Five months later, Lane Kiffin revealed the biggest regret of his unceremonious exit from Ole Miss.
Kiffin led the Rebels for six years, creating a competitive team year after year in the SEC.
But last December, that success could not keep him in Oxford after LSU came calling.
That led to a dispute with the school over when he would leave, with Kiffin wanting to coach the team through its College Football Playoff appearance before he ultimately exited before the postseason.
Kiffn admitted Wednesday he could have handled the situation differently.
“I think I would have just come in and said, ‘OK, I’m leaving,’” Kiffin said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, as transcribed by Sporting News.
“I’m very appreciative of everything. I spent a lot of time right there fighting to coach the team, trying to keep everything together. Totally respect their decision. But I was trying so hard to keep that together. Like, hey, let us all coach. Let this whole thing, you know, let’s see if we can win the whole thing.”
Kiffin, 51, fought tooth and nail with the Ole Miss athletic department during the departure fiasco, wanting to guide the team during its pursuit of a national title.
The Ole Miss athletic department shut the idea down and instead promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to lead the Rebels.
The battle led to a very awkward handoff for both Kiffn and the players.
“Obviously, (staying) didn’t happen that way, which then created a lot of it, because that was the whole night and morning of that, and then what was going to happen,” Kiffin said, according to the Sporting News’ transcription, “and then the team meeting moved back and all the things that went with it, and then you couldn’t have a normal team meeting, because at that time it had, you know, gotten into all that, and then you know, naming of Golding as the head coach.”
Many were uncertain about how Ole Miss would fare in the CFP under Golding, but he led the Rebels to the semifinals before falling to the eventual runner-up Miami 31-27.
While Kiffin wanted to be on the sidelines during those games, he was instead in Baton Rouge for his introductory press conference on Dec. 1, 2025, and preparing to build his LSU team.
Kiffin has since landed the top transfer portal quarterback, Sam Leavitt, from Arizona State and has the best incoming portal class, according to 247 Sports.
He will have to face the music in his third game leading LSU when he is forced to walk back into Vaught Hemingway Stadium to face Ole Miss in primetime.