Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has accepted a head coaching position at Louisiana State, he wrote in a statement on X Sunday afternoon.
“After a lot of prayer and time spent with my family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” he wrote.
The Rebels head coach was previously believed to be a favorite to fill the head coaching vacancy at Florida.
Kiffin decided between LSU, UF and Ole Miss, and two days before he announced his decision, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Florida had shifted focus from Kiffin after it sensed he was interested in other schools due to “irregular communication” with the program.
The Gators then hired Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall Sunday. He is 42-11 in his four seasons as a head coach.
Kiffin, meanwhile, will not be leading the Rebels as they continue their season in the College Football Playoff. Instead, Ole Miss promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to their full-time head coach role. He takes over immediately.
“While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford,” Kiffin wrote.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke is The Alligator's Sports Editor and is a senior sports journalism student. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his cat named Pete and going down a rabbit hole of niche professional athletes (shoutout Charles Sims).
