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As the Ole Miss Rebels prepare for their College Football Playoff (CFP) game this Saturday, it’s hard not to think about Lane Kiffin not being on the sideline.
Kiffin helped lead the Rebels to its first CFP appearance, but he left after the final regular-season game to become LSU’s new head coach.
The decision by Kiffin has created a bitter end to a program that has been built up well the last six seasons. It’s one that has impacted both current players and students as well as alumni like former New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister.
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NFL legend Deuce McAllister gives back to the New Orleans hospitality and military community at the Crown Royal #GenerosityHour on Nov. 22, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Josh Brasted/Getty Images)
McAllister, who played for the Rebels from 1997-2000, can speak for many supporting Ole Miss when he says there was disappointment and pain when Kiffin decided to head to Baton Rouge.
“Immediately, there’s scorn, there’s fury, there’s anger, any other nasty word. Most of all, there’s hurt,” McAllister told The Athletic. “Because you thought there was trust. You thought there was genuine trust and genuine caring there. And not to say that there wasn’t, it just didn’t end that way. Long-term, you can’t take away the success.”
Since Kiffin’s departure, there has been fallout and conflicting statements from both sides, starting with his statement to the Rebels faithful.
LANE KIFFIN LETS FOUR LSU ASSISTANTS RETURN TO OLE MISS FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RUN AGAINST TULANE
“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,” Kiffin’s statement read. “My request to do so was denied by [athletic director] 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.”
Carter disputed several claims from Kiffin during his first public comments on the matter.
“A lot of things publicly that I’m not sure are totally accurate,” Carter told SuperTalk Mississippi.
Deuce Mcallister of the Mississippi Rebels runs with the ball during a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi on Oct. 3, 1998. (Getty Images)
Carter said that Kiffin and his reps were given several weeks’ notice that coaching the Rebels in any potential playoff games was effectively a nonstarter.
“It was very clear that coaching in the postseason was not going to be an option for Coach Kiffin several weeks ago,” Carter said.
Also, one of Kiffin’s Ole Miss players, Spencer Sanders, disputed his coach’s claim that players wanted him to coach their remaining games in the CFP.
“I think everyone that was in that room would disagree,” Sanders posted on X.
Fellow offensive lineman Jayden Williams chimed in on Sanders’ sentiment: “Let ‘em know. Every single person.”
Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin in the fourth quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Nov. 2, 2024. (Nelson Chenault/Imagn Images)
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Since then, Kiffin has allowed four assistants that followed him to LSU return to Oxford to help the Rebels prepare for Tulane in the first round of the CFP on Saturday.
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