Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter suggested Lane Kiffin was being dishonest when he said he was blindsided by the school’s decision not to allow him to coach in postseason games after accepting the LSU job.
In his farewell statement, Kiffin blamed Carter for not being allowed to finish the season at Ole Miss, and suggested that the athletic director had gone against the wishes of the players in doing so. In a new interview with SuperTalk Mississippi, Carter said Kiffin had known for weeks that coaching Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff would not be an option if the coach decided to leave.
“There’s been a lot of things that he’s said publicly that I’m not sure are totally accurate,” Carter said. “Both coach and his representation knew several weeks ago that coaching in the playoffs was not going to be an option if he was not the Ole Miss head coach.”
THE DECISION: Ole Miss Athletic Director @KeithCarterOM talks about when @Lane_Kiffin was informed that he would not be coaching the Rebels in the College Football Playoffs… pic.twitter.com/Yb32vOOjYL
— SuperTalk Mississippi (@supertalk) December 3, 2025
Kiffin had publicly claimed that he only found out Sunday morning that Ole Miss would not let him coach the team in the playoff. He added that up until that point, he genuinely believed he would be allowed to coach the team.
There is plenty of reporting out there to back up Carter’s side of the story. It had been reported as early as mid-November that Ole Miss was demanding that Kiffin commit to the school going forward or face the possibility of not coaching in the playoffs. With reports like that swirling, it is hard to believe Kiffin was blindsided by the decision.
Some Ole Miss players have also suggested Kiffin’s farewell statement was not necessarily the real version of events. If that is the case, it makes sense Carter would feel the same way.
