Lane Kiffin. Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lane Kiffin reportedly making threats amid tense exit from Ole Miss

By Ernesto Cova | Last updated Dec 1, 2025 8:01 AM ET

Lane Kiffin's dismissal from the then-Oakland Raiders wasn't pretty. Now, 17 years later, the Ole Miss head coach is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

With the Rebels (10-1) still looking ahead to the remainder of the season, including a likely College Football Playoff berth, Kiffin has reportedly accepted an offer worth over $90 million to coach the LSU Tigers.

While that's a common practice in college football, Kiffin's latest power move has ruffled some feathers. Apparently, he's adamant about finishing the season with the Rebels, to the point where he's actually threatened the program.

Lane Kiffin threatens to steal coaches and players

According to a report by Brett McMurphy of On3, Kiffin has given the Rebels an ultimatum, as shared by Brett McMurphy of On3.

Lane Kiffin is “essentially demanding to finish the season (w/Ole Miss) while simultaneously threatening to poach” Ole Miss’ roster & staff if he can’t, source told @On3sports. “It’s unfortunately gotten even messier than expected as emotions are high” https://t.co/gBcvHKk3Ps
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 30, 2025

Of course, the Rebels have every right to want him gone now, given that keeping him around could lead to his recruiting players to follow him to LSU. In addition, if Kiffin is allowed to finish the season with Ole Miss, any success he has in the College Football Playoff would serve Kiffin's recruiting efforts for LSU rather than providing a boost for the Rebels.

This conflict of interest could be avoided if other programs weren't allowed to lure head coaches while they still have contractual obligations and playoff games to play with their current program. Until that changes, this will only happen more often.

Even so, it appears that things are becoming quite tense in this situation, with Kiffin delaying his scheduled team meeting on Sunday by more than three hours.

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto is a bilingual (English-Spanish) sports writer with over eight years of experience covering major leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Ernesto’s work focuses on providing insightful, up-to-date coverage of sports, blending his expertise in sports psychology with a passion for analyzing player performance, team dynamics, and trade developments across various sports leagues

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