Lane Kiffin is headed to Baton Rouge. In a move that’s already sending tremors through the college football world, Kiffin has officially left Ole Miss to take the head coaching job at LSU - and the timing couldn’t be more dramatic.
Ole Miss, ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll with an 11-1 record and a berth in the College Football Playoff, is preparing for a potential national title run. But they’ll be doing it without the head coach who helped build this moment. Kiffin boarded a flight to Louisiana on Sunday to finalize his agreement with LSU, ending his six-season tenure in Oxford just as the Rebels were on the cusp of history.
Kiffin released a statement expressing his disappointment in not being allowed to coach Ole Miss through the postseason. “I was hoping to complete a historic six-season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs,” he said.
“My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter 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.”
With Kiffin gone, the Rebels have promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach. Golding, who’s been a key figure on the defensive side, now steps into the spotlight with the task of guiding a playoff-bound team that just lost its architect.
This kind of coaching departure, especially with so much on the line, raises more than a few eyebrows - and it’s already drawing commentary from around the football world. Former NFL MVP Cam Newton weighed in on ESPN’s First Take, offering a candid take that compared Kiffin’s move to the player transfer portal.
“What Lane Kiffin did was in the best interest of Lane Kiffin,” Newton said. “I don’t have an issue with that.
But here’s the thing - when a kid transfers, people question his loyalty, his commitment. But coaches have been doing this since the beginning of time.”
Newton didn’t stop there. He pointed out the double standard in how player and coach mobility are perceived, calling the coaching carousel a form of “insider trading” and “tampering,” especially when it involves the possibility of bringing players and staff along for the ride.
“You have an opportunity to lure not only players, but staff members and key members,” Newton said. “You can strip a program of everything it has - and then possibly play them down the road. Why in the world would I let you coach that team through the playoffs?”
From Newton’s perspective, Ole Miss made the right call by not letting Kiffin coach in the postseason. And it’s hard to argue with the logic. When a coach leaves for a rival SEC power - especially one that could face Ole Miss in the future - the idea of letting him stick around for the playoff run gets complicated fast.
Now, the spotlight shifts to Pete Golding and a Rebels team that’s riding high but suddenly navigating unfamiliar territory. The talent is there.
The momentum is real. But with Kiffin gone, the challenge becomes keeping the locker room locked in and focused on the opportunity ahead.
As for LSU, they’re getting one of the most creative offensive minds in college football - a proven winner who’s never been shy about shaking things up. And if Kiffin can bring the same energy and results to Baton Rouge that he did in Oxford, the SEC just got even more competitive.
One thing’s for sure: the stakes in the South have never been higher.