Dec 1, 2025; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
By Matt Yoder on

Lane Kiffin has returned to his supervillain coaching roots, spurning Ole Miss and a chance to coach in the College Football Playoff to make a shock move to SEC rival LSU.

In true to form fashion, it wasn’t just Kiffin’s move or motives that were controversial, it was also how he talked about the move. He made grandiose statements like insisting that the players wanted him to stay and coach the Rebels in the playoff in spite of abandoning them on the doorstep of their first playoff appearance. That was quickly debunked by Ole Miss players.

He also claimed to have the support of the national media in wanting to stay at Ole Miss to coach in the playoff while also leading recruiting and coaching efforts at LSU. That also was not the case.

But maybe Lane Kiffin thought the latter may have been true, given the unequivocal support of Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit on College GameDay. Both Saban and Hebrstreit were ultra-deferential to Kiffin throughout the drama, raising serious questions of a conflict of interest at ESPN, namely revolving around the influence of superagent Jimmy Sexton. Those questions only intensified when Kiffin disclosed that Saban had advised him to take the LSU job, something the legendary Alabama coach declined to share with GameDay viewers.

As luck would have it, Kiffin will get to share even more from his side of the story when he makes an appearance on the show this Saturday at the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.

Kiffin is obviously very friendly with the show, given that he was an assistant coach under Saban at Alabama and has made multiple appearances with the program. But this will be a true test of whether or not College GameDay wants to be serious when it comes to a major college football story or continue playing favorites.

Will Rece Davis or anyone else on that set press Lane Kiffin on any number of controversial elements from his Ole Miss departure? When did he first start talking to LSU? Was he offered more money, either for himself or in NIL spending? Did he offer an ultimatum to assistant coaches to join him? What about his statements that have been discounted by those still at Ole Miss? (And for that matter, what exactly did Nick Saban advise Lane Kiffin and when? And did it influence what he was saying on ESPN at the same time?)

Hearing the new LSU coach asked any of those questions would be nice. However, and this is a wild guess, don’t expect Lane Kiffin on the College GameDay set to suddenly break into the Frost-Nixon interviews on Saturday, given what we have seen to this point.

Update: Lane Kiffin posted to X on Friday night that he “won’t make it to Atlanta” for College GameDay.

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