Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin denied a report from Stewart Mandel of The Athletic that he was given an ultimatum to tell the school his future plans before Nov. 28’s Egg Bowl, as buzz continues to link him to the vacancies at LSU, Florida and other programs.
“That’s absolutely not true,” he said of the reported ultimatum during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday. “There hasn’t been anything like that at all.”
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, however, reported that “sources told ESPN on Tuesday that Ole Miss officials are pressing Kiffin and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, for a resolution. Athletic director Keith Carter has asked for Kiffin to reach a decision by this upcoming weekend, sources said. The sources stopped short of calling it an ultimatum, but they added that Carter and others want an answer so they can prepare for the postseason, a potential coaching transition before the CFP and a search to identify Kiffin’s replacement if he leaves.”
And ultimatum or not, Kiffin’s future is very much up in the air.
Mandel reported that “a source confirmed that LSU sent a private plane for Kiffin’s family to visit Baton Rouge on Monday, and the Kiffins took a similar trip to Gainesville the day before. Lane was not on either trip.”
Kiffin has understandably chosen to not speak on his future.
“I love what we’re doing here,” he told reporters said after Saturday’s 34-24 win over Florida. “Today was awesome. To even talk about it right now would be so disrespectful to our players and how well they played today. We’ve got a lot of things going here. Doing really well, and I love it here.”
Ole Miss is currently 10-1 on the season and looks like a lock to reach the College Football Playoff this season even if it misses out on the SEC Championship Game Both undefeated Texas A&M and one-loss Georgia are currently ahead of the Rebels in the SEC standings, with the Bulldogs holding the head-to-head tiebreaker on Ole Miss, though Alabama also only has one loss in the SEC and the league might need to go deep into its tiebreaker scenarios to sort out a potential three-way tie for the second berth.
In any event, it’s been a fantastic season for Ole Miss, and it’s hardly a surprise the school wants to keep Kiffin or that interest is mounting elsewhere.
