Ole Miss Players Fire Back At Lane Kiffin’s Claim That They Wanted Him To Coach The Playoffs: “Everyone That Was In That Room Would Disagree”

Clearly not happy with their former coach.

Former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin officially accepted the head coaching job at LSU on Sunday, capping off a monthslong saga that ended with the coach that led his team to an 11-1 record and the College Football Playoffs being booed and flipped off at the airport as he left town.

Honestly it was bound to happen at some point. Kiffin has a way of winning over fans and then leaving destruction in his wake when he leaves town, like when he was fired on the tarmac after his time at USC or when angry mobs took to the streets in Knoxville when we announced he was leaving Tennessee. It’s always something with this guy, and this time was certainly no different.

With both the Florida and LSU jobs opening up midseason, Kiffin’s name immediately began swirling as a potential candidate. And the outspoken coach didn’t do anything to dispel the rumors that he would be leaving Oxford, leading Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter to reportedly give Kiffin an ultimatum and force him to decide by this past Saturday whether he would stick around to coach the team in the playoffs or take another job.

On Friday after Ole Miss beat Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, rumors began swirling that Kiffin would indeed be taking the job in Baton Rouge. And on Saturday, Kiffin met with Carter and Ole Miss chancellor Glenn Boyce to discuss his future while the entire world waited to see what would happen.

As the night went on, it began to leak that Kiffin was leaving for LSU but wanted to coach Ole Miss in the playoffs, something that was apparently off the table for Carter. Then, it was reported that Kiffin was threatening to take his staff and players with him if he wasn’t allowed to coach the Rebels in the playoffs, which only enraged Ole Miss fans further.

All that led up to Sunday, when Kiffin announced he was taking the LSU job and Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding was named the head coach of the Rebels – the permanent head coach, not just the interim.

Kiffin wasn’t allowed to attend the team meeting, but audio leaked that showed the team cheering after it was announced that Golding was the head coach.

And as players left the meeting, it didn’t sound like they were too upset about Kiffin bailing on them.

Meanwhile at the airport, Kiffin was greeted by a crowd of Ole Miss fans to shower him with boos and give him the middle finger boarded his plane to Baton Rouge.

In his announcement that he was taking the job at LSU, and during his introductory press conference in Baton Rouge, Kiffin claimed that the Ole Miss players were asking him to stick around and coach the Rebels during the playoffs, pointing the finger at Carter for his abrupt exit:

“I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern. My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”

But reports seemed to cast doubt on Kiffin’s claim that his players were asking him to stick around.

John Talty of CBS Sports reported that a group of players even confronted Kiffin in his office over his tactics. And now, we’ve got one of Kiffin’s former players calling him out on his bulls—.

Brycen Sanders is a sophomore offensive lineman for the Rebels who’s started every game at center for Ole Miss this year after first joining the team as a redshirt freshman in 2023 and appearing in all 13 games in 2024. All that to say, he’s spent three years with Kiffin, but that doesn’t mean he’s loyal to his coach over his school.

In a blistering reply to Kiffin’s statement, Sanders flat out denied that the players asked for the coach to be able to stay through the playoffs:

“”Despite the team asking me to keep coaching”. I think everyone that was in that room would disagree”

And several of his teammates quickly jumped in to back him up:

Brutal.

I have a feeling we’re going to get one heck of a documentary out of this whole saga when it comes out, and as someone who doesn’t have any interest in either Ole Miss or LSU, I personally can’t wait to find out all about Kiffin’s scumbag behavior in Oxford.The post Ole Miss Players Fire Back At Lane Kiffin’s Claim That They Wanted Him To Coach The Playoffs: “Everyone That Was In That Room Would Disagree” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.