Ole Miss AD disputes Kiffin’s version of events on exit to LSU

ole miss Athletic director Keith Carter refuted several claims made by former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin, including the time Kiffin was informed he could not coach the team in the postseason.

Showing on Wednesday supertalk mississippiCarter said Kiffin, as announced LSUCoach Sunday has said, “There are a lot of things that have been said publicly that I’m not sure are completely accurate.” They include the claim that he only found out Sunday morning that he would not be coaching Ole Miss College Football Playoff.

Carter said that Kiffin and his representatives were told several weeks earlier that coaching Ole Miss in the CFP was not possible if Kiffin took another job. The only possible change was that Ole Miss would have qualified for the SEC title game, but Carter had not decided whether Kiffin would have coached that game.

“It was very clear several weeks ago that coaching in the postseason would not be an option for Coach Kiffin,” Carter told host Richard Cross.

Carter said Kiffin informed him around 6 p.m. Saturday that he would Accepting LSU JobCarter and other Ole Miss executives worked hard on the football staff throughout the night and immediately targeted defensive coordinator Pete Golding, who was Was announced as the next coach of the Rebels on Sunday,

Announcing his departure on Sunday, Kiffin wrote that the players had asked him to remain the coach through the CFP for maximum exposure. Carter said of a meeting between Kiffin and Ole Miss’s leadership group, “I don’t think the way they portrayed that meeting was accurate. There was a lot of opposition to his leaving. … To beg him to stay is certainly an exaggeration, and our players are starting to show what really happened in that meeting.”

Several key Ole Miss players posted on Twitter Tuesday night, refuting Kiffin’s claim that he asked them to stay. star linebacker suntarin perkins Reposted Kiffin’s message and wrote, “This was not the message you said in the meeting room. Everyone there can confirm that.”

This was not the message you said in the meeting room. Everyone who was there can confirm this. https://t.co/tssQmvGgQ3

– Suntarine Perkins (@suntarine) 3 December 2025

Kiffin has stated several times that he respects Carter’s decision not to coach him in the postseason. On Tuesday, he allowed offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who came with him and other Ole Miss assistants from LSU, to rejoin Ole Miss for the CFP.

“We were talking to Charlie about coming back and calling plays and Charlie was committed to it from the first moment,” Carter told SuperTalk Mississippi. “To be honest, I think Charlie got into a little trouble the way he was asked to go to Baton Rouge, but man, I couldn’t be more excited to have Charlie Weis back here.”