Lane Kiffin Takeover: New LSU Coach Greeted By Throngs Of Fans At Baton Rouge Airport

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

It was not quite the overflow swarm at the Tuscaloosa airport in January of 2007 that greeted new Alabama coach Nick Saban from the Miami Dolphins, but it was impressive nonetheless on a chilly, rainy gray day.

People lined up beyond the fence on Plank Road and around the private plane areas to try to catch a glimpse of rock star college football coach Lane Kiffin as he touched down at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

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

Kiffin, 50, is LSU’s new head football coach after telling his Ole Miss team, assistant coaches and school officials that he was taking the LSU job after six seasons in Oxford, including four double-digit win seasons over the last five – unprecedented in Ole Miss history. There has been nothing close to that at Ole Miss since coaching legend Johnny Vaught prowled the sidelines in the 1950s and ’60s when the Rebels were last a consistent national power.

“I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to lead the storied LSU Football program,” Kiffin said in an LSU release Sunday. “From national championships to iconic players, LSU is synonymous with excellence and is among the most powerful brands in all of sports.”

New LSU coach Lane Kiffin greets LSU fans at the Baton Rouge airport. (Tiger Rag photo by Jonathan Mailhes).

A half dozen black SUVs with tinted windows picked up Kiffin, his family and a handful of his assistant coaches who flew on two private planes from Oxford late Sunday afternoon.

#LSU new head football coach Lane Kiffin has landed in Baton Rouge.

They pulled both planes into the hangar so Kiffin couldn’t be seen. pic.twitter.com/XzHDKg9HIa

— Andre Champagne (@andrechampagnee) November 30, 2025

LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry, who led the search committee to hire Kiffin, greeted Kiffin as he got off the plane. Kiffin and company were then whisked away to the LSU football operations building, where he will be busy completing his coaching staff and recruiting with interim coach Frank Wilson, who is expected to be retained.

“I’m grateful to president (Wade) Rousse, Verge Ausberry and LSU’s leadership for placing their faith in me to lead this program,” Kiffin said.

The early signing period for high school football recruits starts Wednesday and runs through Friday. The NCAA Transfer Portal window will run from January 2-16.

“Our staff will recruit the very best student-athletes in the country – starting at home in the state of Louisiana,” Kiffin said. “And we will work tirelessly every day to bring championships that the LSU fans deserve. Geaux Tigers!”

Kiffin will be introduced at a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

There is a lot for Kiffin to do quickly, obviously, as he tries to rebuild an average LSU football program back into the national championship brand it was just six years ago when the Tigers went 15-0 and won the national championship under coach Ed Orgeron. That was LSU’s third since the 2003 season when Saban won its first since 1958. Coach Les Miles won the national title in the 2007 season and reached the national championship game in the 2011 season.

LSU has now had five seasons of four losses or more in the last six years after only five of those in the previous 17 years. The Tigers finished the 2025 season at 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the SEC after a preseason ranking of No. 9. The Tigers lost 17-13 in the regular season finale on Saturday at No. 8 Oklahoma in another example of a weak offense via the pass and run.

Kiffin, who helped Saban win the 2015 national championship as an innovative offensive coordinator and was involved in USC’s offense under Pete Carroll for national titles in 2003 and ’04, ran one of the best and most balanced offenses in the nation throughout his time at Ole Miss from 2020-25.

A quarterback guru, Kiffin is LSU’s first head coach ever with an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks/play caller background. Miles and Gerry DiNardo were offensive coordinators as assistant coaches pre-LSU, but they were preoccupied with mostly run offenses. Kiffin will have to find some new quarterbacks quick as two-year starter Garrett Nussmeier was a fifth-year senior this season.

Lane Kiffin rolls his window down to embrace Tiger nation as he exits the airport. #LSU pic.twitter.com/GUBpqFipXp

— Andre Champagne (@andrechampagnee) November 30, 2025

Flying with the Kiffins to Baton Rouge Sunday were offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and wide receivers coach George McDonald, who are expected to join Kiffin’s new LSU staff in those capacities.

Other football personnel from Ole Miss expected to join Kiffin at LSU are general manager Billy Glasscock, football operations director Thadddeus Rivers and strength coach Nick Savage. Glasscock is expected to replace LSU general manager Austin Thomas, who left Ole Miss and Kiffin after the 2023 season to come to LSU. But Thomas could land in another spot at LSU as he worked under Kiffin in 2022 and ’23 at Ole Miss and from 2011-13 under him at USC and in 2009 at Tennessee.

There may not be any defensive coaches from Ole Miss who follow Kiffin to LSU. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding, who left that job at Alabama under Saban after the 2022 season to be Kiffin’s DC, has replaced Kiffin as Ole Miss coach – not just interim coach. At the moment, it appears that the Rebels’ other defensive assistants will stay at Ole Miss as the No. 7 Rebels (11-1, 7-1 SEC) prepare to play in the College Football Playoffs.

Ole Miss, which won an 11th game in a regular season for the first time in history this year, is expected to host a playoff game on Dec. 19 or 20 in Oxford. Kiffin is also the first Ole Miss coach to win 10 games in a regular season as he finished 10-2 before the bowl in his second season in Oxford in 2021.

Kiffin’s 11-1 season this year was his fourth 10-win season at Ole Miss in five years. The Rebels had just two 10-win seasons overall beginning in 1973 – 10-3 in 2003 under coach David Cutcliffe and 10-3 in 2015 under coach Hugh Freeze.

“Lane is a proven winner who has thrived in an era of college athletics that requires coaches to adapt and innovate,” Ausberry said. “His passion, creativity and authenticity make him the ideal leader to guide LSU into the future and consistently position us among the sport’s elite.”