Lane Kiffin Says He 'Didn't Do A Very Good Job' Keeping Rebels Together After 2022 Alabama Loss

The Ole Miss head coach was made available to the media at SEC Media Days on Thursday.

NASHVILLE -- Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin had his turn at SEC Media Days on Thursday morning, and in the midst of a flurry of comments about NIL and the transfer portal, he discussed what went wrong down the stretch in his team's 2022 season.

The Rebels finished the season 8-5 after starting the year at 7-0, and Kiffin took the brunt of the blame for how the season concluded during his opening statement on Thursday.

"To recap, we went on a really good run," Kiffin said. "I'm not going to say a great run because we have really high standards. Last year, we were 8-1 with the ball in our hands and a chance to beat Alabama. I didn't do a very good job at the end of the year of keeping our team together.

"I said it up here a year ago, the challenges when you have such a roster overhaul and are so portal-heavy. I've said I've always been concerned about culture issues when you do that because you don't have kids that have been there very long. I think down the stretch there after the Alabama game, I didn't do a good enough job of finding a way to keep our guys playing at a high level. We didn't play to our standards at the end of the season."

Kiffin has not been shy about utilizing the transfer portal since he arrived at Ole Miss, and the same can be said about the upcoming 2023 season. If things go south this season, can Kiffin keep the culture of the roster together with another load of new players?

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