LSU lures Lane Kiffin away from
virtual playoff lock Ole Miss
[December 01, 2025]
By BRETT MARTEL
Lane Kiffin left his one-loss Ole Miss team to become the coach at
LSU on Sunday, taking over a program that has won national titles
under three of its previous four coaches while saying he would have
stayed to coach the Rebels in the postseason had he been allowed to.
The move comes two days after No. 6 Mississippi's victory over
Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl rivalry game that all but
guaranteed the Rebels a playoff berth when the bracket is announced
Dec. 7.
“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,”
Kiffin wrote in a social media post. He said Ole Miss athletic
director Keith Carter denied his request "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,” he added.
Mississippi promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to succeed
Kiffin. A former college player at Delta State in Mississippi,
Golding is in his third season on the Rebels’ staff after serving
five years as a top defensive assistant at Alabama.
“Coach Kiffin and I met yesterday, and he informed us that he is
accepting the head coaching position at another school," Carter
said. “For our program to begin preparing for its future – both the
short and long term, he will be stepping away from the team
immediately.”
LSU trumpeted its new hire, with athletic director Verge Ausberry
calling Kiffin the best coach in the country.
“Lane is a proven winner who has thrived in an era of college
athletics that requires coaches to adapt and innovate,” he said.
“His passion, creativity and authenticity make him the ideal leader
to guide LSU into the future and consistently position us among the
sport’s elite.”
Kiffin's decision played out for days, contributing to an
already-busy hiring cycle that saw several moves earlier Sunday,
including three in the SEC alone. While players have transferred
away from playoff-bound teams, a coach leaving a team that is 11-1
and all but certain to make the playoff is something new.
Kiffin and Carter had agreed last week that a decision had to be
made this weekend as negotiations dragged on. Carter could not
afford to wait until after critical recruiting periods in December
and transfer periods in January had passed before starting his
coaching search. The CFP begins on Dec. 19, the semifinals don’t
occur until Jan. 8-9 and the final is Jan. 19.
Kiffin is considered one of the top offensive coaches in college
football. He went 55-19 in six seasons at Ole Miss, success that
made him a target of several major programs seeking new coaches.
Kiffin also was pursued by Florida, which fired coach Billy Napier a
week before LSU cut ties with Brian Kelly.
The lure of LSU
While LSU offered Kiffin a raise over his current $9 million annual
salary, the decision presumably was about more than money.
LSU has a championship brand in multiple sports; state-of-the-art
facilities; a rabid, regional fan following; and a legendary,
historic home football venue in Tiger Stadium (nicknamed Death
Valley), which towers over the banks of the Mississippi River and
holds 102,000 spectators — 38,000 more than Mississippi's
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
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Mississippi head coach Lane Kiffin looks out over the playing field
following his team's win over Mississippi State in their annual NCAA
college football game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Starkville, Miss.
(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The lone football coach of LSU's past four who did
not win a national championship was Kelly. He was fired in late
October during his fourth season, a seismic development that also
led then-athletic director Scott Woodward to resign under pressure
from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
Ausberry — a Louisiana native, former Tigers football player and
long-time LSU administrator — led a search for a new coach that
focused primarily on Kiffin. LSU offered Kiffin a seven-year
contract with an average annual salary of around $13 million and
pledged to ensure the football program has ample financial backing
to pay players.
Kiffin has overseen one of the most successful stints in Ole Miss
history, arguably exceeded by only Johnny Vaught, whose 25 seasons
at Ole Miss included a six-year period from 1957 through 1962 during
which his teams went a combined 57-6.
LSU is 247-84 with three national championships since the 2000
season, which was Nick Saban's first with the Tigers. Saban won his
national title at LSU in the 2003 season and went 48-16 in five
years before leaving to coach in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins.
Les Miles, hired in 2005, went 114-34 with a national title in 2007.
Ed Orgeron, who succeeded Miles during the 2016 season, went 51-20,
highlighted by his 15-0, national-title winning campaign in 2019.
Kelly, who was in the midst of a 10-year contract worth about $100
million at LSU, went 34-14 with the Tigers.
Kiffin's rise
Kiffin, son of the late NFL and college defensive coach Monte Kiffin,
played quarterback in college at Fresno State. He got his first
head-coaching job at any level in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders
in 2007, but was fired just four games into his second season.
His took first college head-coaching job at Tennessee in 2009 and
left after one season to take over at Southern California, where he
was fired five games into his fourth season. He returned to coaching
in 2017 with Florida Atlantic, spending three seasons there before
Ole Miss lured him to Oxford in 2020.
Kiffin has said he adopted the mantra of striving to “do things
better than they've ever been done before," from one of his mentors,
Pete Carroll, under whom Kiffin served as an assistant at USC from
2001 to 2006.
“I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to lead the storied
LSU football program,” Kiffin said. “From national championships to
iconic players, LSU is synonymous with excellence and is among the
most powerful brands in all of sports.”
No coach has ever won multiple national championships at LSU. Kiffin
will be the next to try.
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