Ole Miss Rebels head football coach Lane Kiffin has a 2024 Division II star quarterback leading the No. 6 team in the country straight toward a potential SEC title matchup and College Football Playoff appearance. These are occurrences uncommon in Oxford. Yet, the only story most SEC fans truly care about in that town is the upcoming decision by Lane Kiffin on where he’ll coach in 2026.
If you’re been out of the college football loop, or even the Lane Kiffin loop itself, over the last week, then get caught up in the next sentence or so.
Essentially, Florida and LSU have sectioned themselves off as the two suitors for Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. As rumors swirled, a report suggested Kiffin had an ultimatum from the school to say whether he is staying in Oxford or leaving for another job by the end of the year, but Kiffin went on the Pat McAfee Show this week and laughed off the suggestion of any ultimatum. But then, on Friday, a new report surfaced anyway suggesting that Kiffin will give an answer on his future after the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss’ last game of the regular season against Mississippi State on Black Friday.
ESPN reported the following straight from Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter on Friday: “Ole Miss vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics Keith Carter said Friday that an announcement about Kiffin’s future will come the day after the No. 6 Rebels play rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl in Starkville on Nov. 28,” reporter Mark Schlabach wrote.
Mississippi Rebels players hoist the Egg Bowl trophy in the proudest moment of their young lives / Matt Bush-Imagn Images
Will Kiffin coach through the next week and then make a call? Will he pledge to coach the rest of the year even if he wants to take a new job? Can he play Ole Miss by acting as if he’s staying to coach through the year… only to take another job? How about, would Ole Miss even let Kiffin coach the Playoff games if Ole Miss makes it and he’s already accepted a new gig? Important questions to answer.
The notable development, for Ole Miss fans, is that Kiffin’s odds of remaining in Oxford are going up with every day he doesn’t make contact with the Tigers or Gators. According to predictive trading market Kalshi, the odds of a Kiffin departure in the next week, before the Egg Bowl, are darn near zero after they were once near 70% earlier on Friday. Later evening… not the case.
As of this writing around roughly 9 p.m. ET, Lane Kiffin’s odds to leave before Nov. 28, the date of Black Friday and the Ole Miss game against Mississippi State, have held at 8% for several hours now. Chaos could break out throughout the next eight days, of course, but for now, a resolution doesn’t seem to be coming on his 2026 destination until once the regular season ends.
