STARKVILLE, Miss. — In the aftermath of Ole Miss’ convincing 38-19 throttling of rival Mississippi State in Friday’s Egg Bowl, a celebratory scene unfolded across Davis-Wade Stadium, fitting of a playoff-bound program capping off, arguably, the best regular season in school history.
Cigar smoke billowed from the visiting locker room. A sea of more than 12,000 traveling Rebels fans boomed from the stands. Players wore hats prepared just for this occasion, with words inscribed on the front, “We run the Sip.”
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And there, in the middle of it all, peering out from beneath a white Ole Miss visor, was the most-coveted coach of this hiring cycle — high-fiving players, posing for selfies and embracing the school’s chancellor.
At one point, Lane Kiffin even removed his leather belt to carry out what’s become a weekly celebratory gesture from members of this team and staff. Holding the belt with each hand, stretching its full length, Kiffin popped it into the air.
“Belt to ass!” players screamed around him.
This didn’t seem like a man who’s on the cusp of leaving his 11-1 team. It didn’t seem like a coach willing to walk away from a program that will almost assuredly host a playoff game in three weeks. It didn’t seem like someone ready for a new start on the bayou.
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Despite those theatrics, in the moments after the game, Kiffin failed to put to rest the issue of his future: He made clear publicly, on a postgame television interview and then again with reporters in a news conference, that he had not made a decision on where he’ll coach next year.
The options are becoming more clear than ever: (1) sign a lucrative contract extension with Ole Miss and coach the team he built into the postseason; or (2) leave for one of the Rebels’ chief conference rivals, LSU, and — in all likelihood — not have the ability to coach the playoffs.
“There’s a lot into it. It’s a hard decision,” Kiffin said.
Kiffin declined to reveal specifics on a timeline for a decision except to say that he “feels like I’ve got to” make a decision on Saturday — a nod toward the pressure Ole Miss’ administration is applying on its coach.
Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin reacts to an official’s call during the Rebels’ win over Mississippi State on Friday. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce are not planning to allow Kiffin to coach the College Football Playoff if he intends to leave for another job — a determination that university executives made over the last several days and something likely suggested to Kiffin in a meeting last Friday in Oxford.
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On Saturday, Ole Miss officials are expected to huddle. A meeting with Kiffin — though not necessarily scheduled — is likely. If Kiffin remains undecided on Saturday, university officials are faced with the unprecedented situation of potentially placing on leave or suspending one of the school’s all-time greatest coaches in the midst of a playoff run — a decision that will assuredly push Kiffin out the door.
Kiffin will spend the next 12-18 hours “praying” over the matter, he says, and serving as dad. He’ll attend his son Knox’s high school football playoff game Friday night in Tupelo, Miss. — a midway point between Starkville and Oxford.
Meanwhile, the coach spent Friday afternoon beating Mississippi State in “Starksville,” as he says, adding the ‘s’ to poke at his school’s in-state rival. Kiffin is 5-1 against the Bulldogs during his time in Oxford. In total, he’s 55-19 and has led the Rebels to three consecutive seasons of double-digits wins for the first time in the school’s history.
On Friday, the Rebels put up nearly 550 yards on their nemesis. And their quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss, playing in a backup game jersey after his original was stolen out of the locker room, torched State’s secondary for 359 yards and four touchdowns.
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A pair of toe-tapping touchdown catches from De’Zhaun Stribling in the second and fourth quarters guaranteed avoidance of an upset.
On this day, it wasn’t happening.
At his news conference, Kiffin expressed “relief” at the way the Rebels played. They played like they weren’t distracted, he said.
“All the distractions and noise out there bonds them together,” he said. “Everybody says, ‘They’re going to be distracted!’ I think it bonds them together to stay focused and play really well.”
This one got heated even before kickoff.
Kiffin revealed the overnight break-in to the Ole Miss locker room in a pregame television interview. The team has video of two fans entering the locker room at around 3 a.m. — one with a fan himself videoing the break-in — and walking out with Chambliss’ game jersey, school officials told Yahoo Sports. Thankfully, Ole Miss carried extra jerseys.
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On the field, Chambliss looked poised, confident and showed the pinpoint accuracy that’s made him one of college football’s best stories this season — a little-known Division II QB leading a historically middling SEC program to the playoffs.
Its only regular-season loss at Georgia, Ole Miss still has a chance to advance to the SEC championship game next weekend — something that may further complicate the decision timeline for Kiffin and the university’s administration. To advance to Atlanta, Ole Miss needs Alabama to lose at Auburn on Saturday.
In the meantime, Kiffin’s decision looms.
As Yahoo Sports reported last week, LSU is offering Kiffin a seven-year deal worth more than $90 million with a guaranteed roster compensation of more than $25 million annually. Ole Miss’ counteroffer is similar, those with knowledge of the deal say.
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While confidence brewed in Baton Rouge over the last week, nervousness hangs over the bayou.
Will a coach really leave a playoff team?
“You have [hard decisions] all the time,” Kiffin said in the news conference. “The jobs you take and where you move. We get paid a lot. Lot of people are critical of [moving jobs], but they do it all the time.”
Kiffin appeared choked up during the news conference when asked about the people he leans on to make such tough decisions. He said he wished his dad, Monte, was still alive. Instead, Kiffin says he relies on Nick Saban and Pete Carroll, two coaches he’s worked under in the past, for advice.
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All around Kiffin on Friday reminders of his decision lingered.
As Ole Miss fans flooded into Davis-Wade Stadium, Mississippi State fans boomed the LSU fight song from their tailgate speakers. Inside the stadium during pregame warmups, a familiar tune from the band The Clash played across the stadium sound system.
“Should I stay or should I go?”
