When it comes to college football, no coach has been in the spotlight more over the last year than new LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin.
Near the end of last season, he accepted a job offer from the Tigers, but asked Ole Miss if he could finish the season and coach the Rebels through the College Football Playoff before leaving.
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This request was denied and assistant coach Pete Golding was promoted to take Kiffin’s place. He went on the lead the Rebels to multiple rounds before falling to Miami.
Kiffin’s exit was far from ideal, with a media frenzy taking place in the months prior as he was rumored to be a candidate for a number of jobs.
During a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, he said he would change the way he left Ole Miss if he could.
“I think I would have just come in and said, ‘Okay, I’m leaving,’” Kiffin said. “I’m very appreciative of everything. I spent a lot of time right there fighting to coach the team, trying to keep everything together. Totally respect their decision. But I was trying so hard to keep that together. Like, hey, let us all coach. Let this whole thing, you know, let’s see if we can win the whole thing.”
He went on to detail his amazement with the passion and dedication he’s seen from SEC fans, noting how intense they can be on either side.
“Where else does that happen? That the people that for six years loved you, want to build a statue, chant for you at the last game to stay, and then they hate you like that? And then you land here and the people here that, when we’d play here were yelling at me, hating me and saying everything I did was horrible, ‘We love you.’”
That level of intensity will certainly be in action early next season, as he’s set to return to Oxford when the Tigers visit the Rebels in Week 3.
Until then, the animosity directed at Kiffin from Ole Miss fans isn’t likely to diminish.
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
