Kiffin ‘absolutely’ made the right decision after tumultuous process

By Hunt Palmer

Lane Kiffin clearly weighed this decision heavily.

At his introductory press conference at LSU, he called his six years at Ole Miss the best of his life. The last of those was his best as a coach, taking a team thought to be in a rebuild to 11-1 and a College Football Playoff.

He left.

Monday he offered the reasons for his departure and the painstaking measures he took to make sure he was making the right decision. One of those was speaking with mentors like Pete Carroll and Nick Saban.

“I just talked to them, and it really was apparent to everybody that I talked to outside of the state that I was in, all basically said the same thing,” Kiffin said. “They all said, you are going to regret it if you don’t take this job and you don’t go to LSU. It’s the job in America with the best resources to win (a national championship). It’s obviously been done here by a number of people.”

In addition to leaning on mentors, Kiffin drew on his experience in Tiger Stadium. He roamed the visiting sideline as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2016. He led the Rebels out of the southeast end zone tunnel in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

Those five games clearly made an impression.

“Man, that feeling on the other sideline all the way from the warmups for those night games, man, I’ve coached a lot of places in a lot of road games, NFL and college, there is nothing like the feeling on the other sideline and the intensity that you feel, the weight that you feel.” Kiffin said. “I always thought to myself, what if we had that advantage on our side. We combine what we do, the way we coach players, the systems that we run, and now we have that intensity on our side for the opponent to deal with. That’s how it painted all together to say, this is where you’re supposed to be.”

Kiffin coached in front of the largest crowd in Ole Miss football history three weeks ago when 68,138 filled Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Tiger Stadium’s capacity is over 102,000.

LSU’s national brand and championship history separate it from most of college football. In the last 22 years, LSU has produced three national titles, another championship game performance, two Heisman Trophies and two No. 1 overall draft picks.

Its state produces elite high school talent year over year, and per capita places as many players in the NFL as almost any. That part of the equation appealed to Kiffin greatly in terms of high school and transfer portal recruiting.

“I have zero concern about the interest of players with that because I know what the interest was of players nationally to come play for us where we were just at,” Kiffin said. “Now when you put that with this stadium and that logo…it makes me want to go get on the phone right now.”

That excitement comes on the heels of two weeks that Kiffin said “sucked” as his time in Oxford came to a close.

He’d weighed four options for his future including staying at Ole Miss. He non-answered his way through press conferences and avoided the finality of the situation trying to find a way to coach Ole Miss while leaving for a conference rival.

He got scrutiny from people nationally, and when it became clear he was leaving Oxford and informed Ole Miss on Saturday night, the scene turned toxic. He wasn’t allowed to inform his team of his decision, and as he and his high school son Knox drove to the Oxford airport Rebel fans obstructed his driving and shouted obscenities.

Kiffin lamented the disappointment and ultimate disgust with his decision in a place he called home.

“I’m human, and they’re saying that stuff about you,” he said.

But the flight to Baton Rouge allowed a decompression, and his landing and drive to campus provided clarity.

“Even on the plane down here, I’m kind of like, man we made this decision, but gah,” Kiffin started, expressing the angst with his hands. “I’m telling you. We landed..,and when I got off the plane here, and I saw the leadership, and I felt the power of this place. And then you get in the car and you go by Tiger Stadium, and it’s lit up.

“I absolutely made the right decision. And it all went away.”