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Newly hired LSU Tigers head football coach Lane Kiffin claimed that Ole Miss fans attempted to run him off the road during his departure from Oxford.
“It was very hard and it was really challenging,” Kiffin said during his introductory press conference at Tiger Stadium on Monday (December 1) via LSUSports.net. “It’s the passion of the SEC. I understand that. I don’t get emotional with it…“… That airport scene, and [my son] Knox and I driving and people trying to run us off the road, man, and the things they said to us. “And then we got here [to Baton Rouge], and we had been here for six minutes [and fans are saying], ‘We love you, Coach. You’re the best ever.’
“That’s the SEC, I’ve been around long enough to know that, and it’s just the passion of the SEC.
“I’m not upset at those reactions by fans, by people. I think that people get really upset when you leave somewhere because they feel hurt because you’re doing a really good job.
“They ain’t going to the airport and driving from all over, okay, to say those things and yell those things and try to run you off the road if you were doing bad.
“So I just look at it as passionate people in the SEC, and then it means they really liked what we were doing there.”
Kiffin's new deal with LSU will pay him $13 million annually, making him the second-highest paid coach behind only Georgia's Kirby Smart, who had a $13.28 million salary in 2025, according to a USA TODAY database. The deal, which includes LSU paying any College Football Playoff bonuses Kiffin would've earned based on Ole Miss' performance, was reportedly signed at some point on Saturday (November 29) prior to reports and the coach's own confirmation on Sunday (November 30).
Kiffin also confirmed that he attempted to coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoff but will be prohibited from doing so, in a statement shared on his social media accounts. Ole Miss has promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding as Kiffin's permanent replacement, On3.com's Pete Golding reported.
The Rebels are coming off a 38-19 win against arch rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Friday (November 28), ending its regular season with an 11-1 (7-1 SEC) record with a likely spot in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin surpassed David Cutcliffe as the third-winningest coach in Ole Miss history -- having previously tied Cutcliffe in 11 less games -- on Saturday and led the Rebels to double-digit wins in four of the last five seasons.
“Time heals a lot of things, and having gone through this in this conference before, I sure hope that happens,” he said about his Ole Miss tenure during his LSU press conference.