Ole Miss Players Turn on Lane Kiffin: Report

By Jordan SiglerShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

No. 7 Ole Miss should be celebrating becoming a lock in the College Football Playoff after defeating Mississippi State 38-19 in the "Egg Bowl" on Friday to finish the regular season with an 11-1 record.

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Instead, the scene in Oxford is getting nasty on Sunday.

Per multiple reports, Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin is set to become Brian Kelly's replacement at LSU. Kiffin has not officially signed the contract from the Tigers, as Ole Miss and Kiffin debate how the program will go about the CFP.

College football head coach Lane Kiffen of the Ole Miss Rebels

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Kiffin reportedly wants to coach the Rebels in the CFP, and is threatening to take staff with him to Baton Rouge while Ole Miss is preparing for the postseason.

The possibility that Kiffin takes staff with him to LSU (and the possibility that some Rebels players hit the transfer portal) before and during the CFP would hurt the Rebels' chances of winning a national championship.

Per Neal McCready of 247 Sports, Ole Miss players are "unhappy" with Kiffin amid reports that the team meeting was delayed until Sunday afternoon. The Rebels are considering making defensive coordinator Pete Golding or quarterbacks coach Joe Judge the interim head coach for the CFP.

"Per a source, the Ole Miss leadership council is on its way to Lane Kiffin's office in the Manning Center. Players are unhappy with Kiffin, and that's putting it mildly," McCready wrote. "Ole Miss is deciding the machinations of an interim staff, with either Pete Golding or Joe Judge leading."

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Per John Talty of CBS Sports, Golding is not expected to take a position on Kiffin's staff with LSU.

"Amidst speculation of which staff could follow Lane Kiffin to LSU, multiple sources have told Matt Zenitz and me for CBS Sports Ole Miss DC Pete Golding is not expected to be one of them," Talry posted on X. "Golding has been at Ole Miss since 2023 and is highly-regarded as a DC in CFB circles."

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The divorce between Kiffin and Ole Miss is ugly.

LSU fans can laugh, for now.

For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.

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