Lane Kiffin went from Ole Miss savior to public enemy over one LSU decision

Lane Kiffin once seemed completely settled in the quiet town of Oxford, Mississippi. He placed rocking chairs on his front porch and embraced what he called his own Mississippi slowdown.

“The slowdown was so good for me,” Kiffin says. He rebuilt Ole Miss into a top College Football Playoff contender. He became their finest head coach in several decades.

Ole Miss fans chanted his name loudly across Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on game days. They believed he had truly changed from the coach who once spurned Tennessee after just one season.

Then LSU offered a massive contract worth about $91 million over seven years. Kiffin wanted to coach through the playoffs, but Ole Miss denied his request and forced him to choose.

He picked LSU and Pete Golding replaced him during the playoff run. Angry fans gave him middle fingers at the Oxford Airport and cursed him as he boarded the plane.

“That airport scene messed with me,” Kiffin now says. The same people who once praised him turned against him in one afternoon. He later admitted he handled the exit quite poorly.

He insists that he genuinely changed as a person. “It’s just, I made a job decision,” Kiffin says. This pattern follows him because his breakups always turn messy and public.

LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry pursued Kiffin throughout the coaching carousel and never wavered. The school invested heavily in this hire and expects the partnership to deliver major results soon.

Kiffin said the way to restore his reputation is simple, requiring only “winning and being a good person.” He believes that straightforward formula will justify his departure from Ole Miss.

When LSU visits Oxford next fall, the reception will tell the full story of this reunion. The noise will change agai and Kiffin will face the crowd he left behind.

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