The Ole Miss Rebels will continue their College Football Playoff run on Thursday in New Orleans, not far from where their former head coach Lane Kiffin now resides at LSU.
And in a strange yet not entirely surprising turn of events, On3 is reporting that Kiffin is expected to attend the game — and may even appear on ESPN’s broadcast of the Sugar Bowl between Ole Miss and Georgia.
In a story on Kiffin’s messy exit from Oxford, reporter Chris Low wrote that Kiffin could make an appearance at the Superdome with the main character in the Tigers’ coaching search, Gov. Jeff Landry, and is in talks with the Worldwide Leader to join the booth during the game:
“Sources told On3 that Kiffin has even reached out to ESPN personnel about possibly appearing in the broadcast booth for a segment during the game, although sources say ESPN hasn’t been receptive.”
Earlier in December, reports surfaced that Kiffin was set to appear on College GameDay ahead of the SEC championship. Plans ultimately changed, with host Rece Davis stating that Kiffin decided not to come on the show and that the panel’s questions would “have to wait.”
Kiffin also recently joined the ESPN booth for the Texas Bowl as his Tigers took on Houston. In that interview, Kiffin addressed his departure from Oxford.
Given that his move to LSU dominated the stretch run of the college football season and he already gave his side of the story in an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith, an introductory press conference in Baton Rouge, and the Texas Bowl interview, there seemingly would be little more for Kiffin to say. At the very least, Ole Miss fans probably would like to be spared the promotional opportunity for their former coach while their team tries to beat Georgia and finish the work Kiffin started.
Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy will call the Sugar Bowl for ESPN and ABC on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
With all of Oxford watching, Kiffin may once again be front and center. Maybe those questions Davis hinted at can, at the very least, finally be put to the itinerant head coach.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.