Ole Miss officials are trying to take steps to prevent Lane Kiffin’s assistant coaches from tampering with their players during the College Football Playoff.
Many around Ole Miss believe tampering is an issue with the six Ole Miss assistants that are following Kiffin to his new job at LSU, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. Those assistants are remaining at Ole Miss through the College Football Playoff, creating a very awkward situation for the Rebels to navigate.
Several of the assistants even temporarily left Ole Miss last week to return to Baton Rouge for LSU duties. While everyone is saying all the right things, those at Ole Miss familiar with Kiffin think there are conversations happening in the background. One Ole Miss official even joked about bringing in the FBI to bug the phones.
“You think Lane is minding his own business and meditating? Come on. I think there are kids he’ll try to get from Ole Miss,” says Matt Bowers, a car dealership owner and friend of Kiffin’s who graduated from Ole Miss.
Many at Ole Miss expect there to be “player swaps” when the transfer portal opens. Ole Miss has hired former LSU general manager Austin Thomas to fill the same role, meaning some LSU players may head to Ole Miss while Rebels players jump to the Tigers. Another notable name has already made the move from LSU to Ole Miss.
This is the sort of messy situation that Ole Miss had hoped to avoid, but Kiffin was set on moving to LSU. Kiffin himself had hoped to continue coaching the Rebels in the playoff, but was denied that by Ole Miss. By the sounds of it, some of his former players would not have wanted him around anyway. Perhaps that will actually benefit Ole Miss, but for now, it has put a low of people in awkward situations.
