Heading into the final day of the 2025 college football regular season, the biggest storyline in the sport is the future of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin, in his sixth year with the Rebels, coached his team to an 11–1 record and has the program set to make its first College Football Playoff appearance in a few weeks. But before that happens, Kiffin—the most sought after coach in this chaotic hiring cycle—has a decision to make.
Will Kiffin return to Oxford for a seventh season or will he head to Baton Rouge for a new start with LSU?
“One of the biggest decisions of his life,” ESPN’s Marty Smith reported at halftime of the game between Texas and Texas A&M. “He doesn’t know yet whether he’s going to go to LSU or stay at Ole Miss. It’s an incredibly complex decision for him that, to me, in all the conversations I’ve had with him, comes down to one fundamental variable: Can he win a national championship somewhere else ... versus can he win one at Ole Miss?”
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LSU has much more national championship credibility than Ole Miss with three of the Tigers’ past four coaches bringing home the title. The exception there, of course, is Brian Kelly, who was fired in October just seven games into the 2025 season.
But Kiffin has built something special at Ole Miss. The Rebels have won at least 10 games in three straight years for the first time in the program’s 120-year history. If he stays and leads Ole Miss to championship glory, Kiffin is a legend in Oxford forever.
Kiffin is expected to make a decision about his future on Saturday.
“I’m told a decision here will come [Saturday] but is expected to come later in the day,” Smith said. “[Friday night], he’s over in Tupelo at his son Knox’s state semifinal high school football game. The thought is that meeting will happen later in the day [Saturday], and we should have a resolution to this sometime [Saturday] evening.”
There you have it. Until then, the college football world awaits.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Report: Lane Kiffin’s Decision Between Ole Miss, LSU Comes Down to One Variable.
