Lane Kiffin continues to haunt Ole Miss in their College Football Playoff run after leaving the Rebels for greener pastures with the LSU Tigers. And Jimbo Fisher has seen enough.
Kiffin’s messy departure from Oxford with the Rebels on the brink of the playoff left pretty much everyone outside Baton Rouge with a weird taste in their mouths. But the way that he has continued to try to cling and hang on to their success without him has been nothing but cringe.
Kiffin was going to go on College GameDay and then backed out. Then there was noise about him wanting to be in the broadcast booth during the Sugar Bowl between Ole Miss and Georgia, which would have been totally absurd behavior.
But none of that behavior surpasses the drama around the Ole Miss assistants leaving with Kiffin to go to LSU and whether or not they would be able to finish the job with the Rebels this season and coach in the playoffs. After an upset of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and advancing to the semifinals, just two of the assistants leaving for LSU are still with the program ahead of the game against Miami.
And ahead of the Ole Miss-Miami CFP semifinal, former Florida State and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called out Kiffin for his behavior and what it has meant for his former players in Oxford while on ACC Network.
“It’s selfish. It’s stupid.”
Jimbo Fisher sounds off on Lane Kiffin not allowing some coaches to coach for Ole Miss in the CFP semifinal 👀 pic.twitter.com/6TodO50jbU
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) January 8, 2026
“It’s selfish, that’s what it is. It’s stupid,” Fisher said. “Here’s why I say that. He wanted to coach and thought he didn’t get his way. So everybody get on the plane with me, you don’t have a job. He makes them all go. Then he gets down there and takes a PR hit because it looks bad that you really don’t care about the kids.”
“Here’s where he screwed up. He thought they’re going to lose to Georgia and the portal thing was going to be all over with,” Fisher added. “He said, oh, I’ll look like a hero. Now he’s got egg on his face because the real Lane came back out. You know what I’m saying? And if those guys were allowed to coach the first game, they should be allowed to coach. Because those kids are doing something that you get one time in your life to ever do. That team and those guys. One time. And as a coach, listen, I’ve left a job. I get that. But if you took them on and said they’re never coming back that’s fine. You set the rules of the game. You don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. As a coach, it’s hurting the kids and that pisses me off.”
This is a very different perspective than what we have seen through much of the season on College GameDay, where the actions of Lane Kiffin have been consistently defended by his old Alabama boss Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit.
It’s rare to see one member of the coaching fraternity call out another this strongly, but perhaps the reaction of Jimbo Fisher tells you what others throughout the sport really think of the new LSU coach and how he’s handled this transition.
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