The Ole Miss-Lane Kiffin standoff has reached a new low, with both sides digging in as the head coach gets set to take the bag and bolt to LSU. But for as easy as it is to blame Kiffin, the fact that Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and the rest of university administration allowed Kiffin to hold the program hostage while drawing out his decision — well, that one's on the school itself.
The Rebels should have forced Kiffin to make a decision sooner. Instead they acquiesced, afraid to spook a man who was already on his way out the door. Now Kiffin has all the leverage, as he’s reportedly threatened to poach his entire staff and even some players to Baton Rouge early if he's not allowed to finish out Ole Miss' College Football Playoff run.
Losing Kiffin is one thing; starting more or less from scratch would be an existential crisis. Ole Miss brought this problem on themselves, and it’s probably why Kiffin is leaving the Rebels despite having every reason to stay.
Ole Miss shouldn’t have allowed Lane Kiffin to drag out coaching decision
This is the problem with the current state of college football, and how there are no regulations when it comes to coaches leaving. If the NCAA forced teams to wait until the end of the season for coaches to negotiate with prospective jobs, it would avoid a lot of the chaos that’s already ensued. Be that as it may, Ole Miss should have forced Kiffin to make a decision as soon as rumors started to gain traction — and it became clear that his heart wasn't really in Oxford.
Instead, they gave up all their leverage in the most important time of the season, and now they’re at the mercy of Kiffin. Maybe they thought he was more committed to the Rebels than he is, and I'm sure he wasn't as forthright with the administration as he could have been. But it shouldn’t have come down to this in the first place. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and they should have known a nasty divorce was imminent. What did Carter expect: that Kiffin, after weeks of flirting with other schools, was going to turn down $90 million or so to stay in Oxford?
Because Kiffin was allowed to delay his decision – and then extend that timeline even further than the ultimatum the school gave eventually him – it proves Ole Miss can’t do anything but wait. They might have to allow Kiffin to coach the rest of the season even though he’s gone, because the alternative is that the Rebels won’t have a functional team for their first-ever Playoff game.
Like it or hate it, Lane Kiffin did what was best for him in the end
You can’t blame Kiffin for wanting to finish what he started during his historic season at Ole Miss. But he waived that right when he made it clear to anyone with a brain that he wanted out. If finishing what he started was that important, he should have committed to the Rebels anyway. Realistically, what is there at LSU that Ole Miss doesn’t have?
If you look at the last few coaches in Baton Rouge, they reached the top of the mountain and competed for national titles ... only to get fired after mediocre seasons. And Kiffin's predecessor, Brian Kelly, was fired less than halfway through his 10-year deal after the school was fed up. Why would Kiffin go somewhere to start over when he doesn’t have to?
Kiffin has only kept his best interests in mind, which you can’t blame him for, and it’s why this has spiraled out of control. This wasn’t about finishing the season; this was about Kiffin doing whatever he wanted, and getting as much money as possible. Carter made sure Kiffin got every request he wanted and now Ole Miss is going to be worse off because of it.
This could have all been avoided if Carter forced his hand with Kiffin. But he let Kiffin get his way and now an ugly divorce and even worse future is in play for a team that should be excited about the next month of the season.