Why Does Ole Miss Football Keep Losing Staffers to Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers?

Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels continue navigating a critical offseason in Oxford with the program inching closer towards the 2025 season opener.

Kiffin and Co. have worked through the NCAA Transfer Portal, Spring Camp and summer workouts with a focus now on SEC Media Days and Fall Camp.

Ole Miss will head to Atlanta (Ga.) next week for Media Days where Kiffin will be joined by quarterback Austin Simmons, wide receiver Cayden Lee and linebacker TJ Dottery as the season nears.

But Kiffin will also be shifting focus towards replacing a pair of key staffers after Ole Miss saw a pair of critical personnel members reveal intentions of departing Oxford.

Ole Miss Rebels Director of Recruiting Strategy, Kelvin Bolden, is set to depart Oxford for a position on Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers staff, he revealed via social media.

Bolden will make his way to Baton Rouge to serve as the LSU Tigers' Assistant General Manager where he will reunite with Austin Thomas.

LSU's Senior Associate Athletic Director for Football Administration, Austin Thomas, has developed a relationship with Bolden across the last few years.

Thomas initially helped bring Bolden to Ole Miss in 2022 during his two seasons as the Rebels' Football Chief of Staff and Sport Administrator.

Ole Miss will also lose Director of Player Personnel, Alex Brown, he revealed via social media this week.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, Brown will be leaving Oxford to join the Atlanta Falcons' scouting department.

Brown arrived in the Magnolia State in 2024 where he made an instant impact on the Ole Miss coaching staff.

After one season with the Rebels, Brown immediately received interest from NFL organizations with the Atlanta Falcons ultimately pulling the trigger.

Prior to his time with Ole Miss, Brown served as the SMU Mustangs as the Director of Scouting before being promoted to General Manager.

“So it’s about getting our staff trained up and getting their eyes right. So I take a lot of pride in how we onboard, like the new interns that we bring on, the student interns that we bring on, and then our scouting staff in general,” Brown said of his approach before he left SMU for Ole Miss.

“And even on the recruiting side, like Tyler Foster does a lot on the evaluating side because he’s done so much of that at his previous schools. So it’s more about training up the eyes of the people that work with you and creating those filters at each position.”

But the main topic of conversation surrounds Bolden heading to SEC rival LSU this offseason where he reunites with Austin Thomas.

Thomas rejoined the LSU staff in 2024 after two successful years at Ole Miss, where he served as Football Chief of Staff and Sport Administrator for the Rebels.

He has taken on a role as LSU's General Manager where he has become a key component in the program's success in the new era of roster construction in NIL and revenue-sharing.

But he's also kept his focus on bringing the best to Baton Rouge, which involves poaching talent from the Ole Miss staff.

Thomas has hired former Ole Miss staffers Preston Tiffany, Jai Choudhary, and now Bolden to work key positions on the LSU staff.

Tiffany has since left for a job in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagies, but Chourdary remains at LSU with Bolden on the way.

Thomas has become a focal point in Ole Miss staffers heading elsewhere with Kiffin and Co. now looking to make hires prior to the 2025 season.