After members of the Mississippi football team disputed some of Lane Kiffin’s accounts of how things played out leading up to him taking the LSU head coaching job, the school’s athletic director also pushed back on the comments.
Appearing on SuperTalk Mississippi (h/t ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg), Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter explained Kiffin has said “a lot of things publicly that I’m not sure are totally accurate.”
Carter’s answer was in response to a question about Kiffin saying he wanted to keep coaching the Rebels through the College Football Playoff.
On Tuesday, Kiffin issued a statement in which he said Carter “denied” his request to coach in the playoff despite members of the roster “also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”
The statement did not seem to sit well with some Ole Miss players. Linebacker Suntarine Perkins, along with offensive linemen Brycen Sanders and Jayden Williams quoted Kiffin’s post by providing their recollection of the situation.
Carter added that Kiffin was told “several weeks ago” it wouldn’t be possible for him to coach Mississippi if he took another job. They did leave open the possibility for him to coach in the SEC Championship Game if Ole Miss clinched a spot in the game, but Carter noted even that wasn’t a certainty.
Per John Talty of CBS Sports, multiple Mississippi players “confronted” Kiffin in his office on Sunday when they learned he “threatened to take the offensive staff” with him to LSU if Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce didn’t let him coach in the playoff.
“I’m not making them go,” Kiffin told the players, according to Talty. “They can do whatever they want.”
Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., wide receivers coach George McDonald, general manager Billy Glasscock, senior associate AD for football operations Thaddeus Rivers and strength coach Nick Savage are among the Ole Miss staffers reportedly going with Kiffin to Baton Rouge.
Weis is being allowed to remain in his role as Mississippi’s offensive coordinator for the College Football Playoff, Kiffin announced on Tuesday.
Mississippi (11-1) is currently ranked No. 6 in the College Football Playoff Top 25. The final rankings will be unveiled on Sunday after conference championship weekend is complete.
Kiffin, who had been with Ole Miss since 2020, accepted a seven-year, $91 million contract with LSU. He is joining a Tigers program that went 7-5 during the 2025 regular season and fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26.
