By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU coach Lane Kiffin was just getting some distance from his infamous quote to Vanity Fair magazine last May about Ole Miss’ racial past.
But on Tuesday, Kiffin poked the bear again, taking a shot at his former school, which he coached from 2020-25 at Ole Miss with great success, on the Marty and McGee Show on the SEC Network.
Tonight on @SECNetwork it’s our annual Marty & McGee Talkin’ Season specials, Monday & Tuesday at 7 PM ET. We kick it off with Lane Kiffin. I asked him the question people always ask me. So, our @E60 doc, was that all bulls—t? pic.twitter.com/u8Pdnqo9tX
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) August 10, 2026
“There’s never a minute, a second in the day that I’m at LSU that I don’t feel the power of LSU,” Kiffin told Marty Smith and Ryan McGee. “At Ole Miss, you can go 7-5, have 7-5 seasons, and you’re good. They won’t even complain in the off-season. It’ll still be great.”
Wow!
Kiffin famously quit tweeting after the Vanity Fair controversy, but with comments like that, he might as well still be tweeting.
Lane Kiffin’s son Knox should be allowed to call some of his own plays as QB at University High if he called this one:https://t.co/LBs3t2nSSO
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) July 23, 2026
Kiffin will bring his No. 13 Tigers to Oxford, Mississippi, to play No. 10 Ole Miss on September 19 in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in prime time (6:30 p.m., ABC). LSU opens the season on Sept. 5 against No. 23 Clemson in Tiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC).
Kiffin went 5-5 at Ole Miss in his first season in 2020, but the Rebels were 4-8 the year before for their third losing season in four years. Then he went 10-3, 8-5, 11-2, 10-3 and 11-1 last season before leaving after the regular season to become LSU’s coach. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to head coach and won two playoff games to reach the semifinals before losing.
Interesting “7-5” comment by Kiffin, but he is flat wrong. If Golding goes 7-5 this season with returning players like quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss fans will indeed be disappointed, will complain and will not go around saying, “We’re good.”
Why? Because of Kiffin. His success at Ole Miss and the success in the playoffs with Kiffin’s team by Golding and the players recruited and left by Kiffin has built up expectations for Ole Miss as high or higher than at any time in Ole Miss history. And Golding will be under more pressure to win with what Kiffin built for him than Kiffin will be under at LSU, which was 7-6 last season. Because Golding still has to prove that he even deserved the job since he had never been a head coach and only got the job because of the hurried timing. In a normal coaching search, Golding perhaps would not have even made an interview list.
“If I’m 7-5, I’m miserable,” Kiffin said. “I don’t care where I am. I don’t care if the fans are mad or not. I’m miserable myself. So that didn’t appeal to me to stay somewhere because of that lower expectation of a program.”
And wrong again.
Kiffin repeated that he also left Ole Miss because he felt he was getting too comfortable there, which should be a warning for LSU fans should he win a national championship or two and start to get comfortable as Alabama or the Dallas Cowboys could come calling.
“One of the benefits is it pushed me to grow more,” Kiffin said of the move to the Tigers. “The expectation at LSU is as high as anywhere in any sport or any program. It’s uncomfortable for a lot of people. I like that. That matches me.”
Kiffin was alarmingly candid with Marty Smith, who famously chased him down by car to interview him just outside the plane he took to LSU upon leaving Ole Miss on Sunday, Nov. 30.
It’s over. Lane Kiffin is LSU’s next football coach. Press conference introducing him set for Monday at LSU.https://t.co/kTRsVE78Of
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 30, 2025
“I don’t handle breakups well, I guess,” Kiffin, who is divorced and has had multiple long relationships that have not lasted, said Tuesday. “This is a me thing. I’m the problem.”
The Ole Miss Nation would agree.
PRACTICE NOTES: The Tigers donned full pads for the first time this camp in practice number six on Tuesday. The media, though, did not get to see any hitting in an 11-minute viewing period of non-contact drills.
Tight end Trey’Dez Green continued to wear a gold jersey for no contact, but he does not appear to have a significant injury or any injury at all. True freshman wide receiver Jabari Mack of Destrehan High in the New Orleans area was also wearing gold and does appear to have an injury.
LSU will hold a walk-through of plays on Wednesday before a Thursday practice at 10 a.m. Kiffin and players will be available for interviews after practice. The Tigers will practice again at 10 a.m. on Friday before the first scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday, which will be closed to reporters.
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