Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is leaving the Rebels for LSU, in a stunning and unprecedented case of a college football coach taking another job while his current team is in contention to win a national title. Ole Miss players were told during a Sunday afternoon meeting that defensive coordinator Pete Golding was the team’s new permanent head coach.

Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels won 11 games in 2025 for the first time in program history, and are on the verge of a College Football Playoff berth.

The announcement on Kiffin’s future was originally expected to be announced on Saturday, a day after the Rebels’ win over Mississippi State in The Egg Bowl. After that game, Kiffin said he had not decided whether to stay or go.

Lane Kiffin, now the new head coach at LSU, was given a different kind of reception as he was preparing to depart from Ole Miss on Sunday.

Lane Kiffin is reportedly threatening to poach from the Ole Miss roster and staff if the school will not let him stay to coach the CFP.

Kiffin could have made history at a place that lifted him up as much as the other way around. Instead, he became a coaching cliche.

Lane Kiffin pays homage to his father amid uncertain coaching future originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.