LSU Appears Near To Hiring Lane Kiffin From Ole Miss As Coach, But “Process Still Going On”

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

The Lane train, plane and automobile may be headed to LSU.

Two LSU sources on Friday afternoon said that LSU’s talks with Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and his agent Jimmy Sexton have progressed well in recent days, but the “process is still going on.”

It all appears to be happening so far so good for Lane Kiffin to LSU, but not done yet.

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 21, 2025

Kiffin met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce on Friday, but hopes of Kiffin honoring some sort of Ole Miss deadline to decide if he was staying at Ole Miss or going to LSU or Florida now did not happen as of yet, which is good news for LSU and Florida. LSU and Florida have been courting Kiffin for weeks after firing their respective coaches Brian Kelly and Billy Napier in October.

So while LSU AD Verge Ausberry tries to negotiate Lane Kiffin into being LSU’s next football coach, LSU’s Board just decided to try to keep negotiating former coach’s $54 million contract down.https://t.co/3aHVOj9Ajh

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 21, 2025

Carter is now saying that a decision on Kiffin’s future is expected after the Ole Miss-Mississippi State game in Starkville, Mississippi, on Friday, Nov. 28 (11 a.m., ABC or ESPN). Earlier reports had Carter wanting that decision before the Ole Miss-Mississippi State game. No. 6 Ole Miss (10-1, 6-1 SEC) is open this week.

So, what will Ole Miss do if Lane Kiffin doesn’t meet this supposed deadline that Ole Miss says it has for a decision? … Fire him? … LOL … This is Lane’s World. We’re all just passengers. Column:https://t.co/v1rlNTPwKv

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 18, 2025

“An announcement on coach Kiffin’s future is expected the Saturday following the game (Nov. 29),” Carter said in a statement on Friday.

The next best thing to Nick Saban available – Lane Kiffin – is coming to LSU, if Nick Saban has his way.https://t.co/TaBuardbYF

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 17, 2025

Meanwhile, Kiffin’s daughter Landry was in Baton Rouge on Thursday to attend the Bengal Belles’ football fan club luncheon at L’Auberge Casino Hotel. Of course, Landry has been dating LSU linebacker Whit Weeks this fall, and he was there as well along with his brother, fellow linebacker West Weeks. Whit Weeks has a chance to play for the Tigers (6-4, 3-4 SEC) in LSU’s game on Saturday (6:45 p.m., SEC Network) against Western Kentucky (8-2, 6-1 Conference-USA) after missing the Tigers’ last four games with an ankle injury.

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

Kiffin’s ex-wife Layla, whom he has three children with, was in Baton Rouge with other family members on a reconnaissance trip on Monday after the same itinerary in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday.

Kiffin, 50, has led the Rebels to their fourth 10-win season in five years this season – the most successful period in Ole Miss football history. After a 5-5 season in his first year in 2020, Kiffin has gone 49-14 (.777 winning percentage) and 27-14 (.658) in the Southeastern Conference.

Ole Miss is No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings for the 12-team playoff going into its next game at 9.5-point underdog Mississippi State (5-6, 1-6 SEC) next week. A win will give Kiffin his second 11-win regular season at Ole Miss. He became the first football coach in Ole Miss history to win 10 games in a regular season in 2021. Ole Miss has never made the playoffs in the CFB or previous playoff systems.

The last Ole Miss football head coach to have more than one double-digit win season in his career was Johnny Vaught, who had four from 1955 through 1962. He won the Rebels’ only national championship awarded by a major naming entity – the Football Writers Association of America – after going 10-0-1 in the 1960 season.

Kiffin inherited an Ole Miss program coming off three losing seasons in four years after the 2019 season and NCAA probation from the Hugh Freeze era from 2012 through 2016. The previous 10-win season was in 2003 under David Cutlcliffe. Before that, the last 10-win season was in 1971 by coach Billy Kinard. Ole Miss’ last SEC championship was in 1963 under Vaught. The Rebels – with or without Kiffin – could play for their first SEC title since 1963 and in their first SEC championship game, which started in 1992, this season on Dec. 6 in Atlanta.

Kiffin would be LSU’s first true offensive coordinator/play caller head coach in history. Previous LSU head coaches Gerry DiNardo and Les Miles held offensive coordinator titles during their assistant coaching careers, but they were primarily offensive line coaches and not known as very good play callers. Previous head coaches Bill Arnsparger and Nick Saban were defensive coordinators before becoming head coaches.

While Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014-16 under Saban, Kiffin enhanced his strong reputation as a play caller to being known as one of the best in college football. The Crimson Tide won the national championship in 2015 with Kiffin calling the plays.

LSU would be Kiffin’s sixth head coaching job – Oakland Raiders (2007-08), Tennessee (2009), USC (2010-13), Florida Atlantic (2017-19) and Ole Miss (2020-?).

“Since Nick Saban retired (in 2023),” an LSU source told Tiger Rag, “there’s been no one who can inventory talent and use it appropriately better than Lane.”

Should Kiffin decide to coach Florida or stay at Ole Miss, LSU’s next target is possibly Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz.