Lane Kififn hasn't even been in Baton Rouge a week and it's already clear that what transpired as he left a playoff-bound Ole Miss team for hated conference rival LSU will go down as one of the wildest coaching storylines in college football history.
During his press conference earlier this week in Baton Rouge, Kiffin made a number of references to all four teams that were pursuing him being about the same money, adding that money was not a driving factor in ultimate decision.
Four? Ole Miss, LSU, Florida and...? Logic would point many to that fourth perhaps being Penn State, as it was the other big-time job with national title expectations that was open.
However, that logic would be wrong, according to a report today.
Mark Schlabach of ESPN shared in a piece today that about a month back, a staffer polled the team's assistant coaches about where they wanted to be in 2026.
The coaches in the room then discussed four options. They could remain at Ole Miss and continue the upward trajectory of the program they had built together, they could leave for SEC foes LSU or Florida, or a fourth option that had been under the radar.
According to Schlabach, that fourth possibility was take over Florida State, which had been making a stealthy push to poach Kiffin.
Much of the rest of the story has been shared and seen at this point. The whole defensive, including defensive coordinator Pete Golding leading the charge, wanted to stay in Oxford while all but one offensive assistant wanted to leave for either the opportunity in Gainesville or Baton Rouge.
We know how the rest of the story ended up - Golding was appointed the program's new head coach, and while much of the offensive staff (led by offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr) is set to join Kiffin at LSU, Golding has kept most of the coaching staff intact for their upcoming playoff prep with a roster hungry of guys to compete for a national title spurned by Kiffin.
Kiffin had an initial meeting with LSU leadership back in mid-November, and Schlabach shares that behind the scenes Florida State athletic director Michael Alford was trying to win Kiffin over behind the scenes. The two had previously worked together at USC, where Alford served as associate athletic director while Kiffin worked with the tight ends and receivers under Pete Carroll's leadership.
The thought process with Alford was that Norvell's huge buyout of $54 million, plus another $18 million that would have gone to assistants including Gus Malzahn and Tony White who were each in year one of their deals, would have been much easier to justify and stomach if they were able to land a home run hire like Kiffin.
When it became clear that Kiffin wasn't considering leaving for the Seminoles, an announcement was then made that Norvell would return for a 7th season.
Kiffin ultimately decided to leave for LSU and assume his place as the villain college football didn't know it needed, and future games featuring LSU and Ole Miss in the foreseeable future will have a very different feel to them.
Head here to read the full piece from ESPN.
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