My first post at a RG subscriber. I apologize for the length of this. A lot of you will mock its length and not read it. But it includes a lot of quotes and happenings from the last few weeks and I simply couldn’t leave out key details.
I’ve been waiting about 3 weeks to write this. Of course, as the days have gone by, I’ve been able to gather more receipts and put together my timeline to support what I’ve known the entire time…. LANE KIFFIN WAS NEVER AT ANY POINT GOING TO BE AUBURN’S NEXT HEAD COACH.
The last 2 weeks have been an abomination of true journalism as it pertains to the Ole Miss beat. Rebel Grove, Rebels 247, and the OMSpirit have done nothing but report hearsay and rumors all fueled by bad… incredibly bad Auburn sourcing… and I suspect two bad sources from the coaching community.
The TMZ coverage of Lane Kiffin’s candidacy angers me as a supporter of the program. It has led to frustration and anger from our fans towards Kiffin… most of which is unwarranted. Has he handled this perfectly? Not hardly… but much of the frustration has been driven by sloppy reporting and untruths constantly reported on the Ole Miss fan sites and Auburn fan sites.
Halloween
On October 31, Brian Harsin was fired by Auburn University. Almost immediately, Auburn beat writers zeroed in on Lane Kiffin as a leading candidate to be Auburn’s next head coach. The driving force behind Kiffin’s candidacy was Jimmy Rane. Mr. Yellawood himself was telling anyone who would listen that “We are hiring Lane Kiffin” and “I always get my man.”
Shortly after this, I talked to some tied to the situation at Auburn and was told “We won’t hire Lane Kiffin.” This guy told me in October of 2008 they’d hire Gene Chizik, who was like 5-14 at the time as Iowa State’s head coach. This guy had previously told me they’d sign Cam Newton, while Cam was ringing cowbells in Starkville. He’s shared they’d be flipping numerous recruits through the years… guys who were just rock solid to Alabama, Georgia, LSU, etc. He just knows… so when he says it, my ears perk up a bit. He told me when and how Gus would resign/be fired in the Covid season. The only thing he did not predict was Harsin. He just shared with me that Alan Greene was going to get fired because he was going off script with the hire… and you just don’t do that at Auburn.
A few days after this, I started digging into the OM side of things… specifically Kiffin. Here is how it was laid out to me.
“He isn’t going. He’s gonna leverage the hell out of it the next few weeks to get our people motivated on NIL, get his bump, and a little more control… but he isn’t going to be the next head coach at Auburn.”
Arkansas Week
The next week or two was uneventful…. But after we loss the Alabama game on November 12, things started to get a little crazier. Ole Miss was eliminated from the SEC West race, eliminated from a possible 11-1 record and a backdoor playoff appearance. It was done… and the silliness began.
There is a mob in our fanbase right now that is frustrated. Since Thursday before the Arkansas game (November 17) the “Why doesn’t he sign his new deal?” “Just end this” crowd has been loud. But lets review some facts.
Lane has been steadfast in his answers about his contracts this year and in the past. He will address it when he sits down with Keith after the season.
Why did Keith present Lane a contract in season if he knew Kiffin wasn’t going to address it until after the season?
Two Words. NEAL MCREADY.
Don’t y’all remember? The post/update he made on Wednesday, November 16 about Kiffin’s future at Ole Miss…. While Hurricane Auburn was blowing towards Oxford?
Neal reported that Ole Miss and Kiffin or Kiffin’s representation had not had any substantial conversations about Kiffin’s future at Ole Miss.
Coincidently the SAME DAY, Chris Low (Lane’s media guy) started tweeting about IF Lane leaves Ole Miss it will be because of NIL. Well, we magically went from about $5M to $10M in about 8 days… so that strategy worked. Nice job Lane. Why would a coach motivate a fanbase to raise more money for NIL if he was planning on leaving? Just to arm the next guy with the funds to be successful? What a nice guy Lane must be.
Back to Neal’s report. Neal had to later come back and say he was wrong. To his credit he ate it… but he damage had been done. Keith’s hand was forced. The next day, Thursday November 17, Richard Cross reported on SuperTalk Mississippi that Ole Miss had presented Kiffin an extension and the new salary was “Ryan Day” type money. “Ryan Day” money is $9.5M per year. That would make Kiffin the highest paid coach in the country without a playoff appearance. It would make him the 5th highest paid coach in the country period. It also includes an ADDITIONAL $2.4M for assistants.
So since last Thursday, November 17… our fans have been frustrated that Kiffin didn’t sign a new deal that he never intended to sign until the season was over, that our AD never intended to present to him until after the season was over. THE ONLY REASON KEITH PUT THE DAMN DEAL IN FRONT OF LANE IS BECAUSE NEAL GOT OUR FANBASE WORKED UP WITH HIS SLOPPY ASS REPORTING.
Arkansas Game
Ole Miss looked bad defensively. The offense, while racking up 700 yards, had key turnovers and the bottom line is they got too far behind. If Ole Miss has a 5th quarter, they have enough time to win that game. The hole they dug early was just too great. But the narrative was that the team looked bad because of the Auburn rumors. Kiffin was clearly so distracted that the game plan he put together racked up the second best rushing output in school history and the most yards against at SEC opponent in school history.
Most fans at home though were growing more and more angry as in the second half, with little to talk about, Cubelic and Rodgers discussed Kiffin’s possible departure to Auburn and which players he might take with him.
This was total bullshit. It was speculative, it was irresponsible, and it was unprofessional. Why didn’t Kiffin address it? Well, he was coaching while this was going on. Why didn’t he address it on Monday? Well coaches don’t watch the damn broadcast. They watch cut tape of the All 22.
He likely heard about it… but coaches don’t address rumors and hearsay.
At the press conference that night, 247’s Brandon Marcello was there. Marcello had previously reported Kiffin was Auburn’s top choice to replace Brian Harsin and came to Fayetteville to cover the game. LOL. What a loser.
That night this was Kiffin’s response to being Auburn’s “no.1 choice” and his future at Ole Miss.
Clearly annoyed… he states: “I’m not getting into that. I never talk about that stuff. I’m very happy here. I’m not very happy here right now. I really wanted to get to 9-2 and to 10-2 next week. That’s all I’m thinking about. I’m very happy to be here and very appreciative of the leadership here and the stuff they do to give us a chance to win.”
He added…
“I LOVE being here. I don’t want to look to next year already with a big game upcoming. This is not one of those years where you say you’re going to lose all these guys. There are a lot of people coming back and a lot of new guys, offensively especially. So I’m very excited about the future. I don’t know about that stuff.”
He then closed with “If they watched the first half, I’m not no.1 on that list anymore.”
Egg Bowl Week
This is where the true chaos begins.
At the Monday press conference, Kiffin was asked if his players ask him about coaching RUMORS…
“They don’t. They know how we operate and they’ve been in this before so they don’t even ask. They know how we do things around here. Pro mindset of preparing every day to get better and win. I don’t know what else to say. I’m extremely happy here. Like we just talked about, the difference in where this program is now compared to three years ago. We feel that we have really good support. I can get up here and give you, whatever it was, the ‘Pine Box’ speech, ‘I’m not going to be the next head coach at Alabama.’ I can give you those things. I don’t know what they mean. I don’t know what else to say. Been here three years and been fortunate enough, I guess now I have three different contracts. So I don’t know why all of a sudden a fourth contract makes people feel better. Like I said, we’re very appreciative of everything here.”
Then he was asked if he’s concerned about players handling the coaching rumors.
“I think about that. I’ve asked our coaches, ‘Do you think that is an issue?’ They’ve said ‘No.’ Like analytics, we study the past. We played in the last game at FAU in a conference championship , and that morning ESPN leaked that we were the new head coach at Ole miss and the entire team knew and we went out and won by 40. These same questions were there the same week we were one play away from beating Alabama, so not much analytics to show that would matter about player performance.”
So Neal, Chuck, Chase, Ben, David and whoever the hell else have been just feeding updates on Auburn’s coaching search and how Kiffin is the lead guy, written articles on how distracted Ole Miss looked at Arkansas, then sit in front of Kiffin at the Arkansas press conference AND the Monday press conference and they never ask the damn question. Not one of them asked him “Will you be Ole Miss’ coach in 2023?” or “Will you be Auburn’s next head coach?”
People were mad Kiffin didn’t address the “rumors.” Well, coaches don’t address rumors. If you do, you give hearsay and rumors validity. You ANSWER questions. But no one asked the question. They all just continued to pour gas on the fire on these stupid TMZ fansites, just getting you more and more frustrated with the head coach.
Did Brian Kelly ever address a coaching rumor at Notre Dame?
Has Saban ever addressed a coaching rumor linking him to an NFL team or Texas a few years ago?
Did Jimbo Fisher address rumors at Florida State that he was leaving for A&M?
The answer is NO. They answer questions. They respond to legitimate news sources. They don’t read message boards (minus Freeze), they don’t know what these guys are saying to the fans, they don’t care. So unless someone is definitively breaking the news… he isn’t addressing it.
Then Monday night happened.
Monday night Jon Sokoloff set the CFB world on fire with “BREAKING: #OleMiss HC Lane Kiffin plans to step down as the Rebels coach Friday and head to Auburn to become the Tigers next head coach, according to sources. Sources say the Tigers haven’t officially offered the job to anyone yet. So Lane to Auburn is happening. Story soon.”
This was an outright lie from Jon… or it was very poorly sourced. Some speculation is that Cohen is Sokoloff’s source, since he broke the Cohen to Auburn as AD news a few weeks before. If that is the case, Cohen used this boy. Cohen was NEVER hiring Lane Kiffin. Someone I trust has maintained that Cohen did come to Oxford on Sunday, November 13 (day after the Alabama game) to see Kiffin. If he did indeed come, Cohen came on a fools errand, knowing he was the fool. Cohen’s desired candidate was and still is (as reports of Hugh Freeze to Auburn come out while I type) SONNY DYKES at TCU. The issue with Dykes is the board of trustees at Auburn does not want to wait on Dykes to coach a Big 12 Championship game and then the CFB Playoffs. Now… if, and I mean it’s a big IF, Iowa State (4-7) can upset TCU today… I expect Auburn to shock the CFB world and hire Sonny Dykes. If not, they’ll move forward with Freeze and likely announce it tomorrow.
But why would Cohen lead Auburn media and source to believe he’s pursuing Kiffin. All goes back to Jimmy Rane. The guy is a cancer for their program. He’s got money, he holds it over their heads, and he is insistent on getting his way. So you gotta put on a damn show to make him think you did everything you could to hire “his guy.”
Kiffin came out on the offensive. Gloves off, he trolls Sokoloff. He says “News to me” then issues the fake news release about Sokoloff leaving his current job for a new one.” On the news to me he put the emojis for “Don’t let the enemy have a seat at your table.” He was clearly indicating this is all a bunch of junk.
A kinda major detail in all of this that flew under the radar in all this was Kiffin has been trying to purchase a new home… IN OXFORD. The homes he has explored are not the type your daughter lives in while she’s in school. They’re “statement” homes. The homes that keep you somewhere for a while. If the damn guy is buying a new home in Oxford, do you honestly think he’s leaving.
I can’t say for sure… but when Neal found this out on Tuesday… that’s when he put up his expectation that Freeze will be Auburn’s next HC. But we all know he later backed off that and proceeded with these ridiculous Auburn rumors.
On Tuesday, Rebel Grove and OMSpirit “found out” Kiffin had interviewed and had multiple conversations either in person or via zoom with Cohen. This was false.
He had one. It was when Cohen came to Oxford. And Lane Kiffin doesn’t interview for college football jobs anymore.
The first clue the Auburn and Ole Miss beats should’ve gotten that this was a bunch of bullshit was none of the national writers had it. If that were true… they more than likely have it. But they wouldn’t even acknowledge it when it was reported… because it simply wasn’t true.
I can’t say with 100% certainty, but it is my belief Neal and Chuck had a one common source on this. This source had every reason to tell them that Kiffin had interviewed with Auburn to kinda sabotage his “candidacy” there OR push him into the job to open Ole Miss. Before any of you speculate… its not Kane Wommack.
And let me tell you how worthless of a source Tyler Siskey is… dude was clueless… but at least he’s equally arrogant and confident as he is clueless.
It was later reported that rumors of Kiffin “interviewing” with Auburn were false by Brandon Marcello.
Well interviewing IN SEASON is a pretty big no-no and a big F&*%$#! deal to fans and athletic directors. It sent the damn message boards into a bigger frenzy. And it simply was not true.
Tuesday afternoon was also the day Kiffin met with the team to address the Sokoloff report. This was the first time Kiffin had directly addressed anything regarding the Auburn reports because it was the first “real news” source that had reported it. He told the team he was returning. Reports from that meeting initially were “He said he’s returning” but then shifted to “but he left some room there with his words.” What a giant crock of dog $hit. He said he was coming back. He had indicated to the staff he was coming back. But hey… the longer they can keep this thing going the better for business it is.
Wednesday was full of more and more reports that in spite of the developments at Ole Miss… Auburn was confident Lane Kiffin was going to be the next head coach. Well, the Auburn beat was really poorly sourced because they were listening to one damn guy… Jimmy Rane. Neal did give an update that Kiffin told the team “I have not spoken to any other school or interviewed for any other job.” That’s kind of a big detail. But he followed it up.. doubling down with his Auburn source that he did interview earlier that month and that “The players know it. He can’t return to Ole Miss.” WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP.
Egg Bowl
This was a nightmare scenario for Kiffin. We played poorly offensively. The rumors were swirling, the fanbase was mad (due to the message board media coverage), and the Bulldogs whipped the Rebs.
I won’t recap the game. Let’s skip to the press conference.
Kiffin was asked if he plans on being Ole Miss’ head coach next year. “Yes I do.”
Kiffin was asked if he plans on being Ole Miss’ head coach IF offered the Auburn job. “I do.”
Kiffin was asked if he had to have a team meeting to address Monday’s “falsely reported” news. “Jon did it so I had to have a team meeting to say his article was wrong… so yes, I had to deal, had to have a team meeting because of that. They don’t, when there’s other stuff in chat rooms and all that stuff, but when a reporter writes it, that changes the game with it. You’d love to know the unnamed sources.”
He also went into the lack of accountability in media and that you can just say anything and become famous. He joked that he would probably do it too if he were them because you never know when you’re going to be right.
See Kiffin even states message boards and chat rooms are mostly BS… but he HAD TO address it when someone in the news reported it.
Kiffin was then asked if he planned to sign a new contract with Ole Miss. Clearly annoyed at this again he states: “I don’t know. I’ve signed three. Does a fourth one mean you’re never leaving? So, I don’t know. I’m much more focused and worried about the game than whether you sign another contract. And I’m not acting ungrateful for that, but again, everybody thinks you sign another contract, well a year ago you said the same thing, and then here we are again.”
If all this wasn’t enough… and clearly it wasn’t… Neal commented on his post game show that Kiffin couldn’t have handled it any worse. ARE YOU F*&%$#@ kidding me?
10 Hours after the Egg Bowl…
After all this, still on Friday… Auburn beat, RebelGrove and OMSpirit (I’ve purposely left 247 out of this because let be honest… no one reads that board but I’m sure they’re guilty too) doubled down on Kiffin STILL becoming Auburn’s next head football coach.
Jason Caldwell (Auburn Beat) posted this update Friday: “Backing up what I wrote a few days ago, as of this morning Auburn doesn’t plan on making a formal job offer today. It hasn’t happened to this point and it sounds like Auburn wants to wait until the Iron Bowl is complete before moving forward. It has everything to do with showing respect to Cadillac Williams, the coaches and players, and nothing to do with waiting on a certain coach or coaches. This is all about the timing and allowing everyone to focus on the game. With that being said, I don’t expect any news from the Auburn front today.”
Well wait a minute. Auburn “sources” had previously reported and SHARED by all of our beat writers that Kiffin had received an offer on…
Tuesday.
Then it was Wednesday.
Then it was Thursday after the game.
Friday he’s resigning.
Then they decided to wait until after the Iron Bowl Saturday.
But still… no one was calling BS on the whole thing.
Just insane.
And here we are.
On Saturday morning, Lane Kiffin leaked to his good buddy Chris Lowe his intentions to sign a new deal with Ole Miss. Kiffin then made an appearance on College Game Day.
I had been told weeks before that the road would be bumpy but that Kiffin would make his intentions known in a very public way. I had shared with some friends that I thought we’d announce the extension before kick of the Egg Bowl or before kick of the Iron Bowl (simply because Kiffin is the ultimate troll) but it never dawned on me he would take the College Gameday route. Well played Coach. No one remembers the Egg Bowl this morning and everyone in CFB is talking about Kiffin. He overshadowed the Rhule hire at Nebraska today.
All of Ole Miss’ fan sites have by now reported the news. And I looked in on them and saw statements like “Kiffin has work to do repairing relationships with donors and the fan base.” I hope all of the fan site employees read this. You guys are the ones who need to repair your relationship with your subscribers. You provide entertainment, but your credibility is in question. Between the fumbling of the Bianco to LSU deal and now this Kiffin to Auburn stuff… you are no longer a credible source for Ole Miss news. Commentary? Sure. Recruiting updates? Sure. Podcast monologues and discussions? Absolutely. But you guys have to regain trust of our fan base, not Kiffin.
Auburn Undercover (Marcello) put out an update on Kiffin’s “candidacy” today (Saturday) on Twitter citing all the reasons Kiffin was staying in Oxford. All of that has been known for weeks, if not months. But it wasn’t reported any by Auburn beat…. And it wasn’t reiterated to counter any of the Ole Miss beat throughout this process.
Brandon Marcello said: “Kiffin has become much more centered on family and God over the last few years and that has steered his life to remaining grounded and appreciative for what he has at Ole Miss. He’d rather not risk a new start after only three years at Ole Miss which gave him a second chance to coach big-time football.” He added, “ The rumors are true: his kids love the campus and one is planning to attend Ole Miss in the near future. The promise of a rollover in the contract, with increased NIL support and backing from administrators on a unified front was too much to ignore.” In other words “he really likes it and has autonomy.” Something that was already known… but not reported at any point by Auburn beat and never reiterated by ours through the “drama.”
Let’s recap.
- ANYTIME Kiffin was publicly asked about RUMORS he indicated how happy he is in Oxford and his gratitude for the support he has at Ole Miss.
- Chris Lowe reported IF Kiffin leaves, it would be because of NIL… then in like 5 days we go over the $10M mark. Well played Lane. Dude would have never done this if he EVER intended on leaving.
- In spite of no one on the entire damn beat directly asking THE QUESTION to Lane, they ALL continue to report Kiffin’s intentions to go to Auburn… whether relaying info from Auburn sites or reporting from their own “Sources” they continued to share this crap
- The “SIGN THE CONTRACT MOB” was only frustrated because there was a contract to sign. It was only presented to Kiffin because Keith felt the need to after Neal’s BOGUS report that Ole Miss and Kiffin had not had any conversations about his future at Ole Miss. Until that report, it was always Keith and Lane’s intentions to address it all after the season.
- The new deal was presented to Kiffin TWO DAYS before the Arkansas game. Kiffin was preparing for two games in 5 days, one of which was on the road, and was supposed to review, negotiate, and sign some time during that span. Yeah… not happening.
- Reports from the team meeting where Kiffin told the team he was returning, it was reported he left it unclear. But this morning Kiffin stated he told the team he was returning and it would be announced after the game.
- At the Egg Bowl press conference, Neal finally asked the damn question. Kiffin says he intends being here. Then stupid Jon Sokoloff tries to grandstand and asks if he will be Ole Miss’ head coach EVEN IF Auburn offers him the job. He says “Yes.”
But still… Ole Miss fans are mad at Kiffin. We can all handle losing… but the notion we were distracted and it costs us our season makes everyone angry. Who created the distraction? Our own beat and the Auburn beat. Who got you frustrated at how all this was handled? Our own beat and the Auburn beat. Who caused the “Why hasn’t he signed?” drama? Our own beat and the Auburn beat. Who did a lazy ass job of sourcing this story… constantly leaning on sources with a vested interest in our job opening and sources close to ONE BOOSTER who had his sites set on Lane Kiffin? Our own beat and the Auburn beat. And let me be clear… when I say “Beat” I mean the Ole Miss and Auburn fan sites.
All Lane has done the last 3 weeks is reiterate how happy he is at Ole Miss. He has not given one single indication that he intended leaving… because he never did. He even trolled false reports that he was leaving. He looked into purchasing a new home in Oxford. His daughter is halfway through her senior year and just got here. His son has looked into moving to Oxford. But STILL… our own beat didn’t source it through people who have knowledge of Kiffin’s intentions. They sourced it through the coaching community and the Auburn beat. Just crazy. Just sloppy. Just irresponsible. It created all this angst among fans the last few weeks and it was unnecessary.
A few posters on here regularly interact with me in a group text. Its why until today I was not a subscriber here. But after all this happened I had to respond. I liken all of this to the 2016 election coverage. The Media wanted you to believe it was going to go a certain way…. But all of the facts pointed to it going a different direction. Then Trump won.
But in those texts conversations with my Ole Miss friends, I have consistently stated to them LANE KIFFIN WILL NOT BE THE NEXT HEAD COACH AT AUBURN. I never wavered because my sourcing was good. Thing was, I didn’t have to work hard for the info. I have a job and I’m not a journalist… but if I knew this for the last 3 weeks… why didn’t our own beat?
Is Kiffin blameless in all this? No. He could’ve ended it earlier this week… but he’s been consistent in that he doesn’t look at contract stuff until after the season. He could’ve addressed rumors… but other coaches don’t. He addressed the questions that were asked. When he finally was asked THE QUESTION… he said he was going to be our coach next year.
My recap of the season for those frustrated with the end result. In a nutshell Ole Miss lost 50-50 games this year and they won them last year. Had Hendon Hooker completed that ball on the last play at UT last year and had Arkansas gotten that two-point conversion… we would’ve been 8-4 last year.
We had opportunities to beat State, Alabama, and ran out of time after spotting Arkansas 28 points in Fayetteville. Easily could’ve been 10-2.
This team had glaring weaknesses. Defense has to be addressed. We need better players. Kiffin simply needs to recruit better. Go back and look at that 2021 class (his first full class)… its bad. Only 3-4 real contributors and only 3 starters. People worry about moving on from Partridge because he’s a great recruiter. He might be but his evaluations have consistently missed the mark… I won’t embarrass those players by naming them but you guys can go back and look at who he has signed.
A lot of fans are frustrated with Charlie Weis and “play calling.” Well here’s the facts. We averaged more points per game than last year. Our red zone offense, while not good, also was better than last year. Our yards per game was down by ONE YARD per contest. So offensively we were pretty awesome considering we replaced:
- NFL QB
- 4 leading rushers
- 6 of top 8 leading receivers
If we want to point to what needs to be addressed offensively, it’s the offensive line. We were bad there. How can I say that considering how well we run the ball? Its simple… we were bad in pass protection and bad running the ball in the red zone. We averaged 5.49 YPC this year. Great. But we averaged 7YPC on our side of the 50 and just 2.98 YPC in the red zone. That shows what many of us know… LANE KIFFIN IS REALLY GOOD. You can scheme the run game and hide subpar line play with space. But in pass pro and in the redzone when the field tightens, you can’t hide it.
I say all of this excited about the future. Lane Kiffin is coming back. All indications are Ole Miss and Kiffin are done dating… and are getting married. He will be paid Top 5 money, he will have a substantial buyout, and we have the NIL funds to make us competitive for championships.
And I want everyone to review what Kiffin said the last few weeks. The reports on this message board and others. Then contrast that to national coverage of it. NONE OF THEM were reporting Kiffin was leaning, going, etc. They only said “Kiffin is expected to be a top target.” Well no shit… he’s really good.
Our coach said he was happy, he wants to be here, and when asked doubled down on it 3 different times in 3 different press conferences.
So I think its fair to say a lot of this anger is misdirected. Be frustrated how sloppily this was covered.
I’m sure Neal will respond. Chase maybe too. I don’t know Neal. I do Chase. I have a lot of respect for their work. I like the podcast…. Listen with regularity. I’m now a subscriber. I doubt I will be active… but I’ll give them $22 for the next year. I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth today. I’m posting this on the Spirit as well. I know Ben well. I know Chuck. I like them both but I can’t help but feel they all whiffed. I don’t know David, but I’m not joining his board because what I do know about him I don’t like.
To our fans. Get excited about the future. Let this frustration go. It was misdirected. Listen wisely to Rebelotis, Goldenbearreb, jwlrebel92, Ntzreb32, OleMissSnake, JamesFoodCenter and a few others… even BWAYNE. Never listen to IndependenceBowlMainstay… ever… seriously.
I’m out.
