Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU in broad daylight in a blaze of infamy. One of the most successful college football coaches in school history is now public enemy No. 1 amongst the fans in Oxford.
Not only did the 50-year-old abandon his team in the middle of a College Football Playoff run, he did so in a prolonged and theatrical manner that put his ego above the players.
Nobody can blame a college football coach for taking a new job. Business is business! It was the way Kiffin burned bridges on his way out that left a sour taste in the mouths of the Rebels. They made their thoughts on the abundantly clear in a series of leaked emails to athletic director Keith Carter.
Ole Miss told Lane Kiffin to get out.
There has never been a situation like what happened in November. Ole Miss was in a position to compete for a national championship as one of the 12 teams in the College Football Playoff when its head coach announced his decision to leave for the same job at LSU. He thinks the Tigers give him a better chance to compete for a national championship even though the Rebels were just four wins away. Bizarre.
Not only did Lane Kiffin decide to leave, he only announced his departure after the regular season— after he refused to answer any questions about his future for about six weeks because he supposedly had not made up his mind and needed to pray over his decision. His indecision caused a distraction in the locker room and led many of his players to turn against him when he bounced.
Plus, Kiffin frequently spoke about how Oxford changed his life. He got sober. His family got back together. It taught him new perspective.
For him to leave that place and those people was surprising. For him to leave Ole Miss for its SEC West rival while in the middle of a College Football Playoff run was shocking.
And then it got even messier.
Kiffin wanted to coach the Rebels in the postseason and reportedly threatened to poach their roster and their staff if he was not allowed to do so. Athletic director Keith Carter ultimately told him to get gone.
Kiffin tried to play the victim throughout the entire situation but his former players and Mississippi police debunked his claims. A Louisiana-based reporter also said he tried to tamper with his former players through other members of his staff, who pulled double duty at both Ole Miss and LSU during the Playoff.
Leaked emails reveal frustration.
As you could imagine, Carter’s inbox was filled to the brim throughout this entire situation. He received a lot of emails throughout the not-so-amicable breakup between Kiffin and the Rebels.
Our good friend David Covucci of FOIAball shared some of the best messages in his latest column. They are, as he says, “delightfully deranged.”
Most of the emails, which you can read for just $1, are in support of Keith Carter and his decision to walk Lane Kiffin out of the door. He is not the man he said he is! Get him out!
“I surely thought that he had changed his arrogance and ‘Lane is number one attitude’ since he found the Lord, quit drinking, and his family was back together,” wrote one fan, “but apparently it has not…”
It was a mostly united front. The head coach at LSU cannot coach Ole Miss during the Playoff. Period.
However, there was one single outlier who thought Carter made the wrong decision. He vowed to never return to Mississippi and threatened to pull his child (a senior) out of school in protest.
I am not entirely convinced this email was not ghost written by Kiffin but Covucci says it was penned by a “screened-in-patio magnate in Florida.” So I guess not…
I wonder if this “disgusted” Ole Miss fan followed through on his threat. Especially after the Rebels came just one defensive stop short of the national championship game.
Did he go to any of the games? Did he actually force his daughter to transfer schools for her last semester of college?
If anyone has any further information on this man’s whereabouts, hit me up at Grayson@Brobible.com! I would love to know what he is up to.