Wilson Alexander
By Wilson Alexander
Advocate/Times Picayune
(Fourth in a series)
Around noon on Nov. 17, several of Lane Kiffin’s family members,
including his ex-wife, walked out of a private hangar at the Baton
Rouge airport. They climbed into a black Chevrolet Suburban and were
driven through the city for the rest of the day, getting a feel for
where they might live as he considered the LSU job.
A little more than a week later, Kiffin is still the primary target in
LSU’s coaching search. LSU leaders want to secure a commitment from
him within the week, multiple sources with knowledge of the process
told The Advocate, but his true intentions remain uncertain heading
into a critical weekend.
Will Kiffin stay at Ole Miss, where he has a team on the cusp of the
College Football Playoff for the first time, or leave for LSU or
Florida? Kiffin has said repeatedly he feels happy with his life at
Ole Miss, but he may believe the other programs offer a better chance
to win national championships. He has yet to sign a contract extension
with the Rebels, even after a meeting last Friday with Ole Miss
athletic director Keith Carter and university chancellor Glenn Boyce.
Although a sense of confidence has grown since late last week around
LSU, multiple officials pointed out Kiffin’s unpredictable nature and
the way coaching searches can take an unexpected turn in the final
days. Many are waiting for finality with an announcement on Kiffin’s
future expected Saturday, the day after No. 7 Ole Miss plays rival
Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl.
“It’s Lane Kiffin,” one source said, “so you never know what he will do.”
A deal with Kiffin has not been finalized as of Tuesday evening,
multiple sources said, and LSU has narrowed a list of other candidates
that includes at least Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz. It’s unclear who
else is under serious consideration.
At this stage, all eyes are on Kiffin.
How LSU got here
After LSU fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26, chaos surrounded the beginning
of the search. LSU parted ways with athletic director Scott Woodward
shortly thereafter amid public criticism from Gov. Jeff Landry, making
it uncertain who would lead the search. LSU named longtime athletic
official Verge Ausberry as his full-time replacement less than a week
later. Ausberry’s coaching connections were seen as an advantage.
“A lot of people still want to come to LSU,” Ausberry said Oct. 31.
“It’s one of the best jobs in the country. It is the best job in the
country at this time. We’re going to find the right person, and I
don’t see any problems getting the right person to be the head coach
at LSU.”
Kiffin, 50, emerged early on as a top target. The search heated up
last Monday, when LSU officials arranged for a donor’s private plane
to bring Kiffin’s family to Baton Rouge. Kiffin did not make the trip.
They spent about six hours on the ground before flying back to Oxford,
Mississippi, using the time to look at houses and learn about the
local high schools.
Kiffin’s son, Knox, is a quarterback in the 2028 class who has
gathered a few scholarship offers early in the recruiting process,
according to 247Sports. Knox posted a photo of himself on social media
Friday night wearing LSU headphones before a playoff game. The day
before, Kiffin’s daughter, Landry, attended an LSU booster event in
Baton Rouge.
Landry Kiffin, a student at Ole Miss, is dating LSU linebacker Whit
Weeks, who politely avoided answering questions about the search
Tuesday evening.
“We’ll see,” Weeks said with a smile. “The time will come. We’ll see
soon enough.”
Details emerge about LSU’s offer
As conversations continue between the two sides, LSU leaders have
discussed a contract that might make Kiffin the highest-paid coach in
the country. LSU is expected to offer at least $13 million per year,
sources said. Officials wanted a shorter term than the 10-year
contract Kelly had with the Tigers. Yahoo Sports first reported it
would be a seven-year deal, which would create a contract worth at
least $90 million, if not more.
Kiffin made $9 million this season before incentives. According to USA
Today, Georgia coach Kirby Smart is currently the highest-paid coach
in the country with an annual salary of nearly $13.3 million. Kelly
was fired in the fourth year of a contract worth more than $100
million in total value. Sources said Gov. Landry, who criticized
high-priced buyouts last month, has been kept in the loop on the
search.
On top of that, LSU has prepared to commit $25-30 million per year for
the roster through a combination of revenue sharing and name, image
and likeness funds, sources said. Investment in the roster is believed
to be one of the most important factors to Kiffin, whose run at Ole
Miss has coincided with the success of its booster collective.
LSU spent about $18 million on the roster this season, Kelly said, and
signed one of the top-ranked transfer classes in the country. It did
so, in part, by front-loading at least $10 million through NIL deals
with its collective before revenue sharing and an NIL clearinghouse
took effect. LSU gave the football team $13.5 million in revenue
sharing funds for the 2025-26 school year, and it saved an unspecified
amount for the 2026 roster.
The collective, Bayou Traditions, has been dormant since July. But
under the new system, some LSU officials believe the school has an
advantage because it can help arrange NIL deals with corporate
sponsors. LSU will continue to fully fund revenue sharing, and the
overall cap is expected to increase 4% the next two years. It has been
estimated the team would need $10-15 million in above-the-cap NIL
deals to reach its financial goals.
While there are questions about how the investment can be guaranteed
to a coach, the number is viewed as attainable. LSU this fall struck
lucrative new sponsorship deals with Venture Global (on-field
advertisement) and Woodside Energy (jersey patches), the specifics of
which are unknown. Outside businesses can continue to sign athletes to
NIL deals as well.
Will that separate LSU’s offer to Kiffin? Maybe not. According to On3,
Ole Miss and Florida are also sending him deals worth at least $13
million per year and promising an annual roster investment of at least
$25 million.
An unusual situation
With so much uncertainty around his future, Kiffin met last Friday
with Carter and Boyce. They decided that he would coach the Egg Bowl,
and then an announcement would be made Saturday. Kiffin said earlier
this week it is “very important” to him to coach Ole Miss through the
season. He dodged other questions about his future.
The timing has become messy for Ole Miss, which could win 11 games in
the regular season for the first time by beating Mississippi State.
With a win, the Rebels will likely go to the Playoff and could host a
first-round game. However, if Kiffin leaves the team before then, it
might affect their seeding. Ole Miss may not let him coach in the CFP
if he’s going to another school.
It would be an unprecedented decision. Kiffin said a situation like
this was “bound to happen” in college football if someone wanted to
hire a coach going to the playoff, calling it a “systematical
problem.” His former boss at Alabama, Nick Saban, said Saturday on
ESPN’s “College GameDay” that college football needs to adjust its
calendar to avoid a similar scenario. Others argue Kiffin could shut
it all down by making a decision.
“This is not a Lane Kiffin conundrum,” said Saban, who’s represented
by Kiffin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton. “This is a college football conundrum
that we need some leadership to step up and change the rules on how
this gets done in terms of coaching searches and opportunities to
leave.”
As LSU began its pursuit of Kiffin, Florida has also made a run at
him. His family visited Gainesville the day before their trip to Baton
Rouge, and 247Sports reported that Florida athletic officials met with
his representation last Thursday night. Florida has continued to court
Kiffin, according to multiple reports, though Yahoo Sports noted
Tuesday the Gators have started to pursue other candidates.
Although LSU can wait through the week, sources said it would prefer
to have a coach in place before the early signing period begins Dec. 3
in order to get started on next year’s roster and the coaching staff.
With a deadline looming Saturday, the situation is expected to be
resolved by this weekend. A month after LSU fired Kelly, everyone is
waiting on Kiffin’s next move.
#30.
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