Leaked Audio From Ole Miss Meeting Shows Rebels Aren't Too Mad About Lane Kiffin's Exit
The Rebels are on board with Golding.
The Lane Kiffin-led circus in Oxford, Mississippi, officially packed up and hit the road for Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Sunday afternoon after its weeks-long performance that may very well be the strangest in college football history.
After the writing had long been on the wall that Kiffin would be ditching his 11-1, College Football Playoff-bound Ole Miss team to go try and rebuild things at LSU, the 50-year-old made things official with a statement on social media that, predictably, didn't include one ounce of self-awareness.
Kiffin wanted to continue to coach this Ole Miss team in the CFB Playoff, which doesn't begin for another three weeks, but Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter made the uncomfortable, yet only logical decision, telling Kiffin that simply could not happen.
Kiffin may have led the Rebels to their first 11-win season in program history, but coaching the team when the entire college football world knows you will be accepting a job at Ole Miss' biggest rival not named Mississippi State, and that decision for Carter became easier to make.
Lane Kiffin is the newest head coach at LSU. (Getty Images)
Nevertheless, this made an already unprecedented situation even more so, with Ole Miss now having to name a head coach less than a month before it is most likely hosting a playoff game. While most expected quarterback coach Joe Judge or defensive coordinator Pete Golding to take over with an interim tag, Carter and the Ole Miss administration elected to skip that step and announce Golding as the school's newest head coach.
Carter made the announcement that Golding would be the man in charge of the Rebels moving forward, and given the immediate ovation, it's safe to say that this Ole Miss team is on board. Ole Miss chancellor Glenn Boyce can also be heard in the clip rallying the troops.
As OutKick's Trey Wallace reported, Kiffin was not in attendance for the meeting. Players on the team's leadership council met with the now-former Ole Miss head coach earlier in the day, and that meeting did not go well.
Golding joined Ole Miss as its defensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 season after four years as Alabama's defensive coordinator.
This Ole Miss team now has several question marks surrounding it, not only how will it operate without Kiffin on the sideline, but also how the CFB Playoff committee may punish the Rebels with Kiffin leaving the program weeks before the 12-team tournament gets underway.