Lane Kiffin says Ole Miss would have reached national championship if he'd coached CFP

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Lane Kiffin says Ole Miss would have reached national championship if he'd coached CFP

Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY · USA TODAY Sports

Tue, May 26, 2026 ·

4 min read

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BATON ROUGE, LA – Picture this: LSU 's coach leads an SEC rival to the national championship game, while juggling two jobs at once.

That would have happened, Lane Kiffin says , if he'd coached Mississippi in the College Football Playoff.

Kiffin opened up about his Ole Miss exit, his LSU future, villains and heroes and the narrow gap in between and so much more when we sat down earlier this month for an interview that spanned almost an hour and a half.

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At times, it seemed as if Kiffin views himself as the main character in his very own Hollywood production. How will the script end?

"I don't want to give away the movie. I feel like I'm giving it away," Kiffin told me during an interview that he compared to a therapy session.

Here are seven takeaways from USA TODAY Sports' exclusive interview with college football's most compelling coach.

Lane Kiffin says Ole Miss would've reached national championship, if he'd coached playoff

The Kiffin- Ole Miss breakup became more complicated, because he wanted to accept the LSU job but still coach the Rebels in the playoff.

Ole Miss made Kiffin choose: Either be LSU's coach, or be the Ole Miss coach, not both.

He chose LSU. Pete Golding became Ole Miss' coach and coached the Rebels to two playoff wins.

Kiffin's got a theory on how the playoff would've gone if he'd coached the Rebels.

Theory goes like this: Ole Miss would've reached the national championship game.

Yep, he said it.

Did your jaw just hit the floor?

"If anyone wants to argue that theory, that if everything is kept intact, we're not in the national championship, what are you going to argue?" Kiffin said.

Kiffin's logic: If he's coaching, Golding would've called the defense from the booth, instead of calling it from the sideline.

"He knows he calls it way better up (in the booth)," Kiffin said, "especially when you've been up there all year, you know?"

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As Kiffin tells it, a booth-bound Golding would've helped the Rebels' defense enough in the CFP semifinals that Miami would not have scored a game-winning touchdown. Instead of a 31-27 Miami victory , Ole Miss would've won.

OK, but even if that's true, what about the quarterfinals game against Georgia? Kiffin lost to Georgia on the road during the regular season.

In the playoff, the Golding-coached Rebels beat Georgia, 39-34 , behind an epic performance by Trinidad Chambliss .

Kiffin still holds to his logic: Golding being in the booth would've helped the defense against Georgia, too.

"(If) Pete Golding is in the press box calling the defense, that team is in the national championship," Kiffin said. "I don't know what happens against Indiana , because the quarterback, ( Fernando Mendoza ), is so good.

"We might win it, but we're definitely in it. We ain't losing to Miami."

That's the world according to Lane.

Lane Kiffin tries to weave an 'everybody wins' narrative about Ole Miss exit

While we're wading waist-deep into Kiffin theories, here's one he uncorked about his Mississippi exodus: "In a way, did not everybody win?"

That sounds like something someone with a long-term plan to shed the villain label might say.

Kiffin's "everybody wins" theory unfolds like this: Ole Miss will be a preseason top-15 team. Kiffin left the Rebels better than he found them. LSU got the coach it wanted. The Tigers will be ranked in the preseason, too, thanks to a pricey roster plundered from the portal, in trademark Kiffin fashion.

The theory continues:

Chambliss received a big payday for the 2026 season, after Kiffin and his staff signed and developed him from Division II.
Kiffin's assistants got raises.
Golding got promoted from defensive coordinator to Ole Miss coach and is enjoying a sweet honeymoon with the fanbase, after winning two playoff games.
Oh, one more winner: Kiffin. He stepped into a bigger job, with a $91 million contract, a brighter spotlight and a grander stage.

So, everyone wins, eh?

Well, what about Ole Miss fans ? Weren't they hurt?

"Listen to them. (They say) they're better off now. 'We got a way better coach. This coach is better,'" Kiffin says, as he lays out his "everybody wins" theory, while somehow keeping a straight face.

"They say it as fast as they can, all the time."

Kiffin's "everybody wins" narrative overlooks this: Nobody likes getting dumped, as Ole Miss did, especially when you thought everything was going good, and you'd done everything you could to maintain the relationship.

Kiffin acknowledged this truth, before later arriving at his "everybody wins" theory.

Did Lane Kiffin ever think he'd stay at Ole Miss forever?

Kiffin offered much gratitude for Ole Miss throughout his six-year tenure. I think he's being genuine when he discusses how badly he needed Ole Miss throughout that stage of his life, and how he benefited from what he called his "Mississippi slowdown."

Throughout his tenure in Oxford, I often asked Kiffin about the possibility of staying at Ole Miss long-term. He never denied the possibility. He also never said he'd retire there . I always emerged from those conversations thinking he'd leave, eventually.

But, what did Kiffin think? Did he ever think he'd finish his career at Ole Miss?

"I wasn't against it," he said. "I didn't have a lot of thought about it, in general. I didn't think, like, 'There's no way I won't.'"

His phrasing is interesting.

Not being against something is not the same as wanting something.

"I had thought, 'I'm OK if that happens. I'm not totally against it,'" he added. "I'm not like, oh, I have to be at a blueblood.

"I was in a really good place (in life). I still am. I'm good. Not arrogantly, (but) I'm good."

Did Lane Kiffin's decision come down to LSU and Ole Miss? Seems so.

LSU faced hiring competition from Florida .

But, the way LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry saw it unfold, Florida wasn't LSU's top competitor for Kiffin. Ole Miss was, and Kiffin's decision came down to staying or leaving for LSU.

Lane Kiffin hire: LSU AD used to think Lane Kiffin was an 'a**hole.' Not anymore

Nick Saban, who's friends with Ausberry and mentors Kiffin, encouraged Kiffin to take the LSU job. Kiffin listened, saying he didn't want to regret passing on the opportunity.

Lane Kiffin says his attempt to coach playoff caused more pain

As badly as Kiffin wanted to coach the playoff after accepting the LSU job, he admits his desire to coach the playoff inflamed emotions.

"Looking back, it would've been a lot easier on me emotionally and a lot of people if I would've just sort of been like, 'Hey, I'm leaving. I don't want to coach the playoffs. I'm leaving, thanks for everything, it's been a good run,'" he said.

Jon Sumrall coached Tulane in the playoff after accepting the Florida job, but Sumrall's exit from the Group of Five to the SEC is incomparable to Kiffin leaving Ole Miss for LSU, its top rival behind Mississippi State.

Even Kiffin's new boss can't fault Ole Miss for not letting Kiffin coach the playoff.

"If I'm Ole Miss, I probably would've made the same decision," Ausberry said. "I know LSU would've made the same decision."

Lane Kiffin says Ole Miss national title chances didn't influence him

Here's one of my own theories: I think Kiffin didn't believe Ole Miss would win the national championship, even if he stayed. Was that the only reason he left? No, but I think it factored into his choice.

I shared this theory with Kiffin. He disagreed. He said, when making his decision, he didn't question Ole Miss' national championship chances.

"That never crossed my mind, that we couldn't do it," he said. "I can see why that would be thought of, (but) I just was looking at the best thing all around" and for the long-term.

I don't buy it. You're telling me someone who's as into analytics as Kiffin didn't factor in the Rebels' odds to win the national title while making his stay-or-go choice?

Lane Kiffin's villain status and image damage weighs on him

During the 80-minute interview, one topic kept surfacing: Villains, heroes, and the gap between them.

At one point, Kiffin stood up and led me from his office to the LSU staff room, where a quote on that very subject is taped to the door.

Kiffin will be cast as college football's top villain this season after he turned heel with the Rebels on the playoff's doorstep. You might think Kiffin loves being the villain. I disagree. I think it weighs heavily on him.

As Charlie Weis Jr., Kiffin's offensive coordinator, put it, there's probably no avoiding the villain status this season.

"Charlie Weis, he's not like a villain type, and he's like, 'Coach, I think we just got to go with it. They just all hate us,'" Kiffin said. "Because, now we're combined with the place. Usually, people hate LSU anyway outside of here, so now you're combined with the place that they already hate and don't get, because it's so different, and the people, and it's almost a villainy stadium."

Kiffin's been the villain before, of course. But, 15 years after Kiffin's Tennessee exit set off a mini-riot in Knoxville and made him a reviled figure in college football, he became the subject of a fawning ESPN documentary. That redemption story was many years in the making. Then, he cashed in on it.

Most people don't like being hated. Kiffin is no exception. In particular, I think he'd like to restore some version of the image he meticulously built at Ole Miss, when his likability reached an all-time high.

Kiffin likes stirring it up. He craves and commands the spotlight. He takes pride in saying things other coaches wouldn't. He wants you to think about him. He has main character energy, to the max. His choice to leave playoff-bound Ole Miss for an SEC rival swung his character arc back toward the villain.

That doesn't mean he relishes the role, or that he wants his arc to finish there.

"I'm not like a big history guy or Marvel comics and movies," Kiffin said to me, "but a lot of times, the hero becomes the villain, then becomes the hero again."

This is the final installment of a multi-part series on Lane Kiffin at LSU. Check out other stories here , here , here , here and here .

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inside Lane Kiffin's alternate ending if he had coached Ole Miss in CFP

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