Lane Kiffin Releases Statement After Accepting LSU Coaching Job

The 50-year-old is headed to Baton Rouge The 50-year-old is headed to Baton Rouge.

After leading the Rebels to an Egg Bowl win over Mississippi State on Friday, the 50-year-old met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce for over three hours on Saturday. Kiffin then announced his decision to leave Oxford in a team meeting on Sunday.

Here’s a look at Kiffin’s message that he posted on X (formerly Twitter):

"After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU," wrote Kiffin.

"I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year's team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team's incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern. My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday's Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.

"While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford."

Defensive coordinator Pete Golding will now take over. In this story at the Rebels’ “permanent” head coach as they embark on their first College Football Playoff appearance in school history.

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