Lane Kiffin has finally announced his future plans.
In a statement released after days of speculation, Kiffin finally made his move from Ole Miss to LSU official.
Kiffin was the Rebels’ head coach for six seasons. In that time, the team went 55-19, finished in the top 15 three times, and had double-digit wins in four of his seasons. He also led Ole Miss to two New Years’ Six bowls, winning the Peach Bowl in 2023, and the Rebels likely will make their College Football Playoff debut this season with an 11-1 campaign.
While the school attempted to keep him in Oxford, Kiffin couldn’t pass up the resources LSU could offer. The Tigers have long been one of college football’s premier programs.
The LSU job opened up in late October when coach Brian Kelly was fired. Over three full seasons plus eight games before his firing in 2025, Kelly went 34–14 as the Tigers’ head football coach. He became the first LSU coach to not win a national title in his tenure since Gerry DiNardo led the Tigers from 1995 to ‘99.
Lane Kiffin’s coaching history
After six seasons as an assistant coach at USC under Pete Carroll, Kiffin was hired as head coach of the then-Oakland Raiders in 2007 at 31 years old. He lasted less than two seasons. The Raiders went 4-12 in his first year, and after starting the 2008 campaign 1-3, Kiffin was fired. It didn’t take long for him to land on his feet.
Two months later, Tennessee hired Kiffin as its head coach, and he went 7-6 during the 2009 season. As his first year in Knoxville was wrapping up, Carroll left USC to take the Seahawks’ job, and Kiffin left to replace him in Los Angeles.
The Trojans went 8-5 in Kiffin’s first season, then reached their high point under him in 2011 when, led by quarterback Matt Barkley, they went 10-2 and finished No. 6 in the country. Due to the fallout from the Reggie Bush scandal, USC was not eligible for the postseason that year. Unfortunately, the Trojans never got back to that point. They went 7-6 in 2012, and after a 3-2 start to 2013, Kiffin was fired.
He rehabbed his image by spending three years as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach under Nick Saban. He helped the Crimson Tide win the 2015 national title, and Florida Atlantic hired him as its next head coach on Dec. 12, 2016.
Kiffin was wildly successful at FAU. In his first season, the Owls went 11-3 and won the Conference USA championship. After a 5-7 campaign in 2018, Kiffin again led FAU to the top of Conference USA in 2019 with a 10-3 record. He was hired by Ole Miss before the team’s bowl game.
During his time at Ole Miss, Kiffin turned the Rebels into a national contender. After a 5-5 campaign in 2020, the program started humming and became one of the best in the SEC. Since that first season, Kiffin’s record at Ole Miss is 50-14 and 28-12 in the SEC.
Overall, during his 14 seasons as a college head coach, Kiffin is 117-53 (.688). He’ll now be headed to Baton Rouge to see if he can turn around LSU’s program.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lane Kiffin Bolts Ole Miss for LSU After Weeks of Speculation.
