By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin have hired Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith to be LSU’s new running backs coach, according to several national and local media reports on Monday. Smith following Kiffin to LSU had been trending since Kiffin left the Ole Miss head coaching job for LSU on Nov. 30.
Smith, 39, was just seen on Twitter video Sunday walking into the LSU football operations building with Kiffin, whom Smith coached running backs for from 2023-25, and other new LSU assistant coaches, formerly at Ole Miss. The night before, they were all coaching Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff in Oxford, Mississippi – except for Kiffin, who wanted to but was not allowed to by Ole Miss.
Sunday Funday#thisplaceisjustdifferent pic.twitter.com/gOC4ndulDX
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) December 21, 2025
Smith is expected to be one of the highest paid running backs coaches in the country with a salary of $1 million a year. He also may help Kiffin sign Ole Miss star sophomore running back Kewan Lacy from the NCAA Transfer Portal next month should Lacy enter the portal and want to reunite with his offensive coaches.
LSU has also confirmed that Kiffin has hired Sterling Lucas from South Carolina as his defensive line coach after reports last week that he was close.
LSU’s new offensive assistants from Ole Miss, including offensive coordinator and play caller Charlie Weis Jr. and Smith, coached Ole Miss to its 41-10 win over Tulane in a CFP opener Saturday. Weis’ offense, which he will be bringing to LSU, put up 497 yards with Lacy gaining 87 yards on 15 carries with a 20-yard touchdown run. He gained more than 1,200 yards in the regular season. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who may also transfer to LSU if he gets an NCAA waiver for another senior year, completed 23 of 29 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown.
Weis and the other new LSU offensive coaches, including Smith possibly, will continue to coach No. 6 Ole Miss (12-1) in the playoffs. Their next game is against No. 3 Georgia (12-1) in the quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1 (7 p.m., ESPN).
The coaches hired by Kiffin from Ole Miss who will remain on work release to coach the Rebels in the playoffs in addition to Weis and Smith are co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Joe Cox, passing game coordinator/receivers coach George McDonald, assistant quarterbacks coach Dane Stevens and inside receivers coach Sawyer Jordan.
Smith will be replacing LSU running backs coach Frank Wilson, who last week was hired by Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding as his new running backs coach because Golding has known for some time that Smith was leaving.
But Wilson did not coach the Rebels against Tulane. Smith did. And Wilson is not leaving LSU just yet. He replaced fired coach Brian Kelly on Oct. 26 as interim head coach and has been putting the Tigers through practices in preparation for the Texas Bowl on Saturday against Houston in Houston (8:15 p.m., ESPN).
Apparently, Lane Kiffin is returning Junior Varsity football to LSU – at its satellite campus … AKA Ole Miss. Column:https://t.co/TCLs6ivaRq
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) December 17, 2025
Wilson helped Kiffin with the Tigers’ early signing period, but Kiffin did not want to retain Wilson on his staff. He wanted Smith.
Kiffin also did not retain LSU personnel general manager Austin Thomas, instead choosing to bring his GM Billy Glasscock with him from Ole Miss. Thomas last week was hired at Ole Miss.
Smith previously coached running backs under Kiffin at Florida Atlantic from 2017-19 and followed him to Ole Miss for the 2020 and ’21 season before coaching running backs at his alma mater Miami in 2022.
A native of Miami, Smith was a consensus All-American running back at Central Florida in 2007 when he led the nation in rushing with 2,567 yards.
Be the first to comment