Sports

Lane Kiffin Has Not Talked To His Former Offensive Coordinator Since Fat Joke Before Rivalry Game

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Jeff Lebby Lane Kiffin Fat Egg Bowl
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Lane Kiffin has not talked to Jeff Lebby during the 2024 college football season. The head coach at Ole Miss made a fat joke about his former assistant, who is now the head coach at Mississippi State, and it seems as though their already soured relationship became nonexistent.

They will be forced to break their silence when they face coach against each other for the first time on Friday in Oxford at the 121st edition of the Egg Bowl.

Kiffin was hired by the Rebels in 2020. Lebby joined him as the offensive coordinator. They spent two years together with a combined record of 15-8. Ole Miss won 10 games for only the third time in program history during their second season.

And then Lebby left for the same job at his alma mater, Oklahoma. He was later hired by the Bulldogs as head coach in December after two years with the Sooners.

Whether they are willing to admit it or not, Lebby’s relationship with Kiffin was already on the rocks prior to his departure for Norman. It has since disintegrated into nonexistence. That likely has something to do with an unprompted jab back in June.

Kiffin did an interview with Pardon My Take during his first year with the Rebels, which was long before his weight health transformation. The 49-year-old rarely misses a day of hot yoga in 2024. He doesn’t drink. He mostly cut carbs out of his diet. That was not the case in 2020.

Kiffin was heavy and people took notice.

For whatever reason, he responded back to the trolls four years later. Kiffin joked that he was fat because he was hanging out with Lebby. It was out of absolutely nowhere!

Lebby said the shot was a “little childish” but “that doesn’t mean he doesn’t respect Kiffin.” The two Magnolia State head coaches have not spoken since.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State are in very different places. Lane Kiffin believes the Rebels are still a (very) long shot to make the College Football Playoff with a blowout win on Friday. Jeff Lebby hopes the 2-9 Bulldogs can play the spoiler and further ruin their rival’s college football season. They will have to talk to each other for the first time in months (maybe years?) prior to kickoff!