BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lane Kiffin was introduced Monday as LSU’s coach, promising to restore “the best program in all of college football” while detailing what he called an excruciating decision to leave Ole Miss.
Kffin’s arrival ended a months-long saga in which he was the subject of coaching searches by Florida and LSU while Ole Miss tried to retain him. He leaves Oxford in the middle of a historic season in which the Rebels are 11-1 and 7th in the College Football Playoff standings.
Kiffin said “the last 48 hours, in many ways, have sucked,” adding that he understood the passion of the furious Ole Miss fans who were at the airport when he left. He said he informed Ole Miss administrators Saturday night that he was accepting the LSU job and continued the conversation into Sunday trying to figure out how he could continue to coach the Rebels in what he called “the most historic sporting event in Mississippi State history, a home playoff game.”
“There was no way to do it, in my opinion, better than we did it from a timing standpoint,” Kiffin said.
Ultimately, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter decided that Kiffin would not coach the Rebels, a decision Kiffin said he respected. He said Carter told him that while it might make sense for everyone outside the program to keep the staff together for the playoffs, Carter had to live in Oxford after Kiffin left.
LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry called Kiffin “a big enough personality to function in a state of big personalities,” and said LSU had no problem with Kiffin continuing to coach Ole Miss. But, Ausberry said, there is no rule in college football, like in the NFL, that prohibits schools from contacting coaches until the end of the season.
“It’s not our fault,” Ausberry said. “It’s a hand we’ve been dealt, and we’ve had to deal with it, and I’ve had to protect LSU’s interests. I have great friends at all these other SEC institutions, but it’s about doing what’s right for LSU.”
So Kiffin immediately left Oxford for Baton Rouge. He arrived, passed by Tiger Stadium, a place he has coached many times, with the lights on and said he felt “the power of the place.”
“I called a person. I called Ed Orgeron,” Kiffin said of his longtime friend and colleague who won a national title as LSU’s coach in 2019. “I said, ‘Hey, man, anything I can do…this place just makes me want to talk like you right now.'”
Kiffin’s first 24 hours included a phone call with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who took a head-on approach to LSU’s coaching situation, leading to the departure of former athletic director Scott Woodward. Kiffin said, with a smile, that the call was “unique” and added, “I could feel his passion and energy in that call for the state of Louisiana and for LSU football.”
Kiffin is 117-53 in 14 years as a college head coach at Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss, including seven seasons with at least 10 wins. He’s also been part of five of the most memorable outings in football history: Al Davis detailing his shortcomings as Raiders coach on an overhead projector in Oakland, leaving after a year in Tennessee for the USC job, then being fired on the tarmac at USC, followed by Nick Saban firing him a week before a national championship game at Alabama, and now leaving Ole Miss for Baton Rouge before the playoffs.
He said he was unmoved by the fan reaction, which he said included fans who tried to run him off the road while he was driving with his son Knox, adding that that was life in the SEC.
“I think people get really upset when you leave somewhere because they feel hurt because you’re doing a really good job,” Kiffin said. “They’re not going to go to the airport and drive around saying these things and yelling these things and trying to run you off the road if you misbehave.”
Kiffin credited his three greatest mentors, all of whom he considered among the greatest defensive minds in football: his father, Monte Kiffin, Pete Carroll and Saban. Kiffin credited Carroll, who he said promised his late father that he would take care of Lane, for encouraging him to take the LSU job. Kiffin implied that Saban elbowed him as well.
“Coach Saban has coached somewhere else in this conference, so I can’t really say exactly what he said,” Kiffin said, to laughter from the crowd, of the former Alabama coach. “But I will say that I think the world of Coach Saban and I respect him. And so there’s a reason why we’re here.”
Kiffin said his first task will be wrapping up the Tigers’ recruiting class, with the early signing period running from Wednesday to Friday. Kiffin said Frank Wilson would continue to serve as interim head coach for LSU’s impending bowl game, but did not provide further specifics on staff positions.
Kiffin agreed Sunday to a seven-year contract with LSU that will pay him $13 million a year, including a provision that gives him the same CFP bonus structure from LSU that he would have received at Ole Miss, including $150,000 for appearing in a first-round CFP game, up to $250,000 for a quarterfinal appearance and an additional $1 million if he wins the national championship.
He said Monday that he was unaware of the terms of his contract, adding that he never asked his agent, Jimmy Sexton, about them. Kiffin said he was more concerned about the financial resources needed to build the program, including NIL for players. He said the plan he heard from LSU proved it was the best job in football.
“When you take the history, the tradition, the passion and the great players in the state of Louisiana, no one can deny that when you’re at Tiger Stadium on Saturday night, there’s nothing like it,” Kiffin said. “This place is built for championships with championship expectations – we understand that – but as an elite competitor, that’s exactly what you want, and that’s why we’re here.”
