Lane Kiffin's LSU, Florida decision hijacks Ole Miss football season on track to be best ever

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OXFORD — Lane Kiffin is the main character in college football right now. But his hero status in Oxford could turn to villain pretty quickly.

Kiffin is the No. 1 option in the college football coaching carousel. LSU and Florida are two of the teams trying to hire him away from Ole Miss.

The timing couldn’t be worse for Ole Miss fans. The No. 6 Rebels (10-1, 6-1 SEC) may already have clinched a spot in the College Football Playoff for the first time even if they lose to Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Nov. 28.

But as reports surfaced of Kiffin’s family members touring Gainesville, Florida, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter asked for a decision before the Egg Bowl, according to report from On3.

Ole Miss is off this week and plays at Mississippi State on Black Friday. That could mean 11 very long days for Rebels fans.

How Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin have changed each other

In six seasons in Oxford, Kiffin has transformed Ole Miss from an underachiever into a contender. Simultaneously, Kiffin has transformed his reputation.

At one point, he was the sport’s bad boy. He bolted from Tennessee for Southern Cal. Alabama coach Nick Saban decided he wasn’t needed as offensive coordinator for a national championship game after Kiffin took the Florida Atlantic job.

But in Oxford, he’s remodeled his image into a family man who posts self-help devotionals and has found a balance between considerable fame and a slowed-down southern lifestyle.

That rebuild has been intentional. He’s said his priorities are different. He’s talked about preferring smiles on the faces of people who matter to a statue that will gazed at by people he doesn’t know.

Now the goodwill he generated among Ole Miss fans is being put to the test.

Kiffin is operating like someone who has built the cache to be forgiven if he decides not to leave, and that’s likely the case. Kiffin is the first coach in Ole Miss history to lead the Rebels to 10 wins in three consecutive seasons.

If he spurns LSU and Florida in a dramatic reveal of his loyalty, his path to a statue by The Grove will be back on track.

Lane Kiffin’s praise of Ole Miss could make a breakup uglier

A hypothetical introductory press conference at LSU or Florida would come with a tough question.

Not about a cryptic social media, or giving a heart sign to Ole Miss football students as they chanted, “We want Lane” after the Rebels beat Florida.

Sure, he posted a a picture of an Ole Miss hat and visor reading “Lane Kiffin 2026” the morning of the Florida game, but he was posting pictures of alligators in 2024 amid Florida coaching whispers. That’s just Kiffin being Kiffin, not a declaration of loyalty.

The tougher question is how he could leave a place he called “utopia” after the Florida game. In his six years in Oxford, Kiffin has transformed his health, gotten most of his family together and changed the way he lives.

He does hot yoga every morning in a studio tucked behind the busiest road in Oxford. He trots over to the pickleball courts across the street from Ole Miss’ on-campus practice fields to squeeze in quick matches.

Now that his son, Knox Kiffin, is starting quarterback for the Oxford Chargers in a playoff run, he’s watched some high school football games with the rest of the town with his feet next to an end zone pylon.

He’s a townie. Even he is surprised, as he revealed in an E60 documentary released in September. If he has to explain why he left Ole Miss, it will be tough to make the case he was unhappy.

Does Lane Kiffin have an ultimatum from Ole Miss?

The uncertainty about Kiffin’s future has already lasted a month and a resolution is needed soon.

A hard deadline makes sense for both parties.

Timing wise, Ole Miss needs to know if it is in the coaching search game before top candidates are hired elsewhere.

For Kiffin, it would be prudent to be in place at his 2026 destination in time to hit the transfer portal that opens on Jan. 2.

Even if that means missing out on what could be the best season in Ole Miss history.

Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Lane Kiffin Florida, LSU decision hijacks Ole Miss football season

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