Lane Kiffin’s goodbye to Ole Miss was a mess from start to finish.
The now-former Rebels coach announced Sunday he was leaving for LSU, two days after Ole Miss beat Mississippi State 38-19 to clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. Kiffin told the media after Friday’s Egg Bowl win that he had “a lot of praying to do” about his future, which everyone understood meant he was deciding between staying at Ole Miss or taking the LSU job.
By Sunday afternoon, he’d made his choice.
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) November 30, 2025
The statement Kiffin posted blamed Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter for not letting him coach the Rebels through the playoff. He wrote that he wanted to finish the season with “guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern,” but Carter denied his request, “despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”
As everyone in their right mind would imagine, the statement didn’t land particularly well. Those in sports media called out the victim framing, questioning whether his players actually wanted him to stay after reports said he’d been hiding from them all morning.
https://t.co/RrTxAw0xTy pic.twitter.com/UWjvJeEe0Q
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 30, 2025
I am sure the team whose leadership council he hid from in his office this morning was definitely begging for him to be allowed to continue to coach. https://t.co/jlSGHXeqCA
— Brian Scott Rippee (@bsrippee) November 30, 2025
This tweet is weak as fuck. Dont suddenly get serious. Don’t say you prayed. Don’t make it like you were the victim. Just post the below gif and say. “See ya in Death Valley”. https://t.co/CmgYJbrF1E pic.twitter.com/dJf1BkPy2e
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) November 30, 2025
If you like dumpster fires, strap in, because this has ENORMOUS boom (playoff in 2027!) or bust (fired in Jan 2028) given the mess at LSU and Lane’s history https://t.co/Hlk7HsKAOX
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) November 30, 2025
“Despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching…”
To include that in there is a bad look imo https://t.co/WcgV64iPAr
— Paolo Uggetti (@PaoloUggetti) November 30, 2025
Has there ever been a less victimized person acting like they’re the victim lol https://t.co/hN3AKVfhEq
— Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) November 30, 2025
Guardrails! https://t.co/dRSuh5IDoB
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) November 30, 2025
Kiffin went 55-19 at Ole Miss and delivered the program’s first playoff berth. He’s leaving for one of college football’s premier jobs with a massive raise. But instead of owning that decision, the statement positioned him as the guy who wanted to stay but wasn’t allowed to finish what he started. Playing the victim on your way to a $90 million payday doesn’t tend to generate much sympathy.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.