By Billy Watkins
It’s been said that everybody loves a circus. Not true. Not the kind that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has brought to town, even if it does have Tigers as a main player in it.
If you’re Ole Miss, you can draw one positive from it: Never in the past 60 years have the words “Ole Miss” been spoken or written by so many journalists or wanna-be journalists across the country. It’s the talk on most every major sports website, every sports podcast.
I’ve had people text me who I haven’t heard from in years, and the question is the same: “Is he staying or going?”
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Just to recap: Ole Miss is 10-1 and ranked No. 6 in the College Football Playoff poll. (A new one comes out tonight.)
The Rebels face Mississippi State in Starkville at 11 a.m. Friday. The Rebels are fighting for a home playoff game. The Bulldogs are battling for bowl eligibility.
Florida and LSU are trying to lure Kiffin away, right here, right now as Ole Miss attempts to make a run at a national championship. The Gators and Tigers have been at it for a month after both fired their coaches.
The arrogance of those programs has been on full display. A footnote: Ole Miss beat both this season. The Gators and Tigers say, “Yeah, but that’s because we’re down right now.” So when they beat Ole Miss all those years, was it just because the Rebels were down? It seems Florida and LSU have always felt the stars were in proper order when both SEC schools in Mississippi were struggling. And they certainly believe that Ole Miss or State should never have or retain anything they covet. They’re having a hard time coming to grips that the stars can realign — especially in the new world of NIL.
LSU seems to be the main threat. Trust me, whether Kiffin stays or goes, that will be filed away by the Rebels for years to come. Get your tickets as soon as possible for the LSU-Ole Miss game next year, which happens to be set for Oxford. I’m not even sure children should be allowed through the gates for that one.
There is concern among Rebel fans that the team will be distracted against State by all the rumors. Every journalist has talked to somebody about this. So have I. My source told me: “No way they’re distracted. They are one hundred percent locked in on State. They don’t want all their hard work to this point to go to waste.”
No doubt, this is a tough-minded Ole Miss team. I have interviewed several of the players, and there is something different about this bunch. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but they talk about how much they love football, how this group has bonded as if it has been together for three years. Truth is, many are first-year transfers. Somehow, they have jelled. The proof is in the record.
Kiffin and the assistant coaches deserve a lot of credit for that by signing players who will fit in to the team’s way of doing things. I remember Kiffin saying at a press conference, “You guys wouldn’t believe the talented players we turn down because they wouldn’t be a good fit here.”
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Yes, Kiffin is a great coach. Three straight years with at least 10 wins have shown that.
He is one of those rare guys who can watch film or a game and see all 22 players when most of us can see two or three.
Like his players, he loves football. It’s where he is most comfortable. I had a staff member tell me once that he is most relaxed on game day. That is a man who is sure of himself, that he’s prepared his team and expects to see it play out on the field that day.
Outside of football, he is a different cat. I don’t claim to know him. No local media person does. He keeps his distance except for the weekly press conference. If you want to know why he went for it on fourth down from his own 25, he will answer and not take it personally. Often, he will preface his answer with, “That’s a fair question.”
Socially, he keeps a tight circle that few penetrate. That’s one reason why it’s so hard to figure what he will do, stay at Ole Miss or move to Baton Rouge.
He has said that he doesn’t make decisions based on money. He’s making approximately $9 million per year at Ole Miss. LSU has reportedly made him a seven-year, $90 million offer. Ole Miss won’t allow money to be the deciding factor.
No doubt, his life has changed in Oxford. He will forever be indebted to athletic director Keith Carter, who hired him when most other major-conference schools would not because of a complicated and unflattering past.
On a recent ESPN documentary about the coach, Kiffin spoke of how Ole Miss and Oxford had changed his life for the better. He got sober. He got healthier. He dug deep into his spiritual life. His family loves Oxford.
“I needed Ole Miss and Oxford much more than they needed me,” he has said multiple times.
So why drag this thing out for a month while asking your players, week in and week out, to be all-in for the team?
A friend offered this thought on that. I don’t remember the exact quote, but it was basically this: Kiffin has finally found peace in his life while in Oxford. It’s confusing him. He’s never had to deal with that aspect when making a decision until now. He doesn’t know what to do.
If he does leave, it is almost certain that he will not coach the team during the playoffs.
If he does leave, he will forever be known as the coach who quit on his team when it needed him most.
That is not the kind of national title that any coach wants.
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