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Lane Kiffin's daughter convinced Ole Miss coach to turn down Auburn and other top documentary moments
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- Lane Kiffin's daughter convinced Ole Miss coach to turn down Auburn and other top documentary moments
OXFORD ― Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin is getting the spotlight in a primetime documentary.
An E60 documentary called " The Many Lives of Lane Kiffin " will premiere on Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN. It was filmed over the summer and based on a sit-down conversation between Kiffin and Ryan McGee, a senior writer at ESPN.
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"I've not seen (the finished product)," Kiffin said. "I didn't really know it was going to be that big of deal. We have a lot of people come in and do interviews ... it's a little bigger than I thought."
The Clarion Ledger was able to review a preliminary cut of the documentary. Here are some highlights.
Lane Kiffin's daughter persuaded him to stay at Ole Miss , turn down Auburn
The documentary starts by showing Kiffin at a local hot yoga class. It ends with him getting frozen yogurt with his family in downtown Oxford. Kiffin's lifestyle adaptation since moving to Oxford is a big theme.
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"I came here judgy," Kiffin said in the documentary. "Of people, and of how it was. How slow it was. Then I stopped judging and realized they are on to something."
Landry Kiffin, Lane's daughter and a student at Ole Miss, tells a story of how she persuaded her father to stay at Ole Miss when he was considering taking the Auburn job in 2022.
"Me and my friends made a slideshow," Landry said. "A collage to a song we knew he would find sad and just really rethink his decision. We came into the office and then set it up on a movie projector screen. We were like, 'We have something to show you.' "
The pitch hit home.
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"I'm not saying I was going," Kiffin said. "I don't know that. I was deciding. But that made the decision for me."
Kiffin is in his sixth season at Ole Miss. It's the longest stop in his coaching journey.
"I needed Oxford and Ole Miss a lot more than they needed me," Kiffin said.
Lane Kiffin reveals details on final moments as Tennessee, USC coach
The documentary shows old footage Kiffin arriving in Knoxville in 2009 to coach Tennessee. There is more footage of him departing to take the USC job in 2010.
It was a short time in his life, but a defining period. Kiffin talks about the difficulty of the decision to leave Tennessee for USC, as well as dealing with being fired from USC.
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Kiffin takes us inside the plane after USC's disastrous loss at Arizona State in 2013, including how, from his perspective, he almost talked USC athletic director Pat Haden out of firing him at the Los Angeles airport after the game.
College football analyst Paul Finebaum, who is featured prominently in the film, compares the vitriol Kiffin drew in Knoxville to something a terrorist would draw. He also takes viewers through when, as he puts it, "Lane Kiffin got whacked at LAX" in a way only Finebaum can.
Nick Saban, Pete Carroll, Steve Sarkisian part of stacked interview roster
You can't tell Kiffin's story without talking to some A-listers. The film delivers.
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Former Alabama coach Nick Saban, former USC coach Pete Carroll and current Texas coach Steve Sarkisian all fill viewers in with their perspective on Kiffin. Saban's introduction halfway through is a dramatic moment.
Some less-famous guests provide charm, too.
Former Fresno State offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford tells a story about how Kiffin's coaching career began after Kiffin, then a Fresno State quarterback, refused to wear a knee brace at practice.
Kiffin was kicked off the practice field and, 30 minutes later, returned in a polo. Meet your newest assistant wide receivers coach.
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Lane Kiffin: Ole Miss coach's daughter convinced dad to spurn Auburn
