Five months ago, Lane Kiffin almost broke the internet. The highly respected football coach made the controversial decision to step down from his role at Ole Miss to take over as head coach at LSU.
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Initially, after accepting LSU's job offer, Kiffin wanted to remain with Ole Miss until after their postseason run. Ultimately, things didn't play out that way, and Kiffin left before the postseason began. Now the dust has settled, Kiffin admits that he could have approached things differently.
"I think I would have just come in and said, 'OK, I'm leaving,'" Kiffin said on the "Pardon My Take" podcast, via 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."
Ole Miss and LSU are fierce rivals. So, it's no surprise that Kiffin's decision ruffled multiple feathers. After all, Kiffin had rebuilt the Rebels into a powerhouse in the SEC. Nobody wanted to see him go. Nevertheless, a battle with the athletic board saw him leave in difficult circumstances.
"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."
Lane Kiffin Will Face Ole Miss Next Season
Kiffin's story with Ole Miss isn't over yet. He might not be their head coach anymore, but that doesn't mean the chapter is closed. He will still have to face his former team, with a primetime game set for the third game of his LSU tenure.
It's fair to assume that the game will be a high-pressure environment. However, Kiffin has proven capable of navigating those types of games and will undoubtedly want to prove LSU right in its decision to pry him away.
