Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin continues to be connected to the Florida and LSU jobs while the Rebels are No. 6 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. It’s a bizarre situation with an SEC coach contending for a national title while rumors swirl about where he’ll be coaching next year.
And Stewart Mandel of The Athletic reported on Monday that “Ole Miss has given Lane Kiffin an ultimatum to decide his future before the Nov. 28 Egg Bowl against Mississippi State.”
Kiffin appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and called the report “absolutely not true.”
Whatever the case, Fox Sports’ top college football analyst thinks Ole Miss would be right to give Kiffin an ultimatum.
On the latest episode of The Joel Klatt Show, Joel Klatt said, “If I was Ole Miss, I would give [Kiffin] an ultimatum.”
“The longer this goes – the longer he does not commit to Ole Miss – the worse that relationship is, and the more likely it is that he leaves.”
Will Lane Kiffin stay at Ole Miss? More from @joelklatt on growing animosity with an ultimatum. pic.twitter.com/bz7pmte7v5
— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) November 20, 2025
“It had been reported that they gave him an ultimatum,” Klatt began. “And that they said that, ‘Hey, by the Egg Bowl, you’ve got to tell us if you’re staying at Ole Miss, or if you’re going to go take one of these jobs.’ Because, obviously, the reports flying around that he had relatives, ex-wife, kids, out on private planes looking at places in Gainesville, looking at places in Baton Rouge. Alright? Checking things out.”
“Obviously not a good look,” Klatt said. “Obviously not a good look. Which is why I have told you all this entire time- the only thing that can derail Ole Miss, and this is really unfortunate for these players, who have committed and played really well this year, the distraction is their head coach. The distraction is where is he going to be in the next year?”
“If I was Ole Miss, I would give him an ultimatum,” Klatt continued. “Now, he has come out and refuted that, and said, ‘No, no, no, no. That’s absolutely false.’ But listen, you can refute things based on specific language like an ultimatum. But the sentiment might be there. There probably is something going on behind the scenes where Ole Miss is like, ‘Hey, we need to know what’s going on.'”
“In true Lane fashion, now, the college football world, at least from a coaching perspective, kind of revolves around him,” Klatt said. “And he loves when things revolve around him. He loves things revolving around him on social media. And he’s soaking this in. He’s out doing the circuit and doing all the interviews. And all he needs to do if he wants to stay at Ole Miss is do it. Because everybody else has! Don’t you understand? Like, the handwriting is on the wall. Why would he stay there now? Because now, they’re starting to be animus. Now, Ole Miss is starting to be like, ‘I mean, come on. What’s the deal?'”
“I do know Ole Miss will match any offer,” Klatt explained. “So, this is not about money. They will match. He’s got autonomy there. I’m not saying he has to stay. I’m just saying that I understand why Ole Miss feels this way. And the longer this goes, the longer he does not commit to Ole Miss, the worse that relationship is, and the more likely it is that he leaves. If he wanted to be there, he would’ve already said it.”
This story won’t go away until Kiffin offers definitive clarity on where he’s coaching next season. It’s indeed a distraction with a lot of noise for the Ole Miss football team to work around as the Rebels try to compete for a national title over the next two months.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.