Lane Kiffin’s breakup history magnified ahead of Ole Miss game

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Relationships are a funny thing. Whether it’s a friendship, a career, or a romantic relationship, no one ever thinks that any relationship is going to end. Which is why so many relationships end badly – for many different reasons. Oftentimes, after a breakup, neither party wants to see their ex ever again, and awkwardness (or worse) ensues when paths cross.

College football has its own example of someone who is bad at breakups, and it’s created a lot of entertainment for fans over the years, and we’re all going to get to witness yet another bad breakup this Saturday night – as Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford to play Ole Miss.

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Kiffin’s pattern of bad breakups began in Oakland

Lane Kiffin’s pattern of bad breakups began in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. When he was hired in 2007, he was the youngest head coach in the NFL.

Kiffin has always been viewed as a bit of a “wunderkind” thanks to his upbringing learning from his father, legendary defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, so his ascent to the top of the profession was not a surprise. But fireworks ensued in Oakland as Kiffin would disagree with Owner Al Davis’ draft selections and deflect blame on anyone other than Lane Kiffin in press conferences.

Davis fired Kiffin for cause, and won the lawsuit when Kiffin sued, claiming he was owed buyout money. How bad was this breakup? Kiffin has not coached a down in the NFL ever since. Whatever went on behind closed doors with Al Davis was enough for him to be blacklisted by the entire league.

Tennessee fans eventually got their revenge

Kiffin wasn’t unemployed for long, as he was very quickly hired to be the Head Coach at Tennessee. His first team was frisky, almost upsetting eventual National Champion Alabama and finishing the season 7-6. The vibes around the program were positive as it felt like Kiffin could return Tennessee to their former glory.

But it didn’t last long – Kiffin was offered the job to be the head coach at USC after Pete Carroll, and he accepted after just one season at Tennessee.

Naturally, this left a lot of angry Vols fans in Knoxville. They had to wait a while to get their revenge on Kiffin. In 2021, Kiffin returned to Knoxville as the head coach at Ole Miss. In a heated game that saw some controversial officiating, Tennessee fans started throwing debris onto the playing field.

In a viral moment, a yellow golf ball hit Kiffin, and he put it in his pocket. The Rebels would go on to win, and Vols fans continued to hurl debris at him until he was out of the stadium. Talk about a toxic ex.

The Ole Miss breakup was the most complicated yet

That brings us to 2025. After a historic 11-win season, Ole Miss was on the doorstep of the College Football Playoff, and Lane Kiffin was going to lead them on a run. But just days before their first CFP game, Kiffin accepted the job to be the new head coach at LSU, and the University very quickly moved to not allow Kiffin to coach in the CFP.

From a very objective standpoint, you can’t really blame Kiffin for leaving for LSU. Take away the football component – this is a guy who was doing a really good job in his career and was being offered a pay raise to move to a different organization. His new position gave him more power, more money, more resources, and a better place to live. How could you blame him?

Well, coaching football just isn’t something that’s done on a spreadsheet. Kiffin recruited the Ole Miss players, built the coaching staff, and had relationships with everyone in the building, where he was the hero. This is something that can’t be quantified on paper – and why Kiffin continues to be bad at breakups. He fails to understand that his actions have emotional effects on others around him.

Those relationships came crumbling down the minute he accepted the LSU job, as he was essentially abandoning his team right before they had the chance to achieve all of their goals.

His exit even divided the coaching staff, with Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding being named interim and then full-time new head coach for Ole Miss, and Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. following Kiffin to Baton Rouge.

Now both sides of the family reunite in Oxford

What was a family is now divided. Some players, like Princewill Umanmielen, followed Kiffin. Others, like Trinidad Chambliss, stayed with Golding. It’s like a divorce. And now, thanks to the scheduling of the SEC, both sides of the family are coming back together to play a football game Saturday night in Oxford. How will Kiffin be received? It won’t be warm.

This is a fanbase that felt slighted by Kiffin, as a Kiffin-led 2025 Rebels team could have made a deeper run into the CFP with him there, and the jump to a conference rival is insulting to the location and resources in Oxford. The reaction of the Ole Miss fans, as well as the football game that will follow it, will be must-watch TV for not just lovers of college football, but reality TV as well.

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