Lane Kiffin’s will-he-or-won’t-he drama hangs over three SEC programs and the College Football Playoff, making the Ole Miss head coach the biggest story in the sport.
Again.
The 50-year-old Kiffin has already been the head coach of four college football teams and one NFL team. As the No. 6 Rebels, Florida and LSU wait to learn whether Kiffin will stay at Ole Miss or leave — potentially before a first-round CFP home game — here’s a chronological look at some of Kiffin’s most dramatic moments (with a heavy emphasis on the coaching carousel).
January 2007: The Oakland Raiders make the 31-year-old USC assistant the youngest head coach in the NFL’s modern era … even though Kiffin had never been a head coach at any level, had only one year of NFL experience and was three years younger than one of his star players, Warren Sapp. So why Kiffin? “Confidence,” owner Al Davis said then. “He thinks he can do it.”
November 2007: After Houston Nutt’s resignation at Arkansas, Kiffin’s name quickly surfaced as a potential candidate. “That’s news to me,” he told Raiders reporters at the time. Kiffin cut an interview session short and jogged into the facility. Kiffin was Oakland’s fifth head coach in seven seasons, so the Raiders weren’t up for the drama. “Not again,” one player told the San Francisco Chronicle.
September 2008: The Raiders fire Kiffin, days after he had kicker Sebastian Janikowski attempt a 76-yard field goal in a 28-18 loss to the Chargers. In an unforgettable, two-hour news conference that included information shown on an overhead projector, Davis blasted Kiffin for reasons beyond his 5-15 record. Davis called him a “flat-out liar” who “conned me, like he conned all you people.” Davis fired Kiffin for cause, and an arbitrator denied Kiffin’s grievance in 2010. A Raiders executive said at the time that Kiffin showed a “stunning lack of concern” for his contract and the franchise’s rules.
Lane Kiffin’s head coaching stops
YearsTeamRecord
2007-08
5-15
2009
7-6
2010-13
28-15
2017-19
26-13
2020-present
54-19
December 2008: Kiffin, 33, is introduced as Tennessee’s successor to national champion Phillip Fulmer. In his news conference, Kiffin said he was ready to embrace traditions like “singing ‘Rocky Top’ all night long after we beat Florida next year.” Spoiler: His Vols lost to Urban Meyer’s Gators 23-13. Kiffin also noted the fact that he learned from his time at a “completely dysfunctional franchise.” The line drew laughs, but Kiffin said it wasn’t a joke. “You can’t go to school and learn crisis management like going there.”
February 2009: During a signing day event, Kiffin accuses Meyer of contacting a recruit who was visiting Tennessee at the time. “I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him,” he told a group of supporters. The SEC reprimanded Kiffin, who apologized.
May 2009: Kiffin’s comments about Meyer were a conversation point during his first SEC spring meetings. Kiffin pointed out that Steve Spurrier didn’t apologize to him after the South Carolina head coach questioned whether Kiffin had taken the NCAA’s recruiting test on Day 1. From The State newspaper in South Carolina:
Told of Kiffin’s comments, Spurrier shook his head, paused and spun around and faced Kiffin, who was waiting to get on an elevator.
“I didn’t accuse you of cheating,” Spurrier said, pointing toward Kiffin.
The State described Kiffin as silent and “red in the face.”
January 2010: Kiffin leaves Tennessee after going 7-6 in his lone season. The Vols didn’t take it well. Students painted vulgar, anti-Kiffin messages on the school’s rock and burned mattresses and shirts. One fan, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel, uploaded a video of him urinating on a Kiffin shirt before lighting it on fire. The scene was bad enough that the police drove Kiffin home and provided security for his family. The state legislature also unanimously voted against its annual custom of honoring the Vols’ coach.
Said the father of one recruit to the News Sentinel: “We bought into him, and I made the biggest mistake I ever made.”
September 2013: The tarmac story is one of the most famous firings in college football history. After opening ranked No. 1 but finishing 7-6 the year before, USC lost 62-41 at Arizona State, falling to 3-2. When USC’s plane landed around 3 a.m., Kiffin was pulled off a team bus and fired. Technically, his dismissal happened in a small office at the airport, but the ignominy of being fired on the airport tarmac stuck.
January 2017: Unlike Kirby Smart and (later) Steve Sarkisian, Kiffin could not balance being an Alabama assistant during a College Football Playoff run while being the new head coach elsewhere. Kiffin was Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator in a semifinal win over Washington. Still, he left the Crimson Tide to focus on being Florida Atlantic’s head coach one week before the national championship. Both Saban and Kiffin said it was a mutual agreement. Regardless, it was unusual. Alabama lost the title game to Clemson 35-31.
Signing day 2017: What was expected to be a hype video for his first recruiting class with the Owls was instead compared to a hostage video. Kiffin swayed awkwardly, blinked often and spoke flatly about the “exciting time” in recruiting before flashing the Owls’ hand symbol. Kiffin later said the viral clip was a joke to gain attention (it worked). Kiffin went on to lead FAU to two Conference USA championships in three years before Ole Miss hired him ahead of the 2020 season.
November 2022: After Auburn fired Bryan Harsin, Kiffin became a top name in the search. When a reporter at a Mississippi TV station said Kiffin planned to take the Auburn job, Kiffin responded with a (facetious) post about that reporter taking a job at another TV station. Following an Egg Bowl loss in the regular-season finale, Kiffin said he planned to remain at Ole Miss. His Rebels were 8-1 before the coaching rumors started. They finished 8-5.
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) November 22, 2022
Now: Kiffin’s attempt to keep the focus on the field with his 10-1 Rebels has had a minor hiccup or two. His family’s recent trips to Gainesville and Baton Rouge fed into the frenzy as the Gators and Tigers conduct their searches.
The Athletic reported on Monday that Ole Miss asked Kiffin to decide on his future before the Nov. 28 Egg Bowl against Mississippi State.
On Tuesday, he denied there was an ultimatum but refused to address his future. On Wednesday, Kiffin dodged questions about his future and again declined to comment on a social media report that he spoke with Louisiana’s governor about the LSU job.
That’s a sentence that would be surreal for most coaches but has become almost mundane for Kiffin.
