Lane Kiffin Proves Once Again He’s Not Good At Goodbyes

At an airport in Oxford, Mississippi, a football coach who gave Ole Miss the best regular season in the school’s history was greeted with jeers and dozens of middle fingers as he boarded the plane for his next chapter at LSU.

What transpired on Sunday was not how Lane Kiffin wanted to leave Ole Miss, but it reflects how he’s never been good at goodbyes.

The highly sought-after coach left an Ole Miss team poised for a national championship run in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin said he wanted to coach the team for the remainder of the season, but Ole Miss Athletic Director Keith Carter denied the request.

“This is one of those strange jobs where you’ve got to get on a plane and go, and I hate that part of it,” Kiffin told ESPN’s Marty Smith on the tarmac before boarding the plane.

Kiffin has boarded many planes during his three-decade coaching career for greener pastures, according to many disgruntled college football fans, including a contentious exit from the University of Tennessee in 2010, but Sunday was different because of what he was leaving behind.

“This was a very challenging, difficult day. We went through a lot last night with Keith Carter, trying to figure out a way to make this playoff run work and coach the team. I understand that decision, I totally wish the team the best of luck, and wish I was coaching. Hope they play really well and go win the national championship.”

Kiffin signed a seven-year, $91 million deal before incentives with the LSU Tigers on Sunday, per CBS Sports. The contract puts Kiffin among the top three highest-paid coaches in college football, next to Ohio State coach Ryan Day and Georgia coach Kirby Smart. Kiffin said it was a family decision to go to Baton Rouge.

“It was something that I prayed on and made a family decision. Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, but I think a lot of times you just go prove things right.”

Fans didn’t care too much about Kiffin’s convictions. The general pulse of the fanbase was angry that Kiffin dragged out his looming future for more than a week.

“I know there’s a lot of feelings and emotions right now around, I hope when they settle down that there is an appreciation about what we were able to do here and having the best run that’s been done in the history of the school and brought some exciting times,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin was asked about poaching coaches from Ole Miss to take to Baton Rouge. Kiffin denied asking his staff at Ole Miss to follow him.

“There was nothing. Every coach has their own decision to make. I would never give them an ultimatum like that.”

Within hours, Ole Miss named Pete Golding, the Rebels’ defensive coordinator, the permanent head coach after Kiffin’s departure. Golding had this message for the team Sunday night.

“We are not reinventing the wheel,” Golding told the team. “We ain’t playing scared, we ain’t coaching scared. That’s not what you’re used to. Let’s go make our run.”

The historic season continues without Kiffin, but it’s not the first time the veteran coach has left on bad terms. The young NFL coach was fired by the Raiders during his second season. Kiffin set Knoxville on fire as fans burned mattresses in the streets when he left the University of Tennessee for his “dream job” at the University of Southern California in 2010. Then he famously got fired from USC on a tarmac in 2013. He left for Florida Atlantic during Alabama’s 2016 National Championship run seven days before the Tide played in the title game. The Ole Miss departure is par for the course with Kiffin, and Sunday brought back emotions from his previous transitions.

“I always hated how we gave one year to Tennessee and left.”

Kiffin gave six seasons to Ole Miss, but he said it was time to make an impact somewhere else.

“My heart was here, but I talked to some mentors, Coach Pete Carroll and Coach Nick Saban, especially when Coach Carroll said your dad would tell you to go… I talked to God, and he told me it was time to take a new step.”

Kiffin’s next step is coaching a program with a storied pedigree. LSU Football has won four national championships and produced three Heisman winners, to Ole Miss’s none.

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— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) December 1, 2025

Maybe that’s why he left Oxford? Maybe it was what his Dad, the legendary Monte Kiffin, would want him to do? No time for fans to think about it — this new era of college football moves on fast.

Kiffin will be introduced as LSU’s 37th head coach on Monday. His time in Oxford, Mississippi, is now history.