Lane Kiffin is officially heading to LSU, and he is burning some bridges on his way out of Ole Miss.
Kiffin posted a statement on Sunday confirming he has decided to accept the head coaching position at LSU. He made clear that he had hoped to coach Ole Miss through the College Football Playoff, but singled out athletic director Keith Carter for preventing that.
“I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern,” Kiffin wrote. “My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday’s Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.”
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) November 30, 2025
Kiffin has built an outstanding program at Ole Miss, but the lure of LSU proved too much to resist. It likely helped that the Tigers offered him a huge contract, though Ole Miss had reportedly offered similar terms to try and keep him.
Ole Miss had made it very clear that Kiffin would not be allowed to coach the team in the playoffs if he accepted a job with a rival program. Reports indicated that Kiffin was attempting to poach some of his players and coaches to make the move to LSU with him. If that is the case, it makes sense that the Rebels did not want him hanging around.
Kiffin went 55-19 in his six seasons at Ole Miss, overseeing one of the most successful stretches in the program’s history. They are poised to make their first College Football Playoff after finishing off an 11-1 season with a win on Friday.
