Nick Saban Is Not Coming Back, But He’s Trying To Get Lane Kiffin To LSU Via Jimmy Sexton

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

The next best thing to Nick Saban that is available for LSU may be Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, and Saban is doing his best to make that happen.

Saban, who took LSU to its first national championship in football since 1958 in 2003 before winning six more at Alabama and retiring after the 2023 season, is trying to convince Kiffin that LSU is the best job for him and better than Florida, a source very close to LSU told Tiger Rag on Monday afternoon.

LSU flew members of Kiffin’s family without Lane on a private plane to Baton Rouge on Monday on a reconnaissance trip about the job after family members made such a trip to the Florida campus in Gainesville on Sunday. Both programs have had head coaching openings since October.

Kiffin’s daughter Landry, by the way, is dating LSU linebacker Whit Weeks, so there’s that.

Fly Me to Baton Rouge. LSU is Wheels Up with high hopes for Lane Kiffin:https://t.co/4pFULcidCs

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 17, 2025

Kiffin, 50, is a year older now than Saban was when he left Michigan State after the 1999 season for LSU. Super sports agent Jimmy Sexton of Memphis was Saban’s agent then and throughout his coaching career. Saban has been a college football analyst at ESPN since 2024.

“Through Jimmy Sexton, Nick is telling Lane that LSU is the job for him if he wants to win a national championship,” the source told Tiger Rag. “And that it’s better than Florida because of the recruiting base in Louisiana, and LSU is the only major program in the state.”

So, instead of trying to fire Brian Kelly again, shouldn’t LSU focus more in replacing him? With someone who sure sounds interested – minus all the Drama Gumbo. COLUMN:https://t.co/ROXpG8JIMw

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 12, 2025

But Kiffin could win a national championship at Ole Miss this season, if he stays. The No. 5 Rebels (10-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) are a virtual lock for the 12-team College Football Playoff, and if Kiffin keeps advancing he would be playing for the national championship on Jan. 19 after the semifinals on Jan. 8 and 9.

“Lane Kiffin will not coach Ole Miss in the playoffs unless he is committed to staying at Ole Miss,” an Ole Miss source who is friendly with the Kiffin family told Tiger Rag Monday. “Lane will decide out of Ole Miss, Florida and LSU this week.”

Or perhaps next week. Ole Miss is open this week before finishing the regular season at Mississippi State on Friday, Nov. 28.

Florida’s job opened on Oct. 19 when Billy Napier was fired. LSU’s job opened on Oct. 26 when Brian Kelly was fired. Florida did win two national titles in three seasons under coach Urban Meyer in 2006 and ’08 after Steve Spurrier won the Gators’ first in the 1996 season.

LSU has won three national championships and played for a fourth under three coaches in the last 23 years – in 2003 under Saban, in 2007 under Les Miles, and in 2019 under Ed Orgeron. Miles also took a 13-0 LSU team to the national championship game in the 2011 season, but lost to Saban and Alabama.

Lane Kiffin at LSU could be a match made in Bayou Heaven. … For this lovely couple, too. Column:https://t.co/z1PHxHiXcM

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 28, 2025

Louisiana’s recruiting advantage without having to deal with another major football program in the state was one of the main reasons Saban left Michigan State after the 1999 season for LSU after having to recruit against the University of Michigan. Saban’s wife Terry, incidentally, visited Baton Rouge on a reconnaissance trip a few days before Saban took the LSU job, much like the Kiffin family now.

“Since Nick retired, there’s been no one who can inventory talent and use it appropriately better than Lane,” the source said.

Saban has also been busy talking Kiffin up to new LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry, the source said. Ausberry, who replaced the fired Scott Woodward as athletic director last month, has remained close with Saban since Saban was LSU’s coach from 2000-04 and won two SEC championships along with the national title.

“Nick and I talk about every two weeks,” Ausberry said in a recent interview with Tiger Rag Radio. “That’s a standing conversation we have. Coach is a guy I talk to, and there are lots of others I talk to. But coach Saban has so much knowledge about the game. He’s traveling, working for ESPN, so he can get the feel on a lot of things, gets to talk to a lot of coaches. He gets to observe a lot, and say like, ‘This guy would be a fit.’ He always says, ‘LSU is a two-hands-on-an-18-wheeler-type job. You take your hands off the wheel, and you’ll flip the truck over.’ So, it’s so important to get the right fit.”

And Saban has told Ausberry that Kiffin, who was Saban’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Alabama from 2014-16 and helped him win the ’15 national title, would fit LSU.

“Nick says Lane has matured, and can handle the LSU job,” the source said.

Saban gave Ausberry the names of three other college head coaches to consider if LSU can’t get Kiffin – Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key and Louisville coach Jeff Brohm, the source said.

“But he told Verge that Lane is the one,” the source said.

Now, Kiffin has to make up his mind.

The Rebels are nearing their first College Football Playoff in history. Ole Miss has not won a national championship in football since 1960 by the Football Writers Association of America.

Kiffin has a new contract on the table at Ole Miss for $9 million a year through 2031. LSU, which meanwhile is trying to negotiate down a $54 million buyout it owes Kelly, will likely have to pay Kiffin at least $10 or $11 million a year. More if Ole Miss raises its offer to Kiffin. Much more if Sexton and Kiffin play a reported $13 million a year offer from Florida against LSU.

“It’s still being negotiated,” the Ole Miss source said of Kiffin’s new contract. “Nothing is final yet.”

So, time for another LSU donors meeting.

Kiffin, who has been Ole Miss’ coach since the 2020 season, has been the Rebels’ best coach since the legendary Johnny Vaught coached from 1947-70 and won 10 games four times from 1955-62. Kiffin has won 10 games or more four times in the last five seasons, which is more double-digit wins in such a short time in Ole Miss history. He is 54-19 (.739 winning percentage) at Ole Miss overall and 31-17 (.645) in the SEC.

“Lane has not decided yet,” said the Ole Miss source, who correctly said Kiffin would not leave Ole Miss for Auburn after the 2022 season when most said he would leave. “But I think it would be really hard for him to leave Oxford after everything it has done for him.”

Ole Miss was Kiffin’s first power five head coaching job since getting fired at USC during the 2013 season. His head coaching job before Ole Miss was at Florida Atlantic from 2017-19 after leaving the Alabama OC job with Saban.