Lane Kiffin's drama-filled departure from Ole Miss is starting to become a he-said-she-said situation, as things that Kiffin has said publicly about his exit don't seem to be lining up with what others are saying.
Kiffin's parting words drew plenty of scrutiny this week when Ole Miss players refuted his claim that players asked him to coach them in the College Football Playoff. “I think everyone that was in that room would disagree," Ole Miss OL Brycen Sanders wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Kiffin also said he did not know for certain until this past Sunday morning that he would not be allowed to coach the playoffs. "He was under impression before the 8:30 phone call from AD Keith Carter that he would coach the playoffs," Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger wrote on X.
Carter publicly addressed Kiffin's statements for the first time on Wednesday, pushing back on the coach's claim that he didn't know he would be barred from coaching in the CFP until very recently.
"There's been a lot of things [Kiffin] said publicly that I'm not sure are totally accurate. I think that both coach and his representation knew several weeks ago that coaching in the playoffs was not going to be an option if he was not the Ole Miss head coach," Carter said.
When asked to clarify whether it was true that Kiffin found out Sunday morning that he couldn't coach in the playoffs, Carter said, "No, that's not accurate."
Lane Kiffin said he didn’t know until this past Sunday morning that he would not be allowed to coach in the CFP if he took the LSU job.
— Caleb Salers (@CalebSalersST) December 3, 2025
Here’s Ole Miss AD Keith Carter publicly refuting that claim: pic.twitter.com/MwGACYiQ66
Carter also shared his frank thoughts on Ole Miss players speaking out against Kiffin in recent days:
"I'll let them tweet out what they want to tweet out, and give information that they want to give, but I don't think the way that [Kiffin] portrayed that meeting was accurate," continued Carter. "I think begging for him to stay was certainly an overstatement. And I think our players are starting to show what really happened in that meeting."
Kiffin was part of a meeting with Ole Miss players on Nov. 30, the same day he announced he was taking the LSU job, Carter confirmed. Kiffin claimed that the players wanted him to stay for their playoff run, but a few of them have since said otherwise.
It's no secret that Kiffin has had some of the messiest and most controversial break-ups with his former schools throughout his college football coaching career, and it certainly seems like you can add Ole Miss to the list.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ole Miss AD Catches Lane Kiffin in a Lie Over Coaching Rebels in the Playoffs.
