Ole Miss AD Keith Carter Debunks Lane Kiffin’s Timeline: Players Begging Him To Stay Was 'Overstatement'

After a whirlwind few days in Oxford that saw Lane Kiffin leave for LSU, which then led to the former Rebels coach claiming he did not find out a final decision regarding him coaching in the CFP until Sunday morning, Ole Miss AD Keith Carter has fired back. 

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the past four weeks of chaos around the Ole Miss football program. But, if you wanted theatrics, you knew that Kiffin was going to provide enough fireworks on his way to the Oxford airport. 

One of the most interesting points of contention around his exit centered around when Lane Kiffin found out he would not be allowed to coach Ole Miss in the college football playoff. 

On Monday, during his introductory press conference at LSU, Kiffin made it a point to say that he was not informed of a final decision until 8:30 Sunday morning that he would not be allowed to coach in the postseason. 

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Multiple sources told OutKick that this was simply not the case, and that Kiffin had known from the start of this whole ordeal that coaching his team while being part of a different university was not on the table. It was either Ole Miss, or moving on, which AD Keith Carter had made clear from the beginning. 

Speaking with Richard Cross on Sportstalk Mississippi on Wednesday, Carter was asked about whether Kiffin actually found out early Sunday morning about the school's intentions. 

"That's not accurate," Carter said. "The only thing that was a little bit of wrinkle in it Richard was the fact that if Auburn would have beaten Alabama, we were going to play in the SEC Championship. That threw a little wrinkle in it, not to say he would've coached in that game, but with the shorter time period, that was maybe the only little nuance to it. 

"But absolutely, it was very clear that coaching in the postseason was not going to be an option for Coach Kiffin."

Lane Kiffin Knew For Weeks Coaching CFP Wasn’t An Option

But, that did not stop Lane from playing this up in front of the television cameras, along with the LSU faithful on Monday afternoon. 

"There's been a lot of things he's said publicly that I'm not sure have been totally accurate," Carter said. "I think that both coach and his representation knew several weeks ago that coaching in the playoffs was not an option if he was not going to be the Ole Miss head coach."

Keith Carter also pushed back on Kiffin's comments about the team wanting him to stay for the CFP, essentially begging Keith Carter to allow him to coach his squad through the postseason. 

"I don't think the way he portrayed that meeting was accurate<" Keith Carter responded. "There was a lot of pushback to him leaving . These guys knew they needed coaches to coach them in the game, and it sounded like he was going to take all the offensive staff with him if he didn't coach in the game. 

"I think begging him to stay is an overstatement. I think our players are starting to show what really happened in that meeting."

Also, in response to Lane Kiffin being run off the road by Ole Miss fans, the athletic director was very pointed in his response about whether any of this was true. 

"I have a feeling that goes along with some things that have been said in the last 72 hours from coach," Carter said. 

Just another day of fallout from the Lane Kiffin circus that has left Oxford.