Saban returns to LSU

Nick Saban was the head coach at LSU from 2000-2004, helping lead the Tigers to a national championship in 2003. He left to coach the Miami Dolphins in the NFL in 2005, but spent just one season there before returning to college to take the Alabama job.

At the time, fans respected Saban's desire to coach in the NFL when he left. But Saban's quick return to coach college football for its biggest rival soured that sentiment.

During Saban's first season at LSU, his team lost 41-34 in Tuscaloosa. His first trip back to Baton Rouge in 2008 was one of the most hostile.

“We get there on Friday night, they burn me in effigy,” he said. “Then the next day I told the players, ‘When we pull up in the bus, you’ve never seen anything like you’re gonna see with these people.’ When we get in the locker room, the players are saying, ‘We’ll handle it, coach.’ They’re saying, ‘It’s worse than you ever saw.’

"I always walk on the field two hours before the game — there’s usually nobody in the stadium. (But) the student section is already full, and they are chanting some bad things at Nick Saban.”

Saban's team got the best of LSU in overtime, winning 27-21. He delivered an epic pre-game speech to his players, telling them to "make their a** quit."

"I know there may be some people that have a negative attitude," Saban said of his return to Baton Rouge. "But I can say I really appreciate those people that spoke to me and welcomed me back here today. I really appreciate that from the people here. We have special memories of this place, and no one will tarnish those no matter what they do. I appreciate the class of the people and administration at LSU.”

Saban has since admitted that leaving LSU for the NFL was the biggest professional mistake of his career.  

2. 2021: Lane Kiffin's return to Tennessee

If Kiffin's return to Oxford is anything like his return to Knoxville in 2021, we are in for a treat. The former Vols head coach had one of several tumultuous exits from Tennessee in 2010, leaving for USC after just one season in Knoxville. 

Several hundreds of Tennessee students took to the campus streets to protest the news. Via a RockyTop Insider oral history of the night: 

“You had some obviously inebriated people. You had some football players that started partaking as well.”

Low: “There are players running around yelling, who had obviously had a few pops somewhere on the strip probably. There’s mostly students, some fans, but mostly students running around.”

James: “It was like a movie. … I don’t know how many people were out there but it was hundreds.”

Walls: “It was like a mob, almost like a riot.”

Exum: “It was like a mini riot. People were definitely out and pissed and screaming.”

Packer: “It was more like a fraternity party gone wild.”

Chants of "F–k you Kiffin" could be heard, and a mattress was inexplicably set on fire.

Kiffin's career then went from the Oakland Raiders to Alabama, where he served as Saban's offensive coordinator before becoming a head coach again at Florida Atlantic before leaving his post for Ole Miss.

He made his first return to Knoxville as the Rebels' head coach in mid-October of 2021. The Rebels won 31-26, but Tennessee fans made their presence known.

Following a questionable call that ruled Vols tight end Jacob Warren short on a 4th-and-24, the game was delayed for nearly 20 minutes because fans began throwing objects onto the field in protest — from water bottles to mustard bottles to … a golf ball.

Kiffin was seen picking up the golf ball that hit him and showing it to the official: 

1. Lane Kiffin returns to Ole Miss 

It's no secret that Kiffin did not leave Ole Miss gracefully. After Ole Miss' win over Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, Kiffin tried and failed to continue to coach his players through their College Football Playoff. He reportedly wanted to continue to coach despite fully intending to accept the LSU job.

While he was boarding a plane for Baton Rouge, Ole Miss fans booed him and gave him the middle finger on the tarmac.

For Kiffin's first trip back to Oxford, there are already reports about enhanced security for LSU to make it into the stadium. And that's even before he gets inside the venue, where thousands of scorned and angry Ole Miss fans will be waiting. 

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos