Lane Kiffin Explains Decision To Stay At Ole Miss Over Auburn Opening

In an interview with ESPN, Lane Kiffin made it clear why he wanted to remain with the Rebels for the 2023 season.

Lane Kiffin was the talk of the SEC offseason when he declined the Auburn head coaching job to remain at Ole Miss. And while Rebels fans are more than pleased that their head coach is set to return for a fourth season, a lingering question flooded their minds. 

Why stay with Ole Miss? Why pass on a program that has been to a pair of national title appearances in the past 13 seasons? 

In an interview with ESPN's Alex Scarborough, Kiffin said his younger self might have made a different decision. He likely would have looked at the foundation the SEC West program laid in place and perhaps would have considered pulling a Tommy Tubberville in the middle of the night.

However, life has changed for Kiffin since his time at Tennessee and USC. So has college football. Thanks to new rules with the one-time transfer and NIL, Kiffin believes the limitations smaller programs once had no longer are an issue. 

"Because of the portal and the one-time transfer, that helps your ability outside of those programs that you would put in that group that signs top-five classes every year," Kiffin said. 

"Outside of [Alabama, Georiga, Ohio State and other blue blood programs], this helps because this allows you to have a good year, lose players (to the NFL) and not go like whoosh, because you can plug in players (from the portal)."

The new rules — albeit not entirely positive according to Kiffin — might be one reason for his return to Oxford. The other? Instability. Gus Malzhan was fired after leading the Tigers to six eight-plus wins seasons in eight years. Bryan Harsin, who was hired a year after Kiffin took the job at Ole Miss, lasted only 21 games. 

There's security with the Rebels, something that Kiffin covets at this point in his career. His family also influenced his decision. Kiffin's oldest daughter is a senior in high school and plans on attending Ole Miss in the fall. 

Kiffin isn't new to the coaching carousel, and he understands why fans might be frustrated with his handling of the situation. Auburn called right after Harsin's firing and wanted to lock him up before the season's end. The Rebels, who ranked inside the AP's top 10 poll and were pushing for a potential SEC West title, lost four of their last five games, including the season finale Egg Bowl to in-state rival Mississippi State. 

Throughout the process, Kiffin made it clear that he was frustrated with Ole Miss' collective, stating that it was "lagging" behind other programs in the conference. With their head coach being linked to an SEC West rival, the collective received a plethora of contributions, and announced that it had surpassed $10 million in fundraising in late November.

According to Scarborough, Kiffin told his players the night before the Egg Bowl that he was planning on staying. Soon after, he agreed to terms on a new contract worth $9 million per year.

After Kiffin agreed to terms to remain at Ole Miss, so did SEC Freshman of the Year Quinshon Judkins, who announced that he had signed a deal with the collective to "continue my football career here at Ole Miss." As a freshman, the running back set the school single-season record for rushing yards (1,567) and rushing touchdowns (16). 

Per Kiffin, Judkins was being courted by multiple programs to leave once the transfer portal window opened. 

"You can look at it and say, 'All right, there's something we wish wouldn't have happened, and the whole Auburn thing was a distraction,'" Kiffin said. "But you can also look at it and say, 'If that didn't happen, what would the collective be?' And not just in what we signed in the last portal and recruiting class, but the future. Or, more importantly, keeping our own players."

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