Lane Kiffin Keeps Ole Miss and LSU Hanging

The 122nd edition of the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State had almost everything, including a tense confrontation between Lane Kiffin and a reporter, a bench-clearing brawl, and the theft of Rebels QB Trinidad Chambliss’s jersey.

What ABC’s telecast of the Rebels’ 38-19 victory over the Bulldogs didn’t have was the answer to the question: Will Rebels coach Lane Kiffin stay or go?

The word from ABC announcers Dave Pasch and Dusty Dvoracek and college football insiders was that the Hamlet of Oxford wouldn’t reveal until Friday night or Saturday morning whether he would stay at Ole Miss—or accept a mega offer from LSU.

Before the game, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter told Pasch he believes his 50-year-old coach will stay at Ole Miss. But if Kiffin does join rival LSU, Dvoracek predicted the Rebels AD would not let Kiffin coach the team in the College Football Playoff. Instead, the Rebels might call on former Giants coach Joe Judge to take over on an interim basis. 

“This is the conversation that everyone is having,” Dvoracek said. “This is the biggest conversation, the biggest topic around college football.”

During the Black Friday game, ABC repeatedly touched on the Kiffin conundrum.  

“Is Lane Kiffin for sale? It might take $16 to $17 million to get him,” asked Pasch. “I thought on Black Friday you got deals. That doesn’t sound like much of a deal,” answered Dvoracek.

After likely punching Ole Miss’s ticket to the CFP, Kiffin told ABC sideline reporter Taylor McGregor he had not made up his mind. 

“I’ve got a lot of praying to do, to figure that out tomorrow,” said the former USC and Tennessee coach.

As the day progressed, there were some developments in the three-way bidding for Kiffin between Ole Miss, LSU, and Florida. Not to mention tension between Kiffin and reporters and hijinks between the two-instate rivals.

On Friday, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Pete Thamel reported Florida had dropped out of the Kiffin sweepstakes, shifting its search to Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, and Washington’s Jedd Fisch.

Friday’s high-stakes game erupted into a bench-clearing brawl in the second quarter, with Kiffin reportedly getting into a brief altercation with Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon. Kiffin called out Selmon during his halftime interview.  

“We just try to play clean football. We try to execute and play really good football,” he told McGregor. “For a whole sideline to try to fight and leave their whole sideline, including their athletic director, I’ve never seen anything like it. We’re trying to play football here. We’re not trying to start a fight so our university can get credit for fighting people.”

And in the wee hours of Black Friday, Kiffin claimed in an interview with SEC Network, that Mississippi State students broke into the visitors locker room and stole Chambliss’s jersey. Ole Miss’s equipment czar Keith Crain had installed a surveillance camera to catch them in the act, reported ABC’s Marty Smith. It made no difference as Chambliss tossed four TD passes.

The pressure seems to be getting to Kiffin. After the game, he personally confronted Ole Miss reporter Ben Garret who said, “Can’t turn a hoe into a housewife. Hoes don’t act right.” Kiffin got in his face, asking: “You want to walk in here and call me a hoe? We’ll see how it goes.”

So will Kiffin stay at Ole Miss or jump to LSU? On the surface, it would seem LSU has the edge. After axing former coach Brian Kelly, the school is reportedly offering a monster seven-year, $98 million deal to lure Kiffin. 

The Tigers job is more important, more prestigious than Ole Miss. Over the last 22 years, three LSU coaches—Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron—have brought national titles to Baton Rouge. The former Alabama offensive coordinator may decide that the Tigers are his best shot at escaping Saban’s long shadow—and winning a national championship on his own. 

On the other hand, the so-called “king of the transfer portal” has achieved unprecedented success at Ole Miss. With Saturday’s victory, Kiffin secured the Rebels’ first 11-win regular season. Jaxson Dart, his former QB, has quickly become the future of the Giants. Most importantly, the peripatetic coach has found happiness in Oxford. His 16-year-old son Knox is a star QB at Oxford High. Can you put a price on happiness? 

As Dvoracek noted during Friday’s telecast: “Wise man once told me, ‘Don’t mess with happy.’ Lane Kiffin sure seems very happy where he’s at right now. Where will he be tomorrow? Everybody can’t wait to find out.”