Lane Kiffin departs No. 6 Mississippi for LSU before expected CFP berth

By BRETT MARTEL Lane Kiffin left his one-loss Mississippi club to become the coach at LSU on Sunday taking over a activity that has won national titles under three of its previous four coaches while saying he would have stayed to coach the Rebels in the postseason had he been allowed to The move comes two days after No Mississippi s conquest over Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl rivalry competition that all but guaranteed the Rebels a playoff berth when the bracket is broadcasted Dec Kiffin wrote in a social media post that Mississippi athletic director Keith Carter denied his request to lead the club through the playoff despite the club also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance Unfortunately that means Friday s Egg Bowl was my last competition coaching the Rebels he added Mississippi promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to succeed Kiffin A former college contestant at Delta State in Mississippi Golding is in his third season on the Rebels staff after serving five years as a top defensive assistant at Alabama Coach Kiffin and I met the preceding day and he informed us that he is accepting the head coaching position at another school Carter reported For our operation to begin preparing for its future both the short and long term he will be stepping away from the gang straightaway LSU trumpeted its new hire with athletic director Verge Ausberry calling Kiffin the best coach in the country Lane is a proven winner who has thrived in an era of college athletics that requires coaches to adapt and innovate he reported His passion creativity and authenticity make him the ideal leader to guide LSU into the future and consistently position us among the sport s elite Kiffin s decision played out for days contributing to an already-busy hiring cycle that saw several moves earlier Sunday including three in the SEC alone While players have transferred away from playoff-bound teams a coach leaving a organization that is - and all but certain to make the playoff is something new Kiffin and Carter had agreed last week that a decision had to be made this weekend as negotiations dragged on Carter could not afford to wait until after critical recruiting periods in December and transfer periods in January had passed before starting his coaching search The CFP begins on Dec the semifinals don t occur until Jan - and the final is Jan Kiffin is considered one of the top offensive coaches in college football He went - in six seasons at Mississippi success that made him a target of several major programs seeking new coaches Kiffin also was pursued by Florida which fired coach Billy Napier a week before LSU cut ties with Brian Kelly The lure of LSU While LSU offered Kiffin a raise over his current million annual salary the decision presumably was about more than money LSU has a championship brand in multiple sports state-of-the-art facilities a rabid regional fan following and a legendary historic home football venue in Tiger Stadium nicknamed Death Valley which towers over the banks of the Mississippi River and holds spectators more than Mississippi s Vaught-Hemingway Stadium The lone football coach of LSU s past four who did not win a national championship was Kelly He was fired in late October during his fourth season a seismic progress that also led then-athletic director Scott Woodward to resign under pressure from Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry Ausberry a Louisiana native former Tigers football contestant and longtime LSU administrator led a search for a new coach that focused primarily on Kiffin LSU offered Kiffin a seven-year contract with an average annual salary of around million and pledged to ensure the football project has ample financial backing to pay players Kiffin has overseen one of the bulk thriving stints in Mississippi history arguably exceeded by only Johnny Vaught whose seasons at Mississippi included a six-year period from through during which his teams went a combined - LSU is - with three national championships since the season which was Nick Saban s first with the Tigers Saban won his national title at LSU in the season and went - in five years before leaving to coach in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins Les Miles hired in went - with a national title in Ed Orgeron who succeeded Miles during the season went - highlighted by his - national-title-winning campaign in Kelly who was in the midst of a -year contract worth about million at LSU went - with the Tigers Kiffin s rise Kiffin son of the late NFL and college defensive coach Monte Kiffin played quarterback in college at Fresno State He got his first head-coaching job at any level in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders in but was fired just four games into his second season He took his first college head-coaching job at Tennessee in and left after one season to take over at Southern California where he was fired five games into his fourth season He returned to coaching in with Florida Atlantic spending three seasons there before Mississippi lured him to Oxford in Kiffin has mentioned he adopted the mantra of striving to do things better than they ve ever been done before from one of his mentors Pete Carroll under whom Kiffin served as an assistant at USC from to I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to lead the storied LSU football operation Kiffin reported From national championships to iconic players LSU is synonymous with excellence and is among the the greater part powerful brands in all of sports No coach has ever won multiple national championships at LSU Kiffin will be the next to try