Ole Miss players push back at Kiffin's claim they wanted him to stay

Mississippi Rebels offensive lineman Brycen Sanders. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Ole Miss players push back at Lane Kiffin's claim they wanted him to stay

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Dec 3, 2025 8:36 AM ET

Lane Kiffin's departure from Ole Miss to LSU, just before the start of the College Football Playoff, has been the talk of the sport for the past week. The drama surrounding it does not appear to be going away anytime soon.

When Kiffin officially accepted the LSU job, he released a statement talking about how he wanted the opportunity to finish what he had started at Ole Miss and that the players on the team pushed the university to allow him to continue coaching through the playoffs.

On Tuesday night multiple Ole Miss players pushed back on that narrative.

Ole Miss players call out Kiffin's claim

The first player to push back Kiffin on social media was offensive lineman Brycen Sanders, who quoted Kiffin's statement on X, saying "everyone in the room would disagree" with Kiffin's narrative of the events.

"Despite the team asking me to keep coaching". I think everyone that was in that room would disagree https://t.co/p4g4qDR9XF
— Brycen Sanders (@BrycenSanders1) December 3, 2025

That was followed shortly after by senior linebacker Suntarine Perkins also quoting Kiffin's post, saying that it was not the message he expressed in the meeting room and that everybody in there can vouch for it.

That was not the message you said in the meeting room. Everybody that was in there can vouch on this . https://t.co/tssQmvGgQ3
— suntarine perkins (@suntarine) December 3, 2025

Kiffin has always been one of the most polarizing and controversial figures in college football, and this entire situation is only going to drive that even further. Especially given the way this exit has played out.

Leaving a national championship contender just before the start of the playoffs is bad enough.

Painting yourself as a victim in not being able to finish the job, when the situation is your own creation, and then creating a separate narrative about your former team not allowing you to stay on, makes it even worse.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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