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As the Ole Miss Rebels prepare for their College Football Playoff (CFP) game this Saturday, it’s hard not to think that Lane Kiffin won’t be on the sidelines.
Kiffin helped lead the Rebels to their first CFP appearance, but left after the final regular season game to become LSU’s new head coach.
Kiffin’s decision has created a bitter end for a show that has thrived over the past six seasons. It’s one that has impacted both current players and students as well as alumni like former New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister.
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NFL legend Deuce McAllister gives back to New Orleans hospitality and the military community at the Crown Royal #GenerosityHour on November 22, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Josh Brasted/Getty Images)
McAllister, who played for the Rebels from 1997 to 2000, can speak for many who support Ole Miss when he says there was disappointment and pain when Kiffin decided to head to Baton Rouge.
“Immediately, there is contempt, fury, anger, any other unpleasant words. Above all, there is pain,” McAllister told The Athletic. “Because you thought there was trust. You thought there was genuine trust and genuine concern there. And I don’t want to say there wasn’t, it just didn’t end that way. In the long run, you can’t take away success.”
Since Kiffin’s departure, there have been contradictory fallout and statements from both sides, beginning with his statement to the rebel faithful.
LANE KIFFIN ALLOWS FOUR LSU ASSISTANTS TO RETURN TO OLE MISS FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF AGAINST TULANE
“I looked forward to completing a historic six-season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and commitment to finishing strong, and investing everything in a playoff run with barriers to protect the program in any areas of concern,” Kiffin’s statement read. “My request to do so was denied by [athletic director] Keith Carter even though the team also asked him to allow me to continue training them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”
Carter disputed several of Kiffin’s claims during his first public comments on the matter.
“There are a lot of things that are public that I’m not sure are totally accurate,” Carter told SuperTalk Mississippi.
Deuce Mcallister of the Mississippi Rebels runs with the ball during a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, on October 3, 1998. (Getty Images)
Carter said Kiffin and his representatives were told several weeks in advance that coaching the Rebels in any potential playoff game was effectively impossible.
“Several weeks ago it was very clear that coaching in the postseason was not going to be an option for Coach Kiffin,” Carter said.
Additionally, one of Kiffin’s Ole Miss players, Spencer Sanders, disputed his coach’s claim that the players wanted him to officiate the remaining games in the CFP.
“I think everyone in that room would disagree,” Sanders posted on X.
Fellow offensive lineman Jayden Williams weighed in on Sanders’ sentiment: “Let them know. Every single person.”
Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin in the fourth quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on November 2, 2024. (Nelson Chenault/Image Images)
Kiffin has since allowed four assistants who followed him to LSU to return to Oxford to help the Rebels prepare for Tulane in the CFP first round on Saturday.
