Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter wants an answer about Lane Kiffin’s future, and fast.
Carter is apparently looking for an answer from Kiffin about whether or not he wants to remain with the program after this season at some point this week, according to On3’s Chris Low, Brett McMurphy and Pete Nakos.
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The goal is apparently to have clarity on his situation before their Egg Bowl matchup with Mississippi State later this month, though it’s unclear how strict of a deadline that truly is.
Amidst a 10-1 season and multiple major job openings, Kiffin has become one of the most popular targets in this year’s coaching carousel. LSU and Florida have been the teams linked to Kiffin the most in recent weeks, and members of his family was reportedly in Baton Rouge on Monday.
After Saturday’s 34-24 win over Florida, Kiffin talked about how much he loved Ole Miss when asked about his job speculation.
“I love what we’re doing here,” Kiffin said. “Today was awesome. To even talk about it right now would be so disrespectful to our players and how well they played today. We’ve got a lot of things going on here. Doing really well and I love it here.”
Despite how much Kiffin insists loves Ole Miss, he has not signed an extension with the program. Carter wanted to get an extension done before the coaching carousel rumors started.
“I’m going to be proactive with working out a deal with Lane and Jimmy,” Carter told the Ole Miss Spirit in October. “I’d love to get something done like Indiana did with Curt Cignetti before the silly season starts. We’ll see. I believe Lane’s happy here but you never know what can happen with coaches.”
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Kiffin has undoubtedly turned Ole Miss into a national contender during his time in Oxford. He’s compiled a 54-19 record over his six seasons with the program. His four 10-win seasons over the past five years are more than the team had in the previous 50 seasons combined. Kiffin previously led Tennessee, USC and Florida Atlantic before joining Ole Miss ahead of the 2020 campaign. He also led the Oakland Raiders in the NFL for two seasons.
The Rebels jumped to No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll on Sunday, and they are on a path to secure what would be their first College Football Playoff appearance this fall.
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Ole Miss is off this week before next week’s matchup with Mississippi State. The Rebels have won the last five games against the Bulldogs, too.
