Lane Kiffin says, 'I absolutely made the right decision.' But did he really?
If you’d formed a list of candidates LSU should pursue after it fired Brian Kelly , it might have looked like this:
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Lane Kiffin.
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Revert to option 1 and get it done.
LSU got it done. Lane has landed in Baton Rouge.
As LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry put it, Kiffin possesses "a big enough personality to operate in a state of big personalities."
Now, what does it all mean?
For Kiffin, leaving Ole Miss on the doorstep of the playoff marks a sharp pivot in his redemption story . He's reviving his renegade past and trading being the lovable underdog for LSU's vaulted ceiling. At LSU, he'll enjoy every advantage to win a national championship. Kelly thought those advantages would yield his first national title. He thought wrong.
Ole Miss opted for stability in a moment of turmoil and promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to coach .
Kiffin called his decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU "excruciating and difficult," but said he knew he made the right choice after arriving in Baton Rouge.
"As we're going to the office, and you go by Tiger Stadium, and it's lit up, and you are like, I absolutely made the right decision, and (any bad feelings) all went away," Kiffin said.
That's a neat story. Now, Kiffin goes on the clock to produce a national championship.
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On this edition of " SEC Football Unfiltered ," a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams grade the hire for LSU and weigh in on whether Ole Miss made the right call in not allowing Kiffin to coach the playoff.
Adams logs a prediction for whether Kiffin will win a national championship with LSU, while Toppmeyer shares thoughts on what this career pivot will mean for Kiffin's legacy .
TOPPMEYER: Inside Lane Kiffin's villainous exit from Ole Miss, hero's arrival at LSU
ADAMS: Vanderbilt is playoff-worthy, even if history says otherwise
Did Lane Kiffin make right call leaving Ole Miss for LSU?
Toppmeyer:If Kiffin believed he could have won a national championship with this Ole Miss team, I think he would have stayed. With concerns about the Rebels' ability to win the whole thing (see the Ole Miss defense) and with questions about the sustainability of reloading annually through the transfer portal and maintaining success to the level he’d established, Kiffin opted for a place where recruiting blue-chippers tends to come more easily.
As we learned in the Brian Kelly era, though, top-five recruiting classes and national championships don’t just magically materialize at LSU.
Kiffin had the “Portal King” system rolling at Ole Miss. His ability to attract and blend transfers, plus his offensive ingenuity, are his calling cards.
LSU’s national brand, gleaming facilities and enviable recruiting terrain are a sales pitch for the job and for ballyhooed prospects, but Kiffin’s forte is acquiring transfers. Pivoting away from his “Portal King” approach and trying to build through a sign-and-develop system, akin Kirby Smart, comes as a risk.
Kiffin could have ripped off winning season after winning season at Ole Miss. I question whether he ever would have won a national championship there, though.
Kiffin is a good enough coach to win one at LSU. Will he? We’ll see. Kiffin has never won a College Football Playoff game.
People often note the three LSU coaches prior to Kelly all won a national title, but that happened in a different time and era.
Adams:If I’m grading this hire, I’m awarding high marks for LSU. It couldn’t have made a better choice, among realistically available candidates. If I’m grading Kiffin’s choice, that’s more difficult.
Kiffin assembled a team talented enough to make the playoff last year, and Ole Miss gave him the resources to do it. He blew it, with losses to Kentucky and Florida . Although Rebels fans were disappointed then, nobody called for Kiffin’s job.
Now, imagine if LSU spends to give Kiffin a playoff-caliber roster like he had in 2024, and he blows it. Think the Tigers will be so forgiving?
Whether Kiffin made the right choice depends on what he values. He had happiness, security and a king’s treatment at Ole Miss. He built playoff contenders, and there’s no reason that had to change.
Is the ceiling higher at LSU? Probably. So are the expectations. We’ll see how he deals with that.
Grading the SEC football coach hires
From the school’s perspective, do we love it, like it, or no thanks on these SEC hires?
LSU: Lane Kiffin
Adams:Love it.
Toppmeyer:Love it.
Kentucky: Will Stein
Adams:Like it.
Toppmeyer:Like it.
Auburn: Alex Golesh
Adams:A very tepid like it.
Toppmeyer:Like it.
Florida: Jon Sumrall
Adams:Like it.
Toppmeyer:Like it.
Arkansas : Ryan Silverfield
Adams:Like it.
Toppmeyer:No thanks.
Mississippi : Pete Golding
Adams:Like it.
Toppmeyer:Like it.
Championship game picks against the spread!
Toppmeyer's five-pack of picks (picks in bold):
∎ Big 12: Texas Tech (-12.5) vs. BYU
∎ ACC: Virginia (-3.5)vs. Duke
∎ Big Ten: Ohio State (-4.5) vs. Indiana
∎ SEC: Georgia (-2.5)vs. Alabama
∎ Conference USA: Kennesaw State (-2.5) vs. Jacksonville State
Season record: 34-36 (3-2 last week)
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Adams' five-pack of picks (picks in bold):
∎ Big 12: Texas Tech (-12.5) vs. BYU
∎ ACC: Virginia (-3.5) vs. Duke
∎ Big Ten: Ohio State (-4.5) vs. Indiana
∎ SEC: Georgia (-2.5)vs. Alabama
∎ American: North Texas (-2.5) vs. Tulane
Season record: 37-33 (4-1 last week)
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. S ubscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lane Kiffin says he 'made the right decision' to leave Ole Miss for LSU
