Lane Kiffin is no longer the Ole Miss football coach; he left in late 2025 to take the head coaching job at LSU, and defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to replace him as Ole Miss head coach and lead the Rebels into the College Football Playoff.

Quick Scoop: What Happened

  • In late November 2025, Lane Kiffin informed Ole Miss that he was accepting the head coaching job at LSU, a major SEC rival.
  • Ole Miss leadership decided he would step away from the team immediately rather than coach through the College Football Playoff run.
  • Longtime defensive coordinator Pete Golding was then named the new head coach and took over ahead of the Rebels’ CFP games.

Why It Became a Big Story

  • The move happened just weeks before Ole Miss’ historic College Football Playoff appearance, which made the timing especially dramatic and controversial among fans.
  • Reports described behind‑the‑scenes tension, including Ole Miss administrators deciding Kiffin wouldn’t coach in the CFP if he left for another school, while Kiffin publicly said he wanted to keep coaching the team.
  • Some Ole Miss players and fans pushed back on parts of Kiffin’s public statements, adding to the online and forum debate around his exit.

Where Things Stand Now

  • Lane Kiffin is the head coach at LSU and is still financially benefiting from incentives tied to Ole Miss’ CFP success due to clauses in his old contract.
  • Pete Golding is the current Ole Miss head coach and is leading one of the SEC’s top programs into the CFP era as the Rebels continue their postseason run.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.