Rebels' Chris Beard Hosts Lane Kiffin For Special Edition of Fireside Chat

Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball coach Chris Beard spiced up his latest edition of Fireside Chat by bringing on Lane Kiffin.

OXFORD, Miss. -- You will not want to miss this if you are a fan of the Ole Miss Rebels. 

Ole Miss men's basketball coach Chris Beard released a new "Fireside Chat" episode on Friday, and his latest installment included a special guest, Rebels' football coach Lane Kiffin.

Beard opened the chat with a couple of facts for his football counterpart.

"Fun fact," Beard told Kiffin. "You're the second most requested visitor ever in the history of the fireside chat, ever. Only behind Snoop Dogg. Snoop's from Mississippi, did you know that?"

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"I probably should know that, but I didn't," Kiffin replied. "I see you already know more stuff than me in year one."

Beard mentioned that his last guest who was a football coach (Texas Longhorns' Steve Sarkisian) happened to have immense success after he guest starred on "Fireside Chat."

"The last time we had a football coach on the fireside, it was a friend of mine, and the next season he was in the college football playoff," Beard said. "No pressure."

Beard then quickly dove into Kiffin's successful 2023 season with the Ole Miss football program, where the Rebels won 11 games for the first time in school history.

"I haven't seen you much I've been busy, but congratulations on 11 wins and a Peach Bowl [victory]. Everybody in town is so proud of you, man. I know you're proud of the team. How'd you get it done?" 

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"It was a really cool group of players," Kiffin said. "As you know, that's not always the case, just because you put together a good roster doesn't mean they're going to be a good team. They just really gelled together and they were really neat to coach. Now a lot of them have decided to come back and they're just really unselfish - which is really refreshing nowadays to have."

The entire 15 minute conversation between Beard and Kiffin can be found here.

Kiffin and his players are preparing for spring practice, but Beard and his Rebels are in the heat of conference play in their 2024 campaign. Beard has coached Ole Miss to a 19-7 (6-7, SEC) overall record in his first year in Oxford after starting the season 13-0. 

The Rebels will have to take care of business versus the No. 20 South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon if they want to keep their dwindling NCAA Tournament hopes afloat. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. CT in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion, and the game will be televised on SEC Network.