We still don’t know precisely what stops Ole Miss pulled out to try and keep Lane Kiffin from leaving, but we can presume they didn’t look at LSU’s offer and do nothing.
However, that seemed to be ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter’s thinking on Monday morning’s Get Up.
“He was making $7 million a year at Ole Miss,” Schefter said. “What I don’t understand from the outside is, why didn’t Ole Miss step up and pay him? College football has become one big money-grab… Would anybody in any line of work pass up a $5 million-a-year raise to go somewhere else? No!”
As Schefter was positing this theory, an exasperated Paul Finebaum grew agitated on the monitor, itching to clarify the situation.
“First of all, the money was going to be the same everywhere,” said Finebaum. “Ole Miss was not gonna let him get away for a couple million dollars, I just wanted to clarify that.”
Adam Schefter: “[Lane Kiffin] was making 7 million dollars a year… What I don’t understand… is why didn’t Ole Miss step up and pay him?”
An exasperated Paul Finebaum: “The money was going to be the same everywhere. Ole Miss was not gonna let him get away for a couple million… pic.twitter.com/w0qBqPAjZM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 1, 2025
It’s also worth noting that Schefter’s math was incorrect. Kiffin was making $9 million a year before bonuses, so he was likely making north of that overall. So while the $13 million offer he accepted from LSU was higher, it does not appear to be the $5 million raise the NFL insider insisted on.
Per source, Ole Miss was offering a “nearly identical” deal as LSU.
It was never about his compensation.
TV punditry throughout this saga has been as embarrassing as I’ve seen. https://t.co/8MUZcH7IiZ
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 1, 2025
We have to imagine quite a few reporters are digging into exactly what Ole Miss tried to do to keep Kiffin from leaving amid a potential national championship push. However, as The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel noted above, salary wasn’t the issue.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.